Democrat businessman Gary Cohn, who served as former President Donald Trump’s Director of the National Economic Council, said during an interview over the weekend that consumers were “completely right” to be angry about the inflation that President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan has caused.
Cohn made the remarks during a Sunday interview on CBS News’ “Face The Nation” with Margaret Brennan while talking about Biden’s recent remarks about billionaires.
Responding to Biden’s claims that billionaires do not pay any taxes in the U.S., Cohn noted that the claim was grossly inaccurate and that any billionaire who has an income in the U.S. is paying at least 20 percent in taxes.
“We do a very good job in this country of taxing income. That’s what the Constitution talks about. The Constitution talks about taxing your income,” he said. “There is no income in this country unless you buy a tax-free bond that doesn’t get taxed at a minimum of 20 percent. Whether it’s interest or dividends or capital gains. So, there’s no billionaire in this country that has income that is not paying at least 20 percent.”
Brennan then noted how Biden was trying to rile people’s anger up against corporations, claiming that they were “taking advantage of the little guy.”
“Let’s talk about inflation for a minute because I think there [are] really important concepts for everyone to understand,” Cohn said. “Inflation has a compounding effect. Meaning, as you look at inflation year over year, you’re adding up those numbers. You’re not starting at a zero every year.”
“So, if we had 6 percent inflation last year … and now we have 4 percent inflation, that’s 10 percent inflation,” he noted. “So, if you take a basket of groceries at the beginning of 2020, just a simple basic basket that costs $100, it costs well over $125 today because those 4 percent one year and 7 percent one year and 7 percent the next year, they add up. They’re cumulative. So, there’s a huge cumulative effect to inflation.”
Brennan responded, “So, when people are being told, ‘consumers, you’re wrong, inflation’s heading–‘ — no, they’re right, it is actually more expensive.”
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“They’re completely right,” Cohn responded. “They’re completely right.”
Cohn added that consumers were angry because they were “losing purchasing power” because of inflation and people were not able to invest in their futures because of the high interest rate environment that was triggered by the inflation that Biden caused.
“So, people got very frustrated because the costs of their everyday lives got very expensive and the cost of investing in their future by buying a home got nearly impossible,” he added.
WATCH:
WATCH: Gary Cohn decimates Joe Biden’s inflation narrative & Bidenomics:
“Inflation has a compounding effect. Meaning as you look at inflation year-over-year, you’re adding up those numbers. You’re not starting at a 0 every year. So if we had 6% inflation last year and now we… pic.twitter.com/Q0K2QjUNRJ
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) March 10, 2024