The Veracity Report
Since Biden’s inauguration in January of 2021, Inflation in America has increased to 5 times what it was during Trump’s term – that’s after piquing at 9.1% in June 2022
Over the past two years, there has been a slew of polls conducted. On most occasions, it would be hard to find any two of them that agree on much – until now. Over these last couple of years, in virtually every poll taken that bothered to ask Americans what issues are most important to them, inflation and the economy have been the number one and number two topics of concern for most American citizens. That’s because the economic downturn has negatively affected every American in one way or another.
Whether it’s the price of groceries, the cost of housing, the cost of fuel, the price of cars, or the perpetually rising interests rates instituted by The FED to try and slow the rising rate of inflation, there is not a single American family that has not felt the increases as they’ve spiraled out of control.
Finally, in a recent Jobs of America report, inflation was brought to the front when a reporter confronted President Biden about the effect his administration has had on the economy.
You can watch the complete and unedited version of that interview here:
(Inflation was actually 1.4% when Biden took over, not 2.4% as alleged here)
During that interview, Biden was asked if he takes the blame for the current state of inflation, to which he responded:
“The inflation was already present when I took office.”
But, when we look at the actual statistics, we can clearly see that isn’t true at all. However, we never suggest anyone just take our word for it. To either verify or officially debunk Biden’s claim, we will use the factually accurate information on usinflationcalculator.com to track the fluctuations of US inflation over the past 23 years, from 2000 through the start of 2023.
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As we can see, either by viewing the provided chart or by following the various other charts found by following the provided link to their website, there can be no doubt that the president misspoke. Whether that false statement was intentional or just a mark of ignorance is a debate for another day.
Suffice it to say, for our purposes in this piece, it’s enough to simply note that his assertion was factually inaccurate.
What’s more, as we briefly touched upon earlier, this record inflation crisis has hit America hard. It has affected virtually every aspect of daily life, no matter where you live in America.
According to US Inflation Calculator, the inflation rate was practically non-existent at 1.4% at the end of 2020, just a few weeks before President Biden was sworn in. However, as of June of 2022, inflation skyrocketed to a staggering 9.1% before slowing a little in the six months since. This number will be updated again on February 14, 2023, with the latest inflation calculation, though it isn’t expected to change much, if at all.
Perhaps the most significant impact of inflation on Americans has been the increase in prices of essential goods and services. For example, the average price of gasoline across the US was $2.17 per gallon in 2020. And while the price of fuel has stabilized a bit since its peak, it is expected by most to increase dramatically again this summer, possibly even higher than it was last year, with the average price for a gallon of gas predicted to jump once again to between $3.79 and $4.19 in June, and with diesel fuel expected to top out at over $6.00 per gallon.
Similarly, the price of food, most specifically things like eggs, have reached record prices in 2022, and early 2023. Currently, the retail price of a dozen eggs is averaging about $4.25, compared to $2.75 in 2015. Meanwhile, the average price of a gallon of whole milk was $4.21 in 2022, up from 2021’s average of $3.32.
Also, the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that energy prices have increased by a whopping 17.6%, with gasoline prices rising by 17.5% in the last year. Used vehicle prices have risen by 4.1% and new vehicle prices have increased by 8.4%. Food prices in general have also gone up by 10.9% year-over-year (that means each successive year it has increased by about that same percentage), which means that food prices today are actually about 23% on average higher than they were when Biden took office.
When we consider all of these facts, it would take a very imaginative mind indeed to assume that this administration bears no responsibility for these across-the-board increases that Americans have to live with every day.
Be sure to tune in to our newest project, The Veracity Report Podcast – new episodes of which will go live every Wednesday and Saturday beginning Wednesday, March 1st.
You’ll be able to find it anywhere you currently get your podcasts.
The show will discuss this and other elements in the news and American politics which affect our everyday lives, and you will be able to interact with our staff via numerous social media vehicles or through direct email, including being able to comment on the topics we will be discussing on the show and asking questions our host, Kurt Dillon, might address directly on the air – so we hope you’ll join us for that.
Veracity Editor’s Note:
This unbiased, non-satirical, fully attributed article was thoroughly researched by our team of fact-checkers and found to be accurate. The sources relied upon for the factual basis of this article were: C-SPAN, The New York Times, The New York Post, The Washington Post, Fox News, The Associated Press, Reuters, and veracityreport.org.
