Democratic presidential candidates in key states are trying to blame the Russia-Ukraine crisis and corporate greed for the jump in inflation that reached a new 40-year high last month, despite economists warning for months that huge government costs have overheated the economy. The consumer price index rose 8.5% in March from a year earlier, the fastest rise since January 1982, when inflation reached 8.4%, according to a new Labor Department report released on Tuesday. The Biden administration continues to blame rising prices in the Russia-Ukraine crisis, rising prices and supply chain issues, while Republicans have blamed Biden’s green energy agenda for fueling America’s dependence on foreign markets. and the $ 1.9 trillion US bailout plan to over-stimulate the economy with $ 1,400 stimulus checks sent to Americans. VULNERABLES DEMOCRATS NOW SUPPORT REDUCTION OF GAS PRICES AFTER SUPPORTING POLICIES TO INCREASE Former North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Cheri Beasley, the Democratic nominee for the state Senate, criticized the big companies for “record profits” on Friday, while North Carolina residents are suffering from rising inflation. Gasoline prices are around $ 4.00 a gallon for the cheapest category at several gas stations in the state capital on April 11, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images / Getty Images) “I think a few things to keep in mind is that this pandemic has certainly created a whole chain of affairs with us on supply chain issues,” Beasley said during a campaign event in Hertford County. “We know for a fact that companies are making record profits at a time when many people in North Carolina are struggling. And, of course, this war with Putin in Ukraine has created a whole sense of pressure to also affect rising costs.” MP Val Demings, a Democrat who wants to overthrow Senator Marco Rubio, criticized the “big companies” for “squeezing” independent shops and food producers from the market. “Meanwhile, corporate speculators have taken advantage of the excuse to raise prices – not because they need it or because they have a better product, but simply because they can. It’s wrong. They make record profits while working families struggle,” he said. said in a January press release. “It’s simple: corporate monopolies have caused prices to jump and shelves remain empty.” New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan, one of the most vulnerable Democratic senators running in the midterm elections, has repeatedly blamed inflation on COVID-19-related issues affecting supply chains while pushing for trillions of dollars. spending under all direction from President Biden but the Build Back Better plan failed. “At the end of the day, what we are hearing from economists is that this package, along with addressing some other needs in the president’s plans, will help us reduce inflation and grow the economy,” Hassan said in August. “As long as there is a pandemic, we will see these supply chain disruptions, especially in construction and transportation,” Hassan said in December. “The economic plan we are considering at the moment, Parliament voted one, the Senate is not going to pass exactly what Parliament did. It is a 10-year plan. It is paid. It is paid to ensure that billionaires and big companies can not avoid taxes. ». Hassan recently joined other Democrats in running for re-election this year, including Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, Nevada Catherine Cortez Masto and Georgia’s Raphael Warnock, in a bid to cut prices by proposing a temporary gas tax holiday that would suspend 18 4 cents -Federal tax per gallon to intermediate. Gas prices are announced at the United Oil gas station in Los Angeles on March 23, 2022. (AP Photo / Damian Dovarganes / AP Newsroom) Warnock blamed rising prices on “the corporate practices of a few companies with a strong influence on our economy” and Cortez Masto, like many other Democrats, has argued that more government spending would not increase inflation. The White House, meanwhile, coined the phrase “Putin’s price increase” in a bid to shift responsibility from the Biden administration, even as inflation soared long before Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Obama’s former financial adviser, Steven Ratner, criticized the White House’s messages in a tweet last month, saying Biden should “play” his role in the inflation crisis. Economists have been warning for a year that Biden’s US bailout would boost the economy. In February last year, former Obama economic adviser Larry Summers said the plan could “offset inflationary pressures of a kind we have not seen in a generation.” Biden even seemed to acknowledge in November that his own legislation had contributed to the crisis, saying stimulus controls were partly responsible for exceeding consumer demand by supplying goods. “The irony is that people have more money now because of the first major bill I passed,” Biden said at the time. “It changes people’s lives. But what if there is nothing to buy and you have more money to compete for? [goods]? It creates a real problem. “ President Biden speaks during the Affordable Care Act at the White House East Room in Washington, DC, Tuesday, April 5, 2022. (AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster / AP Newsroom) Biden’s own financial advisers have reportedly opposed claims that corporate greed is the problem. In February, members of the White House Financial Advisory Council refuted the government’s allegations linking inflation to corporate integration and monopoly power, the Washington Post reported. The Labor Department said on Tuesday that so-called base prices, which exclude more volatile food and energy measurements, rose 6% in January from a year earlier – a sharp rise from 5.5% in December. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT FOX BUSINESS The White House has continued to blame Russia for price increases following the Labor Department report, allowing E15 gas to be sold to the United States this summer in a bid to expand American access to affordable fuel supplies. “The president is committed to doing everything he can to address the pain that Americans are experiencing as a result of Putin’s price hikes,” the White House said Tuesday.
