President Biden was optimistic when he visited a biofuel plant in Iowa in April to talk about lower gas prices, and stood in front of a large tractor as he said “biofuels have a role to play right now” and announced a plan to extend ethanol use during the summer. In private, however, Biden dismissed the policy as ineffective and questioned the value of the trip, according to two people familiar with the talks. After returning to the White House, he dragged senior executives, including Chief of Staff Ron Klein, to the Oval Office, asking them questions about the purpose of the event. Biden was worried even before the announcement that he was exaggerating the ability of ethanol to reduce gas prices and could harm its climate targets, people said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. But Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and other officials urged Biden to leave, saying he would at least help the Midwest – and the White House was finally looking for desperate ways to cut gas prices. The episode depicts the White House’s months-long challenge to curb rising prices and the president’s growing frustration with his government ‘s inability to do so. The problem has grown over the past year, devouring the president’s top aides and threatening his domestic agenda, his international priorities and his party’s political prospects. “Inflation is the scourge of our existence,” Biden said on Jimmy Kimmel’s show last week. Klein and other top officials have urged agency chiefs to look into all measures they can take to reduce costs for Americans. Biden is increasingly expressing his anger internally. And some Democrats, inside and outside the White House, want to focus on the greed of oil and gas companies as a central element of their autumn message. In a speech Friday in the port of Los Angeles, Biden reiterated the attack on big companies for seemingly keeping prices high to boost profits, saying it made him so crazy he wanted to “pop” someone. “Exxon made more money than God last year,” Biden said. “Exxon – start investing and start paying your taxes.” Oil companies deny that their policies keep prices artificially high. But there is little evidence that all of this works. And some economists say that the unusual nature of this inflationary path makes it particularly stubborn. “I think we are in a really difficult position, because we do not have successful precedents for an economy so hot in terms of low unemployment and high inflation and we do not have a recession,” said former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers. “It will be very, very difficult to achieve a gentle landing.” If nothing else, the problem seems to be accelerating. Prices rose 8.6 percent in May, the highest level in 40 years, according to the latest consumer price index released on Friday. In addition, prices rose faster last month than in April, reducing the White House’s optimism that the country had already reached its inflation peak. Five charts that explain the current inflation trend Gas prices, the most visible sign of sharp prices, have soared, with the national average for a gallon of gas reaching $ 4.99, according to AAA. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has upset global energy markets, further disrupting supply chains that are already in disarray due to the pandemic. Western sanctions against Moscow as punishment for war have also dramatically increased costs. But Americans are experiencing price increases at all levels: the cost of food, housing, airfare, medical care and clothing has all risen. And as prices continue to rise, economic winds overshadow and redirect the president’s agenda on all fronts. Senator Joe Manchin III (DW.Va.) torpedoed the president’s sweeping financial plan, in part because of inflation concerns. The president changed his approach to Saudi Arabia, a major oil producer, after promising to treat the country as an “outcast.” And his acceptance rating continues to plummet, as voters fall further and further from his handling of the economy. A new poll by the Washington Post and George Mason University School of Politics and Government at George Mason University found that most Americans expect prices to continue to rise next year and as a result change their spending habits. Republicans continue to use the issue as evidence of the Democrats’ failed management of the economy, with congressional elections less than five months away. As management officials increasingly conclude that they can do little to influence prices, they are at least trying to change their message – for example, by advertising positive indicators in the economy, especially an almost low record. unemployment rate. But as Americans struggle with the rising cost of living, the argument does not seem to be going well. The White House gave a new impetus last month to show that Biden and his team were working hard to curb inflation. The president met with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell at the Oval Office and wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal, while the White House sent officials to the cable networks to describe what the government was doing. Biden and his aides have also attacked Republicans more vigorously, focusing heavily on a proposal posted by Republican Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) That Democrats say it would make matters worse by raising taxes on many Americans. . However, the push of the messages did not lead to new immediate measures to reduce costs. Jason Furman, a professor at Harvard University and a former top financial adviser to President Barack Obama, has long criticized the size of the Democrats’ coronary stimulus package at the beginning of Biden’s term, arguing that it contributed to inflation. However, he said the administration had done much to reduce costs since then, although he questioned the extended moratorium on repaying student debt and maintaining tariffs in China. Restarting student loan payments and removing some invoices, Furman argued, could help alleviate the problem. Furman also said there was a mismatch between public anger over inflation and how much Biden could do for him. “There is nothing that Americans are more crazy about than gas prices,” he said. “It’s one of those things where the White House has very little power. It’s a global honor and it is driven by global events. “ The government also found it difficult to explain how long Americans would have to wait for prices to rise, giving an inaccurate sense that rapid price increases would subside relatively quickly. When prices first began to rise sharply last year, Biden and others suggested that it was the result of a rapidly opening economy after the pandemic and would weaken as the economy stabilized. Price increases are “expected to be temporary,” Biden said in July 2021, a prediction echoed by top aides who promised inflation would be “temporary.” In recent months, these officials have changed their tune, and late last month, Biden began saying that inflation was his “highest economic priority.” Furman said the early analysis of the problem by the administration was followed by most estimates, including the Federal Reserve. It just so happened that everyone was wrong. “It was not in front of the curve. You can not look back and say, “Wow, that was impressive,” he said. “But you can not look back and say that they did a highly political operation.” The renewed commitment to Saudi Arabia is one of the most striking consequences of its rising policy, as it marks a significant departure from Biden’s campaign rhetoric and his commitment to putting human rights at the heart of his foreign policy. For months, senior White House and State Department officials have debated whether the president should travel to the country, given his strong criticism of Saudi Arabia over its human rights record, particularly the assassination of Washington-based columnist Jamal Kasogi. Post. After a Russian invasion of Ukraine, however, and months of diplomatic work by Biden officials, the president is due to visit Saudi Arabia later this summer to meet with Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s successor and de facto leader. Officials hope the visit will help boost oil production and facilitate Middle East peace deals by lowering gas prices in the process. In the port of Los Angeles on Friday, Biden described inflation as a sweeping global problem, driven by the persistence of the pandemic and the ongoing Russian invasion, and highlighted his government’s efforts to improve supply chains. “Every country in the world is getting a big bite and a piece of that inflation – worse than us in the vast majority of countries around the world,” he said. “But make no mistake: I understand that inflation is a real challenge for American families.” But in a pre-speech statement, Biden summed up his immediate and pressing problem: “We need to do more – and faster – to reduce prices here in the United States.”
