Last month, for the first time in four years, prices on everyday goods and services actually fell. In other words, this June was the first time since the pandemic started that we paid less for stuff compared with the previous month.
The surprise price decline is seismic news, at least among econ wonks and a narrow strata of reporters who follow this stuff with the fervor of a tween Swiftie.
Bidenomics worked and no one cares
For the past three years, President Biden’s biggest political liabilities have been painfully obvious: his age and inflation.
One those problems has more or less evaporated — inflation has been steadily cooling, from 9% to 3% on annualized basis, for the past two years. Consumers are finally expressing some optimism, if not for the economy as a whole then at least for their own personal financial situations, the stock market and cooling inflation.
Still, Thursday should have been a day for the White House to spike the football and double down on a message that has, historically, fallen flat — that Bidenomics is working.
Still, Thursday should have been a day for the White House to spike the football and double down on a message that has, historically, fallen flat — that Bidenomics is working.／PxHere
Unfortunately, if you’re in the Biden camp, age — unlike inflation — only goes one direction.
Rather than doing a victory lap, Biden on Thursday was preparing for a high-stakes news conference in front of a ravenous White House press corps that focused their questions almost entirely on his fitness to lead. During the press conference, he touted the inflation numbers repeatedly, comparing the positive economic situation now to the pandemic mess he inherited when he started the job. But the press’ questions focused mostly on his verbal slipups and chances of beating former President Donald Trump.
