We’ve often said that the Regime Media, often cast President Joe Biden as the truest, purest victim of whatever calamity they happen to be reporting on. And so it is with inflation, which is at or near the top of the list of voter concerns ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
Here is how NBC Chief White House Correspondent Peter Alexander began his report on inflation:
PETER ALEXANDER: Tonight after more than a year and a half of strong spending, some of the steam is now coming out of the economy. The GDP rate slowing to 1.6% in the first three months of this year. Well below expectations.
STEVE LEISMAN: What it means is that the core of the economy, business and consumer spending, is doing just fine. Inflation numbers, they are not fine.
ALEXANDER: Inflation, while down from 40-year highs just a couple of years ago remains stubborn. Those consumer prices we all pay, up nearly 3.5% a bigger jump than just three months ago.
This perfectly sums up the report inasmuch as it throws out a lot of figures but does not assign responsibility. There is no explanation of HOW things got to where they are- only commiseration over these things that seem to have randomly happened. There is the lamentation over the slowing of the economy, but no explanation as to why there is a slowing.
There is the interview fragment with the registered dietitian mom who deals with high food prices by limiting herself to two grocery bags. But again, there is no explanation as to HOW food got so expensive. Nor is there any discussion of how a dietitian gets to the point of creating a hard “two bags” rule due to high food prices.
The report closes out with both a weird non-sequitur about families going on vacation despite inflation, and dismay over the effects of persistent inflation upon the Fed rate cuts everybody was hyping just a few months ago.
This story, unlike the recent CBS story over “sticker shock”, acknowledges the existence of President Biden. But it is only to cast him as the purest and cleanest victim of inflation- as opposed to its chief instigator.
If it weren’t for Regime Media, we’d have none at all.
Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned report as aired on NBC Nightly News on Thursday, April 25th, 2024:
LESTER HOLT: New evidence about how the high prices we’re still paying for so many things are slowing down the economy, while President Biden tries to maintain a positive message. Peter Alexander now with the latest.
PETER ALEXANDER: Tonight after more than a year and a half of strong spending, some of the steam is now coming out of the economy. The GDP rate slowing to 1.6% in the first three months of this year. Well below expectations.
STEVE LEISMAN: What it means is that the core of the economy, business and consumer spending, is doing just fine. Inflation numbers, they are not fine.
ALEXANDER: Inflation, while down from 40-year highs just a couple of years ago remains stubborn. Those consumer prices we all pay, up nearly 3.5% a bigger jump than just three months ago. Taking its toll on Christy Coughlin and her family in Bend, Oregon.
You're a registered dietitian. Food is your life. So how have your grocery shopping habits changed?
CHRISTY COUGHLIN: We decided to use the one bag rule or two bags….both filled up. And once those bags are full, we'll walk out. It really eliminates impulse buys.
ALEXANDER: In Syracuse, New York today, President Biden optimistic about the economy.
JOE BIDEN: America manufacturing is back. That’s what it is- it's a comeback story creating new jobs, new businesses, new hope.
ALEXANDER: But with most Americans disapproving of his handling of the economy, the president has some convincing to do before the election this fall. Still, as summer comes, despite higher costs, Americans are willing to spend to get away. At Dollywood theme parks in Tennessee, they're on pace to surpass last year's record attendance. American families booking further in advance and coming from farther away. These latest figures complicate the Fed's decision about when it could finally cut interest rates, reinforcing concerns that borrowing costs for consumers and businesses could stay higher for longer. Lester.
HOLT: All right, Peter Alexander at The White House. Thank you.
