As inflation soars to another forty-year high of 7.9 percent year over year, CBS Evening News called an audible and avoided President Joe Biden ludicrously blaming Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for the runaway inflation numbers. And instead of focusing on the inflation numbers, CBS Evening News gawked on skyrocketing rental costs.
“There is some bad news to report on the U.S. economy. Consumer inflation jumped 7.9 percent over the past year. That's a near 40-year high. Gas prices are up 38 percent year-to-year, not including the most recent spikes. And monthly rents are also skyrocketing, pricing some people right out of their homes,” fill-in anchor Jericka Duncan announced at the top of the segment. This would be the only mention of Thursday’s inflation report.
Correspondent Nancy Chen took over and interviewed two southern Florida residents who are struggling to pay rent. “Apartment sticker shock is happening nationwide, soaring nearly 20 percent last year across the U.S. but in the Miami metro area, they're up nearly 50 percent,” Chen reported.
The entire segment consisted of the economic hardships of two women in Florida. There was no mention of Biden’s excuses for the inflation report today.
ABC’s World News Tonight however did address Biden’s attempt to avoid accountability for the inflation numbers. Chief business and economics correspondent Rebecca Jarvis tore into Biden in her report for anchor David Muir:
We've seen inflation numbers hit fresh 40-year highs, now for four straight months. And these are in areas Americans really can't avoid paying for. Energy, as you say, up 26 percent, food up 8 percent. Shelter up almost 5 percent. And keep in mind, this happened in February versus a year ago. We're talking about a time before the recent invasion by Russia into Ukraine, before the recent spike we've seen in gasoline prices. Economists are predicting that this will ripple through the economy, impacting everything from the price you pay for food to the price you pay for clothes.
Over on NBC Nightly News, which had the best coverage of the inflation report, they had business correspondent Jo Ling Kent interview a restaurant owner in Wyoming on his struggles to keep menu prices down:
KENT: Brian Bowe owns the Albany restaurant, it’s an 80-year-old institution in Cheyenne, Wyoming, in the mountain region where inflation is the highest in the U.S., at nearly 10 percent. He says his suppliers are hiking prices.
BOWE: There's times where they have to add a fuel surcharge. They have to pay to get the product to their warehouse and then we have to pay again to get it here, and somebody's paying that bill. And it ultimately becomes us or our guests.
Like, the ABC segment, Kent also noted how Biden is being dishonest by blaming Russia for the inflation numbers:
Today President Biden responding, saying he's fighting to bring down prices, blaming inflation in large part on what he calls Putin's price hike. But prices surged last month almost entirely before Russia invaded Ukraine. And inflation has been soaring above 5 percent since last May. Republicans blasting the President
But unlike the CBS & ABC segments, NBC did include Republican criticism of Biden by airing a soundbite of Wyoming Senator John Barrasso who noted that "energy prices have been going up dramatically from the day [Biden] took office."
CBS's avoidance of any criticism of Biden on inflation was made possible by United Healthcare. Their information is linked.
To read the relevant transcripts of each segment click "expand":
CBS Evening News
3/10/2022
6:40:55 p.m. EasternJERICKA DUNCAN: There is some bad news to report on the U.S. economy. Consumer inflation jumped 7.9 percent over the past year. That's a near 40-year high. Gas prices are up 38 percent year-to-year, not including the most recent spikes. And monthly rents are also skyrocketing, pricing some people right out of their homes. CBS's Nancy Chen reports from South Florida which is seeing the nation's largest rent hikes.
NANCY CHEN: It's hard enough for -- Jamie Wolf a single mom to raise three kids. Now her landlord is raising the rent by nearly $1,000 a month, a 30 percent hike.
JAMIE WOLF: Previously, you know I got 5 percent, 6 percent, I think, increases.
CHEN: Sure, but $1,000.
WOLF: It’s impossible to prepare for.
CHEN: Apartment sticker shock is happening nationwide, soaring nearly 20 percent last year across the U.S. but in the Miami metro area, they're up nearly 50 percent, forcing Wolf who lives in Boca Raton to make sacrifices.
WOLF: They go to aftercare for a couple of hours each afternoon so that I can work, and so we have to take that away for sure.
DIANA STANLEY: This is about survival.
CHEN: Diana Stanley runs the Lord’s Place in West Palm Beach which helps homeless people and those on the brink.
STANLEY: They’re scared. They have tapped into everything they could tap into.
CHEN: Among those seeking help. Ana who didn't want to give her last name, she says her rent doubled and with few options, she may have to call her car home.
ANA: You have to have a place to live, you have to have a place to bathe.
CHEN: I can see how hard this has been for you.
ANA: Yeah.
STANLEY: We are all holding our breath saying when will this end.
CHEN: The end may not be in sight. And Stanley worries it may soon get much worse.
STANLEY: We are going to have a massive increase in homelessness. I don't even think we have reached the tip of the iceberg on this, I do not think we have. And that's what scares all of us.
CHEN: Surging rents leaving so many here feeling priced out and left out.
ABC’s World News Tonight
3/10/2022
6:45:49 p.m. EasternDAVID MUIR: And the economy and the prices you pay. New numbers on inflation tonight. The worst since 1982. Consumer prices up 7.9 percent over the past year. Energy prices up more than 25 percent. Chief business and economics correspondent Rebecca Jarvis joins us live tonight, and Rebecca, we know this new report out today is from last month, only including a few days of this Russian war.
REBECCA JARVIS: That's right, David. And we've seen inflation numbers hit fresh 40-year highs, now for four straight months. And these are in areas Americans really can't avoid paying for. Energy, as you say, up 26 percent, food up 8 percent. Shelter up almost 5 percent. And keep in mind, this happened in February versus a year ago. We're talking about a time before the recent invasion by Russia into Ukraine, before the recent spike we've seen in gasoline prices. Economists are predicting that this will ripple through the economy, impacting everything from the price you pay for food to the price you pay for clothes. David?
NBC Nightly News
3/10/2022
7:12:28 p.m. EasternWell now to those staggering new inflation numbers out today, and the squeeze so many Americans are feeling. Consumer prices rose 7.9 percent over the last year, a new 40-year high. Grocery prices up 8.6 percent, the biggest yearly increase since 1981. But as bad as inflation has become, it has yet to reach the peak of the 1970s and early '80s. Jo Ling Kent has more.
JO LING KENT: After months of struggling with soaring prices and busted budgets, tonight Americans are now facing an even more grim reality. Inflation accelerated 7.9 percent in February compared to last year, a new 40-year high. Prices are up across the board. Groceries surged 8.6 percent over last year. Rent rising 4.7 percent. And most of all, gas prices spiking 38 percent.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: When I see these numbers, it's mind-blowing.
KENT: Some price jumps are the highest ever recorded, like furniture, lunch meat, baby food, and toys.
BRAIN BOWE: We don't want to raise prices. But you see it creeping up on you.
KENT: Brian Bowe owns the Albany restaurant, it’s an 80-year-old institution in Cheyenne, Wyoming, in the mountain region where inflation is the highest in the U.S., at nearly 10 percent. He says his suppliers are hiking prices.
BOWE: There's times where they have to add a fuel surcharge. They have to pay to get the product to their warehouse and then we have to pay again to get it here, and somebody's paying that bill. And it ultimately becomes us or our guests.
KENT: In California, Jean Olson works in a grocery store.
JEAN OLSON: You're living in a constant state of panic. Because I'm always worried that I'll not have worked enough hours to make the rent.
KENT: Today President Biden responding, saying he's fighting to bring down prices, blaming inflation in large part on what he calls Putin's price hike. But prices surged last month almost entirely before Russia invaded Ukraine. And inflation has been soaring above 5 percent since last May. Republicans blasting the President.
SENATOR JOHN BARRASSO: Gas is over $4 a gallon. And what does Joe Biden say? Says it's all blamed on Russia. Energy prices have been going up dramatically from the day he took office.
KENT: The next big question for people here in Wyoming and all across the country is how much will the Federal Reserve raise interest rates next week as it tries to get this inflation under control.
