CNN Newsroom was sticking to the White House marching orders Thursday as they parroted President Biden’s line that the soaring cost of fuel was because of “Putin’s price hikes.” They were so intent on adhering to their factious script that they literally laughed at the idea (we know it’s fact) that inflation was a feature, not a bug, of the Biden presidency. They even suggested inflation wasn’t really an issue until Russia invaded Ukraine.
Following co-host Victor Blackwell announcing inflation was at “7.9 percent over the last year” and how it hasn’t been that high “in 40 years since January of 1982,” co-host Alisyn Camerota parroted the White House talking points about “Putin’s price hikes”:
President Biden blames Putin saying, quote, “Today’s inflation report is a reminder that Americans' budgets are being stretched by price increases and families are starting to feel the impacts of Putin's price hike. A large contributor to inflation this month was an increase in gas and energy prices as markets reacted to the markets responded to Putin’s aggressive actions.”
And as Camerota introduced global economic analyst Rana Foroohar, the two of them shared something of a laugh over the notion (fact) that Biden’s policies have caused this harmful inflation:
CAMEROTA: Rana, great to have you here. Okay, so as you probably know, many politicians act as though it's President Biden who caused inflation --
RANA FOROOHAR: [Laughter]
CAMEROTA: -- and he can fix this. Can he do something about it?
Foroohar argued that Biden didn’t really have anything to do with inflation and that he could only “do things at the margins. He can release some of the strategic petroleum reserves which he's called for.”
But there was just something about struggling American families that had her chuckling. “But, no [laughter] he did not cause the war which caused prices to surge,” she asserted.
“Now, inflation was already rising for sure,” Foroohar conceded as she tried to downplay the fact that Blackwell announced that inflation number was over the last year. “We had supply chain issues. Some of that was actually because of good news meaning a really strong recovery, stronger than people would have expected following that latest wave of COVID.”
As they were shifting to talking about the price of fuel and Americans feeling the pain at the pump, Blackwell again leaned on administration talking points, noting, “Jen Psaki says that inflation, gas prices are in large part due to Putin's war, there is some credence to that.”
“100 percent,” Foroohar agreed. She went on to claim there was only an “uptick in oil prior to the invasion of Ukraine” and there was only a “surge after that, and they will go up further if there are more bans on energy.”
In reality, as GasBuddy’s analysis shows us, gas prices have been on an upward trajectory for Biden’s entire presidency.
Of course, this was the opportunity to shove people towards expensive electric cars and browbeat them with climate change:
I actually think there is some room, in fact, to combine those things. Energy security and climate change. If you think about the U.S. and Europe coming together on that and maybe ramping up refinery production for LNG to try to get more gas over to Europe in exchange for Europe working together with us on climate goals. Because ultimately you want national security. That means getting out from under -- in the short term -- with this war but it also means transitioning to those high-growth technologies that are the future.
“I mean, that's where not only saving the planet is going to come from but jobs are going to come from. So, kind of see it as a moment potentially for a grand bargain, if we can get the pieces right,” Foroohar boasted.
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The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN Newsroom
March 10, 2022
3:40:21 p.m. EasternVICTOR BLACKWELL: A new inflation report from the federal government today shows the consumer price index up 7.9 percent over the last year. That's an increase that we have not seen in 40 years since January of 1982.
ALISYN CAMEROTA: Prices for food and housing up dramatically, not to mention record-high energy costs which have only gone up since Russia invaded Ukraine.
President Biden blames Putin saying, quote, “Today’s inflation report is a reminder that Americans' budgets are being stretched by price increases and families are starting to feel the impacts of Putin's price hike. A large contributor to inflation this month was an increase in gas and energy prices as markets reacted to the markets responded to Putin’s aggressive actions.”
CNN global economic analyst Rana Foroohar joins us now. Rana, great to have you here. Okay, so as you probably know, many politicians act as though it's President Biden who caused inflation --
RANA FOROOHAR: [Laughter]
CAMEROTA: -- and he can fix this. Can he do something about it?
FOROOHAR: Well, he can do things at the margins. He can release some of the strategic petroleum reserves which he's called for. He can probably try and get bipartisan agreement from more drilling. That's something on the table. But, no [laughter] he did not cause the war which caused prices to surge.
Now, inflation was already rising for sure. We had supply chain issues. Some of that was actually because of good news meaning a really strong recovery, stronger than people would have expected following that latest wave of COVID. But gas and oil is going to be up because of this war. There is no question. And grain, too. Ukraine and Russia have a quarter of the world's grain reserves.
BLACKWELL: So, when the President says and the White House doubled down, Jen Psaki says that inflation, gas prices are in large part due to Putin's war, there is some credence to that.
FOROOHAR: 100 percent. You saw a little bit of an uptick in oil prior to the invasion of Ukraine but you saw prices absolutely surge after that, and they will go up further if there are more bans on energy.
The U.S. is banning Russian oil. European allies are trying desperately to plug that gap. But, you know, they get 40 percent of their energy from Russia, and as they try and pull more supply off the market, that's going to create more inflation. This is a short-term issue, a year or two, that we're not going to get out from under.
CAMEROTA: Drilling, the U.S. is sitting on 38 billion barrels of oil reserves untapped here on our land. Can we drill our way out of this?
FOROOHAR: Well, that's been very contentious, particularly within the Democratic Party. Environmentalists have said no way. We've got to make the transition to clean.
I actually think there is some room, in fact, to combine those things. Energy security and climate change. If you think about the U.S. and Europe coming together on that and maybe ramping up refinery production for LNG to try to get more gas over to Europe in exchange for Europe working together with us on climate goals. Because ultimately you want national security. That means getting out from under -- in the short term -- with this war but it also means transitioning to those high-growth technologies that are the future.
I mean, that's where not only saving the planet is going to come from but jobs are going to come from. So, kind of see it as a moment potentially for a grand bargain, if we can get the pieces right.
(…)
