Karl Rove should advocate for Biden raising by executive order the annual purchase limit on I Bonds
See Wsj articles advocating same
http://www.americancrossroads.org/
Biden Casts Himself as Champion of Lower Inflation Rates
He blamed everyone from Putin to the Fed for high prices, but voters won’t buy it.
President Joe Biden speaks on his administration's approach to increasing inflation in Washington, May 10.
PHOTO: JIM LO SCALZO/SHUTTERSTOCK
President Biden on Tuesday delivered the first salvo of his re-engineered midterm message. Declaring that fighting inflation will be “my top domestic priority,” he said the two leading causes of rising prices are “a one-in-a-century pandemic” and “Mr. Putin’s war in Ukraine.” But that isn’t accurate.
Inflation’s principal cause is too much government spending—specifically, last year’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. President Bill Clinton’s Treasury secretary, Larry Summers, warned then that “there was a chance” its passage “will set off inflationary pressures of a kind we have not seen in a generation.” He was right, and we’re all paying higher prices as a result.
Having previously declared that “Milton Friedman isn’t running the show anymore,” the president likely disagrees with the late economist’s observation that “inflation is caused by too much money chasing after too few goods.” But voters instinctively know that Mr. Biden’s reckless spending is why inflation hit 8.3% in April. Sixty-one percent of voters disapprove of Mr. Biden’s handling of the economy, while only 36% approve, according to a Fox News poll conducted April 28 to May 1. His numbers are even worse on his handling of inflation: 67% disapprove and 28% approve.
The big problem for Mr. Biden is that on these issues independents think more like Republicans than like Democrats. While 68% of Democrats approve of the president’s handling of the economy, only 9% of Republicans and 30% of independents do. A mere 23% of independents approve of his handling of inflation, along with 7% of Republicans and a slim 54% majority of Democrats.
Mr. Biden’s Tuesday speech offered little to bring disillusioned swing voters to his side. He tried shifting blame, saying the Federal Reserve had the “primary role in fighting inflation” without acknowledging that his policies are a major reason the Fed had to swing into action. The president also suggested he’s done a lot on energy costs by releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (which didn’t substantially reduce oil prices), allowing the use of biofuels this summer (driving up corn prices), and proposing “landmark investments” in clean energy that can’t even pass a Democratic Congress. Americans remember Mr. Biden’s anti-oil-and-gas rhetoric as a candidate and can see his continued hostility toward fossil fuels as president. They understand that Democrats won’t help ramp up domestic oil and gas production, which would increase supply, putting downward pressure on prices.
Mr. Biden then contrasted what he said was each party’s approach to curing inflation. The president claimed he had laid out specific proposals “focused on lowering costs for the average family.” But Build Back Better, the legislation to which he seemed to allude, carried gigantic tax increases, a huge official price tag and hinky maneuvers to hide its true costs. The inflation ravaging families—especially those with modest wages or fixed incomes—can’t be cured by raising taxes and spending even more money.
The president also used the speech to go on offense. Pointing to proposals offered by a single senator, Rick Scott (R., Fla.), Mr. Biden claimed Republicans want to increase taxes on the middle class and “put Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid on the chopping block.”
The problem for Mr. Biden’s claim is that Mr. Scott’s proposed agenda fell with a thud in the GOP Senate Caucus, so no Republican is bound to it. GOP candidates are therefore free to say they won’t raise taxes on anyone—unlike Mr. Biden, who has committed himself to gigantic tax increases—and that they’ll oppose additional spending while protecting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, backing their pledge with stories about friends and family who depend on these programs.
Mr. Biden also asserted on Tuesday that he is a deficit cutter—which is already drawing guffaws. “The actions of the administration and Congress have undoubtedly resulted in higher deficits,” said Dan White of Moody’s
Mr. Biden’s eminently forgettable address didn’t change the political fundamentals. So it’s likely that more Democratic candidates will seek further distance from Mr. Biden as they scramble to salvage their political fortunes. If November’s election is dominated by the inflation question, many of them won’t make it. Nothing Mr. Biden said Tuesday changed that.
Mr. Rove helped organize the political-action committee American Crossroads and is author of “The Triumph of William McKinley” (Simon & Schuster, 2015).
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