Speaking in a Fox News interview, Senator for the state of Louisiana John Kennedy has hit out at Democrats for their handling of the economic crisis…reports Asian Lite News
A senator from the Republican Party has hit out at the Joe Biden government saying that gas prices are so high “it would be cheaper to buy cocaine and just run everywhere”. The comments come against the backdrop of high inflation hitting many nations across the world.
Speaking in a Fox News interview, Senator for the state of Louisiana John Kennedy has hit out at Democrats for their handling of the economic crisis. Petrol prices in the United States of America are at historic highs, with many experts blaming the fallout of the Russian-Ukrainian war for contributing to this.
In his interview Kennedy continues to blame the United States President by saying “President Biden, continues to campaign for more economic chaos by trying to convince us in Congress to raise taxes by three and a half-trillion dollars by expanding an already generous welfare state and by turning cops into social workers,”
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Rifts between America’s two parties has only been seen getting wider in the last couple of years, with bi-partisan bills seeming a long shot.
Along with an economic crisis, the country is also grappling with debates around gun control after the tragic mass shooting at an elementary school in Texas left 19 students and 2 teachers dead.
The United States Congress is in the process of introducing a bi-partisan bill attempting to enact certain gun control laws, as public furore is increasing over the government’s inability to keep its citizens safe with mass shootings becoming incredibly common in the country.
Yellen expects inflation to ‘remain high’
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen acknowledged that she and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell could have used a better word than transitory when describing the expected run of inflation in the U.S. economy. She added that she was hopeful it would soon be on the decline.
I do expect inflation to remain high although I very much hope that it will be coming down now, Yellen told the Senate Finance Committee during a hearing on the agency’s latest budget request.
I think that bringing inflation down should be our number one priority.”
The Federal Reserve and Treasury Department have been increasingly blamed by legislators and the public for allowing inflation to reach record highs notably an 8.3% leap in consumer prices over the past year.
She told CNN last week that she did not fully understand the impact that unanticipated large shocks and supply bottlenecks would have on the economy.
“Look, I think I was wrong then about the path that inflation would take,” she said.
The hearing was an opportunity for lawmakers to press Yellen on the causes for inflation, when it may decline and the administration’s plans to reduce the pain on Americans.
“We now are entering a period of transition from one of historic recovery to one that can be marked by stable and steady growth, she said. Making this shift is a central piece of the president’s plan to get inflation under control without sacrificing the economic gains we’ve made.”
Inflation has shown signs of moderating but is likely to remain far above the Fed’s 2% target through the end of this year.
The Congressional Budget Office released an economic outlook this month saying high inflation will persist into next year, likely causing the federal government to pay higher interest rates on its debt.
The nonpartisan agency expects the consumer price index to rise 6.1% this year and 3.1% in 2023.
This forecast suggests that inflation will slow from current annual levels of 8.3%, yet it would still be dramatically above a long-term baseline of 2.3%.
Yellen was asked about her support of last year’s American Rescue Plan relief package, also known as ARP, which has come under fire by some economists who claim the $1.9 trillion program has worsened price spikes.
Because inflation is high globally, Yellen said, it can’t be the case that ARP is largely to blame for the bulk of U.S. inflation.
Over the weekend, Yellen was forced to defend her support of ARP after Bloomberg wrote about an excerpt from an upcoming biography on the secretary that said she privately agreed with former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers that too much government money was flowing into the economy too quickly which is why she had sought without success to scale back the $1.9 trillion relief plan by a third early in 2021 before Congress passed the enormous program.
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