Democrats are resorting to the five D’s of dodging political blame for their own decisions: “Dodge, Duck, Dip, Dive and Dodge.” Their latest contortion: blaming inflation and high gas prices on price-gouging corporations instead of their own votes for reckless spending packages.
Even liberal economists think their arguments are a joke. Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers said this week: “…it’s, frankly, ridiculous to take businesses saying on a earnings call that they have pricing power as some kind of evidence of perfidy. I just don’t think that is supported by any serious understanding of how the business process works… That’s not serious economic reasoning and the judgments and forecasts of those who engage in that reasoning should be taken less seriously as a consequence.”
The San Francisco Fed issued a paper showing that it was the reckless “American Rescue Plan” passed last March that caused inflation to rise faster than other developed nations. Every one of these Democrats voted for the plan, which the AP recently found is sending hundreds of millions of dollars to fund wasteful projects like luxury hotels, ski slopes, and ballparks.
These Democrats should take responsibility for peddling “ridiculous,” “not serious” deflections and own up to the fact it’s their own reckless spending that caused inflation to spike:
- SCHUMER: “It is nothing short of repugnant for oil companies to be touting what are truly dizzying profit margins, while soaking American families with these exorbitant prices.”
- KELLY: “With inflation at a near 40-year high, the biggest corporations are cashing in on the backs of the American people.”
- WARNOCK: “Inflation and rising costs for families is a persistent problem about which I hear from Georgians every day, and we must ensure that corporate greed is not unnecessarily contributing to this problem while Georgia families struggle.”
- HASSAN: “And instead of helping consumers afford their product at the pump, they’re really taking advantage of these two crises: the pandemic, which is interrupting supply chains and a workforce shortage that is also part of the pandemic kind of aftermath, and then the war in Ukraine.”
- CORTEZ MASTO: “They need to stop prioritizing shareholder payouts over consumers.”
- RYAN: “Corporate greed is squeezing working people for every last penny while profit margins and CEO pay continue to go through the roof. We can’t keep letting these people get away with this.”
- DEMINGS: “We need to hold international producers and big corporations responsible as they continue to see massive profits while families struggle to make ends meet.”
The good news: the American people see through this transparent, politically-motivated charade. Morning Consult found just 1 in 3 voters trust congressional Democrats on inflation – the lowest rating of any issue tested. And Quinnipiac found a plurality of voters blame the Biden administration’s policies far more than company profits for high gas prices.
“As Democrats furiously backpedal from taking responsibility for their bloated and reckless spending packages that caused inflation to skyrocket, they are pointing fingers at everyone but themselves. It’s clear they won’t stop their out-of-control spending until we take away their gavels and boot them from office.” -SLF Communications Director Jack Pandol