President Joe Biden worked on cementing his legacy as an American Nero Tuesday with a party at the White House while the U.S. economy crashes in response to the administration’s reckless spending.
The event, held to celebrate the Democrats’ colossal $740 billion “Inflation Reduction Act” before the package accelerates inflation, featured a performance from James Taylor who sang “Fire and Rain” on the White House lawn as Wall Street panic sinks the stock market.
Markets plunged Tuesday after data from the Department of Labor showed the inflation rate remaining near its highest rate in more than four decades. Consumer prices rose 8.3 percent in August from the same month a year ago. By Tuesday afternoon, the Dow Jones dropped nearly 1,300 points, or 4 percent, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell by 4.3 percent and 5.2 percent respectively.
Tuesday’s record inflation numbers follow months of persistent inflation antagonizing American consumers now forced to cope with higher prices everywhere from the gas pump to the grocery store. According to the Labor Department, food is up more than 11 percent from August last year and energy prices are up nearly 24 percent. While gas prices have dropped in recent months, Americans are paying $1.28 more per gallon on average than they were when Biden took office.
The 8.3 percent spike in the overall consumer price index cooled from 8.5 percent in July and 9.1 percent in June but remains at an unsustainable pace that’s a source of anxiety for both Wall Street and consumers.
According to data from the Federal Reserve out Friday, American households lost $6 trillion over the prior three months as inflation fueled by government spending wreaks havoc on home finances.
But the crumbling state of the U.S. economy, which has now seen two consecutive quarters of negative growth, didn’t stop President Biden from holding a White House party complete with attendance from Democratic leadership and thousands of supporters.
“While MAGA Republicans are fixated on their extremist agenda like a national abortion ban, Democrats are focused on creating jobs, lowering costs, and bringing the country together,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. The note on abortion was a clear shot at South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who Tuesday proposed a ban on the deadly procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy with exceptions for rape, incest, and risks to the mother’s life. Democrats are rejecting the measure that would put U.S. abortion policy in line with nearly every European nation the party so vocally admires. Despite poll after poll showing Americans overwhelmingly reject allowing on-demand abortion at any point of pregnancy, Democrats continue to claim they have the moral high ground on the issue.
Meanwhile, Biden — when not hosting parties at the White House — has shifted his focus to the demonization and outright prosecution of political opponents two months before the November midterms. The president kicked off election season with a speech at Independence Hall, in front of a blood-red background and flanked by Marines, where he wrote off half the country as a “threat” to “the very soul” of America. Biden’s Justice Department escalated the president’s attacks on political opponents with more than three dozen subpoenas of individuals associated with former President Donald Trump or his 2020 campaign, after Trump’s Florida residence was raided by FBI officials.