US President Joe Biden speaks about efforts to strengthen US supply chains that impact economic and national security, during the first meeting of the new White House Council on Supply Chain Resilience, in the Indian Treaty Room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House. Assembly in Washington, United States, November 27, 2023.
Evelyn Hochstein | Reuters
President Joe Biden took aim at businesses on Monday for charging prices he said were artificially high despite a slowing inflation rate and some shipping costs falling.
Biden said in his speech to the conference: “Any company that does not lower its prices again, even with low inflation, and even with the rebuilding of supply chains, it is time to stop price gouging.” launch For the White House’s new supply chain initiative. “Give the American consumer a break.”
Although the annual inflation rate has declined from its highest levels last summer, this does not directly translate into lower consumer prices. This just means that prices rise less.
Prices of some everyday goods have fallen over the past year, a fact reflected in lower costs for Thanksgiving this year, for example. Lower costs, in turn, have led to some consumers having more money in their budgets for things like Black Friday shopping, which rose 7.5% last weekend in more than a year.
As Biden runs for re-election, the White House has sought to cast these broad spending and pricing trends as victories for the president and his economic agenda, which it calls “Baenomics.”
But the argument that Biden deserves credit for a strong economic recovery has proven a tough sell to voters, who consistently give the president low marks on the economy.
“We understand that people still don’t feel that way, we get that,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday, ahead of the president’s supply chain event.
Facing a skeptical public, targeting so-called junk fees, which Biden has said “slip companies onto your bill,” provides the White House with an opportunity to show voters directly what Biden is doing on their behalf.
It also provides the president with an easy target in the inflation blame game.
“Unwanted tariffs take real money out of the pockets of ordinary Americans,” Biden said Monday. “It can amount to hundreds of dollars, burdening household budgets and making it difficult for families to pay their bills.”
Biden said consumers “feel like they’re being played for fools. That’s what they are.”
As America emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic, prices have risen. In the two years beginning in April 2021, the average price of all goods rose 13%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Average food prices in the same period rose by a staggering 20%.
The price rise was driven by a combination of pent-up consumer demand, pandemic-era economic stimulus, and ongoing supply chain disruptions.
As a result, inflation reached record levels and consumers felt their budgets were under pressure.
Biden’s new Supply Chain Resilience Council, launched Monday, aims to help keep the momentum of this recovery going.
As part of creating the council, Biden also announced 30 different initiatives to help relieve supply chain pressures and prevent future shortages of products like pharmaceuticals and semiconductors.