President Biden, yesterday: “Exactly four weeks ago today, I signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law, the single most important legislation passed in [this] Congress to combat inflation and one of the most significant laws in our nation’s history, in my view . . . Today offers proof that the soul of America is vibrant, the future of America is bright, and the promise of America is real . . . This bill cut costs for families, helped reduce inflation at the kitchen table, because that’s what they look at — how much are their monthly bills and how much do they have to pay out for their necessities.”
As I find a need to mention more and more frequently, this administration has many bad habits, but one of the worst is their inclination to spike the football in victory at any glimpse of good news, only to be quickly overtaken by bad news. In Biden’s eyes, everything is always going great. Inflation will be temporary, the Afghan army is well-trained, all the Americans in Afghanistan will be rescued, the Covid tests will be plentiful, and “the much-predicted crisis didn’t occur. Packages are moving. Gifts are being delivered. Shelves are not empty.”
Here’s a selection of headlines from the print edition of today’s Wall Street Journal:
Page A1: Stocks Sink on Dashed Inflation Hopes
Page A6: Fed Set for More Tightening
Page A6: Inflation Hits Families in the Pantry
Page A6: Where Prices Rose and Fell in August
Page A7: Energy Bills Are Climbing Sharply
Page A7: U.S. Deficit Widened from a Year Earlier
Page A7: U.S. Household Income Stalled Last Year, Census Bureau Says
This is all separate from the potential economic chaos that a freight-rail strike would bring.
It says something that Biden and his team would choose to do the political equivalent of an elaborate touchdown dance on a day when the U.S. was deluged with bad economic news. A combination of blind optimism, reflexive denial, and a desperate need to convince people that they’re doing a great job permeates everything this administration does. And the inability or unwillingness to look at national problems with clear-eyed realism keeps catching up with them.