On Sunday, the top White House economic adviser, Brian Deese, acknowledged the pain for U.S. consumers of sharply growing prices. However, president Biden remains open to the likelihood of tapping the United States Strategic Petroleum Reserve to cut increasing gasoline prices motorists are paying at service stations.
The director of the National Economic Council told NBC News show “Meet the Press” that there is no doubt inflation is high in the country at the moment. It is affecting the pocketbooks of Americans and affecting their outlook. Furthermore, Labor Department reported that the American consumer prices soared at a yearly rate of 6.2 percent in October, the biggest surge since 1990.
.@BrianDeeseNEC: Inflation shows “why it’s so important that we move forward on the Build Back Better legislation,” which goes “right at lowering costs for American families. And this bill is fully paid for. It’s not going to add to inflationary pressures – quite the opposite.” pic.twitter.com/KVxfhvJFp5
— Andrew Bates (@AndrewJBates46) November 14, 2021
Higher food and energy prices affected consumers the most, with consumer expenditure accounting for seventy percent of the United States economy, the biggest in the world. Motorists’ fuel costs are high sharply over the last year, with motorists now paying $3.30 per 3.8 liters, $1.08 up than one year ago, the peak average price since 2014. In addition, the cost of grocery bills increased 5.3 percent during the last year, additionally pinching household budgets.
Inflation Rate Fall in 2022
Deese offered no instant solution for the increase in higher consumer prices but said economic analysts expect the inflation rate to fall in 2022. He said all possibilities are on the table to control growing prices, including tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, where the United States currently has six hundred and twelve million barrels of oil stockpiled in four salt caverns along the Mexican Coast Gulf.
Rising Consumer Prices and COVID-19
The American leaders have only unwillingly tapped the reserve, like a decrease in North Atlantic and Middle East oil production. Furthermore, the current oil reserve is enough to replace over half one year’s worth of the country’s crude net imports. Deese said that three things need to occur to curb American inflation and improve economic growth. Moreover, he said that the administration needs to finish the job on coronavirus with additional vaccinations to control the spread of the pandemic that causes the illness.
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The country has to return to a sense of economic routine by getting more workplaces coronavirus-free and getting more children inoculated so more parents and guardians feel comfortable going to work. However, Biden’s federal mandate that eighty-four million American workers vaccinated at workplaces with hundred or more workers has been at least provisionally barred by a United States appellate court pending additional court hearings.
Instead, the government needs to deal with the supply chain issue of consumer goods arriving into the United States from Asia, with eighty-three container ships presently anchored off the pacific Coast waiting for unloading and docking. He also said that the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill Biden is signing Monday will help relax transportation bottlenecks in the United States, but that construction work doesn’t occur overnight.
$2 Trillion Social Safety Legislation
In the end, he called for congressional approval of the president’s almost $2 trillion social safety bill to provide additional educational, health care, and financial aid to all but the richest U.S. families. Moreover, the House intends to vote on the move this week, but its chance in the Senate remains uncertain. Finally, rather than the abrupt inflationary pressures on U.S. consumers and the president’s sharply falling voter approval standing, Deese claimed the country’s economy sharply improved since Joe Biden’s inauguration last January.
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