White House Attempts to Spin Tomorrow's Inflation Report: 'Already Out-of-Date, 'Backwards-Looking Data'

(CNSNews.com) – The Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the June inflation report tomorrow (Wednesday), and it’s not expected to show any improvement over the April and May reports, which showed year-to-year inflation running at 40-year highs — 8.5 percent and 8.6 percent, respectively.

At the White House on Monday, spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters, “We expect the headline number, which includes gas and food, to be highly elevated, mainly because gas prices were so elevated in June.  

“Gas and food prices continue to be heavily impacted by the war in Ukraine, and there are a few important points to keep in mind when we get this backwards looking data,” she continued, reading the whole thing from her binder:

“First, June CPI data is already out of date because energy prices have come down substantially this month and are expected to fall further. The average retail price of gas was 11 percent higher in June than it was in May, and the cost of gas in July is already down 7 percent from the June peak.

“Have a chart here for you guys to — to see. The crude oil is the yellow — I’m sorry, the crude oil is the blue at the bottom and the retail gasoline price is at the top. And you can see the difference there. I would also note that even though gas prices shot up quickly when oil prices rose, they have not come down as quickly as oil has.”

(Here’s the squiggly chart):

Still reading from the binder, Jean-Pierre went on:

“We continue to call on oil and gas companies to pass on their lower costs to consumers. American families should not be the first to pay and the last to benefit. The President’s number one economic priority is tackling inflation, and looking ahead there are a number of reasons why we expect those high prices to ease over the coming months.

“Saturday marked the one year anniversary of President Biden’s executive order to promote competition across the American economy. This EO prompted a government wide effort to help lower prices, raise wages, and encourage innovation. And one year in we’re extraordinarily proud of the progress we’ve made. Just a few example on — on this is the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission have already scored big wins for Americans.

“They have locked mega mergers in the insurance and sugar industries and stopped a defense contractor mega-merger that would have cost taxpayers billions of dollars. In just a few months, Americans with hearing loss will be able to buy hearing aids over the counter at a — at a drugstore instead of requiring a prescription which could save them thousands of dollars.

“And the Department of Agriculture is cracking down on the meat processing industry and supporting new competitors so farmer — farmer and ranchers get a fair price. Our Administration will continue driving structural change to produce lower prices, higher wages, and to make our economy dynamic and competitive.”

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services. Indexes are available for the U.S. and various geographic areas. Average price data for select utility, automotive fuel, and food items are also available.

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