President Biden defended his administration by insisting that inflation is down and that the “red states” were destroying their economies.
Biden sat down with MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell for a final interview of his administration before officially leaving on Monday. The two discussed many topics, including Biden's handling of the economy and the threat of inflation.
The president brushed aside criticism of the way he handled deflation by saying the other option was to lose jobs.
President Biden spoke on many topics about his administration with MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell. (Screenshot from MSNBC)
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To reject notifications from economists like Larry Summers that his use of the COVID stimulus could cause more recession, Biden said “the only way to deal with inflation is to cause unemployment and another recession.”
“But guess what? I was completely convinced. Give the American people half a shot. They'll stand up and get a job if you give them a chance. Look what they've done. They rose from one job to another. and another big one,” he said. said. “I never believed that we would not be able to sit down. We had an easy place. The stock price is down about 2%, it is still going.”
The Department of Labor said on Wednesday that inflation rose 2.9% in December, up from 2.7% in November and the highest rate since July 2024.
Biden went on to call on red states to “invent” themselves and need more investment in them than blue states.
“And look, one thing, Lawrence, I got a lot of criticism. It's understandable. We invested more in red states than blue states… for two reasons. One, the red states went bankrupt. mainly based on the way they've done the economy and the way they've handled production, the way they've handled access to supplies,” Biden said.
Most Americans still say the economy is “good” or “poor” in a new Fox News poll. (Photo: Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Reports have found that States led by Republicans like Florida and Texas recovered faster than blue states after this epidemic.
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A a new Fox News poll on Thursday showed nearly twice as many people think the Biden administration has made the economy worse than better, 52% vs. 28%. Also, nearly all voters, 89%, say they are very worried or very concerned about inflation – up from 83% at the start of Biden's term.
Inflation rose 2.9% in December, up .2% from November, according to the Labor Department. (stock)
70% of voters say the economy is in bad shape while six in 10 Democrats believe the economy was good or bad.
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Dana Blanton of Fox News contributed to this report.