Biden Concedes It Will ‘Take Some Time’ for Inflation to Ease

President Joe Biden gives remarks on student debt relief at Delaware State University in Dover, Del., on Oct. 21, 2022. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

President Joe Biden on Wednesday said that it will take time before inflation will ease for most Americans as polls show how price pressures continue to be a pressing issue ahead of the 2022 midterms.

“I’m optimistic,” he said during an event unveiling new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rules against banking fees. “It’s going to take some time. I appreciate the frustration of the American people.”

The president again blamed world events for the rise in inflation. Labor Department data shows that the consumer price index, a key inflation metric, stood at 8.2 percent in September, running near the 40-year high.

“One of the things that I think frustrates the American people, is they know that the world is in a bit of disarray. They know that [Russia’s] war has imposed an awful lot of strains on Europe and the rest of the world and the United States,” Biden said. “They want to know what are we doing.”

Republicans have repeatedly hammered Biden and Democrats for pushing multi-trillion spending packages and embracing policies that have reduced or dampened U.S. oil production.

Meanwhile, the president has pointed to the Democrat-backed $740 billion bill dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act that he signed over the summer as a way to curb rising price pressures. Democrats and Biden said that the law will help ease inflation.

Polls have shown that the vast majority of Americans view inflation as a key issue, including a Pew survey that found 95 percent are “very” or “somewhat” concerned about the increase in food prices.

As inflation started to rise, Biden and other White House officials dismissed concerns that it would stick around. Year-over-year inflation in September 2021 was 5.4 percent.

“We also know that as our economy has come roaring back, we’ve seen some price increases,” he said in July 2021. “Some folks have raised worries that this could be a sign of persistent inflation. But that’s not our view. Our experts believe and the data shows that most of the price increases we’ve seen are—were expected and expected to be temporary.”

To dampen inflation, the Federal Reserve during its past three Federal Open Market Committee meetings opted to raise the federal funds rate by 75 basis points each time. The Fed will again meet in the coming weeks, and analysts predict that another 75-point hike is coming.

Because of the rise in interest rates, some economists and many CEOs have warned that the United States will enter a recession in the next year or 18 months. Mortgage rates have reached highs not seen in decades, with the 30-year fixed rate reaching 7.16 percent for the week ending on Oct. 16, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association on Wednesday.