Although workers in 19 states have received  an increase in their minimum wage to $15 per hour while the rest of Americans will work for a federal minimum wage of $7.25, the increases are not enough to cover middle and low income earners’ basic expenses. Prices projected to keep rising include beef, coffee, eggs, dairy and sugar.

Trump has put Stephen Miran, a close advisor of Trump, on the Fed’s board of governors. Shocking, Miran will stays in the administration as a Trump advisor while he’s a mole on the board for the President.  Trump is also trying to fire Lisa Cook, a Biden-appointed governor, claiming that she’s committed mortgage fraud, but the Supreme stopped him until it hears the case.

And if Trump’s compliant Supreme Court majority allows him to replace Cook, he’ll hold a majority on the Fed. Then Trump won’t need to pressure anyone – he’ll make interest rate decisions himself, and inflation is sure to follow. It always has when leaders exercise control over their central banks.

President Richard Nixon pressured Fed Chair Arthur Burns to keep interest rates low going into the 1972 presidential election. The Fed succumbed, the economy had a spurt, and Nixon got reelected. Predictably, four years after his presidency, inflation rates hit 15%, and the dollar lost 12 percent of its value.

It took painful interest-rate increases under new Fed Chair Paul Volker to get the inflation under control. In 1980, Volker raised rates to a record high of 20 percent. Inflation still shot up to 11.6 percent in March. High mortgage and car loan rates made homes and cars unaffordable, curtailed consumer spending and sent the economy into a severe recession. 

Argentina’s Consumer Price Index started surging in 1946 after President Juan Peron nationalized the central bank and had the banks expand the money supply and lower rates in order to accommodate aggressive public spending. The annual inflation rate reached 18.74%. By the end of 1951, the CPI surged to 50.21%. The accumulated inflation rate in just six years reached 297.57%. Clearly, the main cause of Argentina’s hyperinflation was its central bank’s enabling of political profligacy.

In January 2007, Argentina’s President Christina Kirchner, in a striking similarity to Trump, didn’t like her experts’ consumer price index numbers. So she fired them, replaced them with political appointees and threated prosecution against independent economists who published higher CPI estimates.

Turkey’s another example. Its inflation rates have been in double digits since Trump’s authoritarian idol, President Erdogan, appointed a central bank head to lower rates. Although the bank eventually raised rates, annual price gains were still around 40% as of January 2025.

These are examples of politicians seizing control over central banks for their own political gain while their countries bore the pain of higher inflation. Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told a House subcommittee, in referring to Volker’s increase of rates to stem rising inflation, . “No one wants to see that happen again”… except Trump.

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Biden’s Credibility Problem with Biden Inflation

President Biden has a credibility problem he needs to solve. Instead of admitting that his American Rescue Plan (ARP) contributed to Biden inflation, he blames inflation on the pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and, most recently, what he called the Republican “ultra-MAGA agenda.” But voters aren’t buying it.: 64 percent of them including 46 percent of Democrats blame the President for the increased costs they experience every day.

ARP’s Impact on Biden Inflation

ARP pumped $1.9 trillion into the economy that boosted consumer spending and fueled inflation. Distributions were based on 2019 tax returns, so many who were unaffected by COVID received money to spend unrelated to pandemic losses.

Comparing Past Economic Relief Bills and Biden Inflation

Only after taking responsibility for his role in inflation will voters believe Biden when he identifies the causes that aren’t his fault. And there are plenty of those.

For example, Donald Trump’s Cares Act, the largest economic relief bill in U.S. history, dumped $2.2 trillion into the economy. Distributions were based on 2018 and 2019 returns — so, like ARP, checks went to many who didn’t suffer economic losses from COVID.

Global and Domestic Factors Contributing to Biden Inflation

Export curbs imposed by five countries were another cause of inflation, driving food prices up 30 percent from 2021 to 2022. Gas prices surged over last year as oil and gas demand outpaced production and consumers emerged from the pandemic to drive and fly more.

Labor Shortage and Biden Inflation Dynamics

The U.S. labor shortage has also contributed to inflation because it forces businesses to increase wages to attract and keep employees. The shortage has been aggravated by the lowest migration levels in decades. Labor force participation rates fell precipitously in 2020 from 63.4 percent to 60.2 percent and have yet to recover fully — they’re still circling 40-year lows. Meanwhile net migration to the United States dropped significantly due to Trump administration policies. 

Historical Price Surge Before Biden’s Presidency and Inflation

Household goods and food prices surged to their highest levels in a decade before Biden even took office.

Biden’s Economic Achievements Amid Biden Inflation

Clearly, such things are not Biden’s fault. But accepting responsibility for the inflationary pressures he did cause will give him the credibility and the pulpit to explain the economic good they did. For example, although ARP contributed to inflation, it also reduced overall poverty by 45 percent and child poverty by 56 percent in the US in 2021.

Employment and Economic Growth Under Biden and Inflation

When Biden took office the unemployment rate was 6.4 percent. By early May it fell to 3.6 percent, its lowest in 52 years. Unemployment is at record lows in 17 states. In May, the economy added 390,000 jobs and state unemployment benefits fell to their lowest since 1969.

 Impact of Immigration Policy on Perception of Biden Inflation

More than 10 percent of blue-collar workers have moved up to tech jobs and higher wages as companies waive the need for a college degree and train new hires — a talent upgrade not seen since the preparation for World War II.

Immigration Facts vs. Anti-Immigration Rhetoric and Biden Inflation

Taking some responsibility for inflation would also help Biden counter partisan attacks on his immigration policies. House Republicans frightened voters with accusations that immigrants crossing our southern border are criminals, sex offenders and rapists.

 Immigration and Biden Inflation: Law-Abiding Immigrants vs. Native-Born Americans

But the fact is, immigrants are more law-abiding than native-born Americans. In Texas, which has America’s second highest immigrant population, crime by illegal immigrants is 45 percent below that of native-born Americans. Crime by legal immigrants in Texas is 62 percent below that of native-born Americans. Nationally, legal immigrants are 74 percent less likely to be incarcerated than native-born Americans. For illegal immigrants the number is 41 percent.

Title 42 Controversy and Biden Inflation: Trump’s Claims vs. Reality

Republicans also criticize Biden’s plan to lift Title 42, which empowers federal health authorities to stop migrants from entering the country when necessary to prevent the spread of disease. Trump used it to block hundreds of thousands of migrants from entering from Mexico, claiming that “tremendous infectious disease is pouring across the border.”

Biden Inflation and Misconceptions About COVID-Infected Migrants

But epidemiologists, physicians and public health experts have debunked Trump’s claim as scientifically baseless and politically motivated, intended to block asylum seekers and return them to dangerous conditions. Their concerns were justified. Over 8,700 of these migrants were kidnapped, raped, or attacked after being returned to their countries of origin.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis accused Biden of letting COVID-infected migrants pour over our southern border by the hundreds of thousands — when Florida’s COVID surge was due to the state’s low vaccination rates.

Nonetheless, anti-immigration rhetoric has misled voters: 45 percent of them, including just 22 percent of Republicans, believe immigrants “help the country.” This is a misconception Democrats need to correct. In general, immigrants are a highly entrepreneurial group. They are 80 percent more likely to start businesses than native-born Americans, and they launch new companies at twice the rate. In fact, immigration boosts economic growth, increases job opportunities and wages for native-born Americans, and expands the middle class. 

Trump claimed immigrants “compete … against … American workers” and that cutting back legal immigration would “boost wages and … open jobs … to American workers.” Yet, 14 leading economists found immigration has little or no negative effects on overall wages or hiring of native-born workers. Most Americans agree: 77 percent say undocumented immigrants mostly fill jobs U.S. citizens don’t want. There were 11.4 million job openings through May, rivaling the record job opportunity in 2000.

Biden has many economic achievements to tout. But they aren’t resonating with voters because he hasn’t owned his results. If, however, he takes a measure of responsibility for inflation instead of deflecting it, he could gain enough credibility to shift the spotlight onto the remarkable strengths he’s created for the economy.

The post If Biden owned his contribution to inflation, he’d have credibility on his achievements first appeared on Inside The Political Chaos.