Commentary I’ve been rather baffled on the rhetoric of the Biden administration concerning the current rampant inflation. In mid-June, President Joe Biden concluded that “Putin’s price hike is hitting America hard”.
But is this a fair call?
A first answer can be drawn from the monthly pace of annual inflation in the United States.
A figure presenting the monthly annual change in the Consumer Price Index of the U.S. and month of the onset of the war between Russia and Ukraine (February). (GnS Economics, St. Louis Fed, BoFA, NBER)
It’s rather obvious from the figure that inflation was running rampant way before President Vladimir Putin decided to attack Ukraine. Some could even infer that the pace of the increase of inflation has actually slowed after the onset of the Russo-Ukrainian war. This, naturally, would be just statistics playing tricks with our heads….