Posted on Friday, September 19, 2025<\/p>\n
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by Outside Contributor<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t18 Comments \t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\tPrint<\/a><\/p>\n At this point in Joe Biden\u2019s presidency, inflation had already nearly quadrupled.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n From 1.4% when Biden entered office in January 2021, it hit an\u00a0alarming<\/a>\u00a05.2% level by September of that year.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n In contrast, inflation has actually\u00a0declined\u00a0under Donald Trump since he began his second term.\u00a0 From 3.0% in January of this year, it stands at 2.9% today.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n From the mainstream media tenor, however, one would hardly know that.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Over the past four years, media and their favored clique of economic pundits have treated inflation very differently depending upon which party held the White House.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n That disparity isn\u2019t merely an abstract academic exercise or just another illustration of egregious media bias.\u00a0 It can have a negative real-world impact.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n To understand how, consider first that consumer spending accounts for approximately\u00a0two-thirds<\/a>\u00a0of the American economy.\u00a0 Consumer spending, in turn, depends upon consumer sentiment.\u00a0 And when the media and politically biased pundits artificially dampen consumer sentiment when the President is a Republican but cheerlead when the President is a Democrat, that creates a substantive problem.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n That dishonesty and disparate treatment also inhibits recognizing the economic policies that lead to inflation, and the policies that reduce inflation and boost our economy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n That dynamic certainly persisted throughout the Biden Administration.\u00a0 The surge in consumer prices from 1.4% to 5.2% between January and September 2021, and what happened thereafter, was no fluke.\u00a0 Biden Administration policies \u2013 including massive Covid\u00a0stimulus<\/a>\u00a0spending after the economy was already rebounding, or aggressive regulatory moves that\u00a0constrained<\/a>\u00a0energy supply \u2013 fueled consumer price spikes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n As a result, inflation rose to 9.1% by 2022, and never came close to the Federal Reserve\u2019s 2% target for the remainder of Biden\u2019s tenure.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Media coverage, however, remained gentle toward the Biden Administration.\u00a0 As inflation began its steep ascent, Americans were first assured that it was\u00a0nonexistent<\/a>, and then merely \u201ctransitory<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0 By the summer of 2022, however, inflation rose all the way to 9%.\u00a0 Thereafter, the media used terms like \u201ccooling<\/a>\u201d when rates ticked a tenth of a percentage point lower, even though they remained painfully high and prices were still climbing faster than paychecks.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Americans\u2019 everyday reality told a very different story.\u00a0 By the time that Biden left office, families of four were paying over\u00a0$1,400 more per month<\/a>\u00a0for the same basket of goods and services than they were in January 2021.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Now contrast that treatment with the prevailing media tone today.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n As noted above, inflation stood at 3.0% when Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office in January, and instead of rising as it did under Biden it has actually declined.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Despite that reality, media chatter today\u00a0highlights<\/a>\u00a0terms like \u201cinflation remains elevated\u201d and similarly\u00a0pessimistic<\/a>\u00a0headlines.\u00a0 The same pundits who saw only silver linings while inflation soared to 9% and remained elevated throughout Biden\u2019s term now wring their hands with inflation below 3%.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n As referenced above, all of this matters beyond partisan point-scoring.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Public perception of inflation influences consumer confidence, business investment, interest rate expectations and even potentially interest rate decisions themselves.\u00a0 If prevailing media drumbeats minimize price surges under one party but amplify them under the other party, it can distort the economic environment itself.\u00a0 Investors make decisions based partly upon those media drumbeats.\u00a0 Voters are also swayed, as polling consistently shows that perceived economic performance remains a prevailing factor in leaders\u2019 approval and election results.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Accordingly, an informed electorate and sound policy choices depend in part upon an honest, competitive marketplace of ideas.\u00a0 And that depends in turn upon an honest press.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n And in that vein, whatever one\u2019s politics, inflation\u2019s trajectory from Biden\u2019s inauguration through today is a matter of objective public record.\u00a0 From 1.4% in January 2021 to 5.2% by September of that year, peaking at 9% the following summer, inflation eased painfully slowly to 3.0% when Biden departed.\u00a0 As of August, it\u2019s now at 2.9%.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Until mainstream media and the entrenched clique of media pundits do a much better job of ending their double-standard, Americans would thus be wise to maintain a skeptical eye toward media headlines.\u00a0 Whether those headlines relate to the cost of living or any other important issue, our ability to make wiser choices going forward depends upon such healthy skepticism.<\/p>\n