Left-Wing Press Using Tariff Hysteria To Cover Up Jay Powell’s Incompetence — and Frame Trump

The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times are out with screaming headlines that today’s 0.3 percent consumer price index inflation increase should be blamed on President Trump’s tariffs.The Times called it: “U.S. Inflation Accelerated in June as Trump’s Tariffs Pushed Up Prices” … and the Journal called it: “Inflation Picks Up to 2.7% as Tariffs Start to Seep Into Prices.”So I’m going to say: This is nonsense.The lefty press is using tariff hysteria to cover up the gross mismanagement of the Fed chairman, Jay Powell — and frame Mr. Trump.The report shows no such thing.Newspapers, on the other hand, along with most of the press, love to blame every little piece of bad news on Mr. Trump’s tariffs.Actually, since January, the CPI has increased only a low 1.8 percent at an annual rate — which is less than the Fed’s 2 percent target.Core CPI increased 2.1 percent over that same period.And Mr. Trump’s supply-side-oriented One Big Beautiful Bill — with its pro-growth tax cuts and deregulation — hasn’t really taken effect yet. Yet there’s a productivity boom out there that will curb inflation.And also during Mr. Trump’s first five months, blue-collar wages have risen much faster than prices — a welcome relief from Bidenflation.Back to the CPI, though.The 12-month changes look higher because a year ago the index was flat, 0.0 percent.Also, the 1 percent jump in gasoline is based purely on summer seasonal adjustment.Gasoline, though, has not risen nationwide — it’s been hovering at $3.15 a gallon for quite some time.Meanwhile, new car prices fell three-tenths of a percent, while used car prices fell seven-tenths of a percent.Goods prices, which are really the most sensitive area to tariffs, have risen only 0.7 percent — that is only seven-tenths of 1 percent over the past three months, when Mr. Trump’s baseline tariff was put into place.Apparel prices over the last three months actually fell by eight-tenths of 1 percent — they too are rather tariff sensitiveNow, to be sure, some prices rise, while other prices fall — each month.There are 80,000 prices in the consumer price index, grouped into 200 categories.So the Times will point out that home furnishings went up 1 percent in June, and it is right.And recreational goods like televisions and sports equipment increased eight-tenths of 1 percent, and that also is correct.But year-to-year, home furnishings are up only 1.7 percent, and recreational goods actually fell 0.8 percent.Not to mention, prices for a wide range of key family goods — such as milk, butter, cereals, pork, eggs — all fell in June.Again, in any given month, some prices rise — and other prices fall.I wouldn’t be drawing any tariff conclusions just yet.The peak of Bidenflation was 9 percent and cumulatively, over the course of his presidency, prices rose more than 20 percent.Back in his first term, even with the Chinese tariffs, Mr. Trump’s inflation rate was well under 2 percent.And here in his second term, his inflation rate is well under 2 percent.That means a 4.5 percent Federal Reserve target rate is way too high — as the president has been saying.The real story here is Mr. Powell’s mismanagement of monetary policy and his bank’s own gargantuan losses — not to speak of his Taj Mahal building cost overruns.The lefty press is trying to take the focus off Mr. Powell — and put it on Mr. Trump.It’s not going to work.From Mr. Kudlow’s broadcast on Fox Business Network.

Left-Wing Press Using Tariff Hysteria To Cover Up Jay Powell’s Incompetence — and Frame Trump

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