President Joe Biden this week suggested that Americans struggling to afford basic necessities like groceries can switch to off-brand products in order to save money amid record inflation. He ignored the fact that generics increase in price due to inflation too.
The president made his mistaken assertion during an interview with Nexstar’s Reshad Hudson on Thursday. Asked by Hudson “what [the White House’s] message” is on sky-high prices on consumer goods including food, Biden said “the price of beef, eggs, etc.” is not the “main driver” of food prices, although those goods “are up,” he admitted.
“It’s packaged goods, packaged goods,” he argued. “You’re going to see people not buying Kellogg’s Raisin Bran, you’re going to see them buying other Raisin Bran, which is going to be a dollar cheaper.”
Data indicate that basic goods such as eggs and beef have spiked considerably during the first half of Biden’s term. Figures from the St. Louis Fed show the average price of a dozen eggs in U.S. cities has doubled from $1.42 when Biden took office to just under $3 last month.
Beef by the same metric has also increased significantly, with ground beef up just under a dollar per pound since January of 2021.
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