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Inflation airhead: NBC's Stephanie Ruhle says the "dirty little secret" of people complaining about paying higher prices for food and fuel for their homes is they can afford it just fine. According to her, people should have been saving during the pandemic and stocks look good.


Stephanie Ruhle
 argued Americans have to put the high inflation rate and rising costs of food and other every day items "in perspective" on Sunday.

The consumer price index rose 6.2% year over year in October, according to the Department of Labor, the largest annual gain since November 1990. And prices rose 0.9% month over month. 

But the soaring costs, Ruhle said on NBC, were expected after the worldwide pandemic, before telling anchor Willie Geist that Americans "on average" can actually afford the higher prices.

"The dirty little secret here, Willie, while nobody likes to pay more, on average, we have the money to do so," she said. "Household savings hit a record high over the pandemic, we didn't really have anywhere to go out and spend."

Ruhle added that the U.S. is expecting "record" retail sales this year, home values are up, and the stock market is experiencing record highs, to justify her argument.

Conservative pundits predicted that, if adopted by Democrats, the kind of messaging Ruhle was espousing will derail their chances in the next round of elections. Others referred to Ruhle as "Stephanie Antoinette," in reference to Marie Antoinette, the arrogant Queen of France during the French Revolution.

STEPHANIE RUHLE, NBC NEWS: Nobody knows exactly when they're going down, but you have to put all this in perspective. This inflation is not in isolation, and the government predicted it was going to be a challenging recovery, recovery all tied to Covid.

So it's why you see things like that expanded child tax credit. You've got the families of over 60 million kids, on average, getting $430 a month. For people on fixed incomes, older people on social security, they're getting those fixed payments adjusted next year up 5.9% for inflation.

And the dirty little secret here, while nobody likes to pay more, on average we have the money to do so. Household savings hit a record high over the pandemic. We didn't really have anywhere to go out and spend. And as we said a moment ago, we're expecting retail sales this holiday season to break records. For those who own their homes, the value of our homes are up.

While the stock market isn't the economy, you have over half of American households with some investment in the markets and they hit market highs.

So we need to put all of this in perspective. This time last year when you and I were talking nobody had a vaccine. Now 200 million Americans do, and we're seeing this push of demand and that's pushing up pricing.

Comments

  1. There are many people whose budgets are stretched as it is. To suddenly have an inflationary spike that is affecting not only groceries but also many essentials is devastating.
    And, it is absolutely elitist to simply dismiss the inflation because people can supposedly "afford" it. I'm sure that most people would like to do other things with that money, even if it's saving and investing it for their kid's education or retirement.

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  2. Hey Steph, tell that to the senior citizens and people on disability trying to survive on meager fixed incomes. Neither of those groups are being considered in the BBB fiasco, so there's no potential light at the end of the tunnel for them.

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  3. I guess if I made a 7 figure salary I wouldn't be complaining that the price of groceries have risen 35%. But since I don't, these millionaires should be donating their wealth to food banks around the Nation to feed the poor people who can't afford the cost.

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  4. Hmmmm, I find this hard to believe. We make a decent living and have 1 adult child living at home. Even I am struggling with the increase in groceries and gas prices. I think often about those with multiple younger children and how this is impacting their lives. I think about those who are on fixed incomes or those service workers that drive long distances to get to their jobs. I feel like the left is completely out of touch with how Americans really feel impacted. #letsgobrandon

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  5. Remember when we were energy independent, the border was under control, low gas prices, no inflation, low unemployment, low food prices, no empty shelves in the stores ... But all of that was months ago before Biden took over.

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  6. Lets see unless i am selling my house to buy groceries the robust market will not help. unless I have extra income to invest in stocks the market will not help me with groceries either. Talk about out of touch. She acts like the average person makes her salary. Anything extra i have goes to 401k and trust me its not enough i will work as long as i can and be very tight with my spending.

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  7. ..and more expensive gasoline, heating oil, electricity, natural gas, cars, durable goods, homes... NO, we can't...but they know this. The goal is the economic destruction of the middle classes.

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  8. Since our government has removed everything that has gone up to make the inflation look better, and it's now looking pretty bad, you KNOW it's worse than what is being reported.

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  9. Well she is right on one point "...we didn't really have anywhere to go out and spend." For many, that also included being able to go out to WORK when your company was shuttered.

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  10. Note to this disconnected arrogant individual, look in the eyes of an elderly or person on a fixed income, and explain how that can work when it's paying for prescription drugs or eating. We'll wait, we have time.

    ReplyDelete
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