The Biden administration is having difficulty being consistent with its message that "Bidenomics is working," a narrative that’s been increasingly complicated by the reality of higher costs for Americans from the grocery story to the gas pumps.
"The numbers are clear: Our economy remains strong," President Joe Biden exclaimed earlier this month, citing Consumer Price Index (CPI) data that showed inflation having fallen to a 3-year low.
Economists are pointing out that the CPI doesn’t necessarily tell the full story.
"The CPI, once hailed as a reliable measure of inflation, now faces mounting criticism for the many ways in which it fails to adequately measure the costs that middle- and working-class households face," wrote financial expert Eugene Ludwig and economist Philip Cornel in a MarketWatch op-ed last week.
Ludwig is an expert on banking regulation, risk management, and fiscal policy. From 1993 to 1998 he served as Comptroller of the Currency.
