During Friday’s episode of HBO’s “Real Time,” CNN senior political commentator and former Obama adviser David Axelrod said President Joe Biden has “a lot to be proud of” economically, but “the big issues are the cost of living and inflation. Yes, inflation is down, but prices are still 20 percent higher than they were before the recession. People feel this way about the economy through the prism of grocery store costs, rent, mortgages.”
When host Bill Maher said people’s lives are getting better and asked how Biden can convince people of this, Axelrod replied, “Bill, look, we faced something similar in 2012. We got through this terrible financial crisis, the country recovered, unemployment was going down. But we knew we couldn’t ask for more than people could bear. We actually need to connect with people where they live. Everything Biden said is true. The United States has arguably done better than other countries in recovering from the pandemic. We had a soft landing. Everyone was saying we were going to have a recession. That didn’t happen. There’s a lot to be proud of, but the big problem is the cost of living and inflation. Yes, inflation is down, but prices are still 20% higher than they were before the recession.” And people experience the economy this way through the prism of the cost at the grocery store, the rent, the mortgage. “
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