Biden lays out plan to fight inflation in Wall Street Journal op-ed

The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed by President Biden on Monday with the headline "My Plan for Fighting Inflation."

Biden began by acknowledging that "Americans are anxious" about inflation, which he said had been "exacerbated" by the war in Ukraine. According to a Gallup poll released Tuesday, Americans' confidence in the economy is at its lowest point since early 2009, when the Great Recession was just reaching its end.

The president also touted his achievements, which he said include a reduced federal deficit, rapid declines in unemployment, and strong economic growth relative to other developed countries.

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"With the right policies, the U.S. can transition from recovery to stable, steady growth and bring down inflation without giving up all these historic gains," Biden wrote.

To achieve this goal he proposed passing clean energy tax credits to bring down gas prices, improving infrastructure, cracking down on greedy corporations, ramping up housing construction, reducing the cost of child care, and empowering Medicare to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies.

Matt Yglesias of Slow Boring tweeted approvingly that Biden's op-ed was "not a comprehensive solution to everything but certainly points the way to a possible deal on a reconciliation bill."

Brad Polumbo of the libertarian Based Politics had a different interpretation. Biden, Polumbo argued, failed to acknowledge that out-of-control government spending was also behind inflation or that the new spending he proposed would only make things worse.