Another month, another inconvenient Consumer Price Index report- and another embarrassment for the Biden administration which the Regime Media now have to spin away or, as in the case of the evening network newscasts, outright hide from viewers.
The lone network to report on the February inflation numbers, in an embarrassingly brief report at that, was ABC. Here is that report in its entirety as aired on World News Tonight on Tuesday, March 12th, 2024:
DAVID MUIR: Now to the economy tonight. A new report suggesting the inflation fight has stalled. Consumer prices in February were up 3.2% from a year ago, that’s slightly above what was expected. The cost of gas and rent rising last month, but food prices were flat. The Federal Reserve meets next week, analysts still think a rate cut could come this summer.
That’s about all of 18 seconds, which is 18 seconds more than NBC and CBS were willing to muster for this steaming pile of an inflation report. It goes without saying that had the inflation numbers come closer to where they need to be in order for the Fed to announce a rate cut, and thus provide Team Biden with a huge boost ahead of the reelection, the reporting would have been extensive, exultant, ebullient, and comprehensive across the dial. But that’s not the kind of inflation report we got.
Per the report issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), shelter and energy continue to drive the “unexpected” increase in inflation. Anchor David Muir mentioned that in his brief, what with his references to “the cost of gas and rent”. However, Muir did not mention the cost of in-home gas service as an additional driver of inflation. Mind you, it’s still winter out there. The report closes with the usual rate cut wishcasting. And if this report from Reuters is any indication, Muir may need to keep on wishcasting until June at the earliest:
Those continued price pressures will not change what Fed policymakers do next week, when they are universally expected to leave the policy rate in the 5.25%-5.5% range where it has been since last July.
But it means too little data might exist by their April 30-May 1 meeting to give them confidence that inflation is durably on a path toward the Fed’s 2% goal, analysts say. Even by June, there may be insufficient data to justify more than a couple of rate cuts all year.
Tuesday’s inflation report “is an ugly read that will do nothing to soothe nerves” at the Fed, wrote BMO economist Scott Anderson. “Clearly, restrictive monetary policy has not yet fully done its work and a patient and slightly hawkish Fed must remain in place for the monetary medicine to fully take effect.”
Given the choice to report the full extent of the significance of this inflation report to the American consumer, one major evening newscast flicked off a minimalist report and the other two omitted the subject altogether. The election might still be close to eight months away, but the media are already in midseason protect-the-precious form.