Why Did Biden Claim “Zero Inflation” When Annual Rate Hit 8.5% in July?

The short answer is that it’s better to tout a short-term inflation index, which showed no inflationary growth in July, rather than the annual number which remains close to double-digits and a 40-year high

The “zero inflation” pulpit pounding is meant to break through to the low-information crowd who will accept it as a data point and think that maybe things are being “fixed” somehow with Biden’s new legislation, ironically called the Inflation Reduction Act.

The new bill’s not doing anything yet other than adding to the pile of government spending that got us into this mess in the first place. The fact that inflation cooled month over month means that demand is finally falling because stuff is just too damn expensive and not much more than that.