Bezos Criticizes Biden Administration Again, Accusing It of ‘Misdirection’ over Inflation
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Bezos Criticizes Biden Administration Again, Accusing It of ‘Misdirection’ over Inflation
Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos has taken to his Twitter to criticize the inflation policy of US President Joe Biden again. On Sunday, Bezos accused the government of injecting “even more stimulus into an already overheated economy”, saying that inflation is most harmful to the poor.
In fact, the administration tried hard to inject even more stimulus into an already over-heated, inflationary economy and only Manchin saved them from themselves. Inflation is a regressive tax that most hurts the least affluent. Misdirection doesn’t help the country. https://t.co/a8cygcunEG
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) May 15, 2022
Earlier, on Friday, Jeff Bezos also accused Biden of spreading disinformation. It followed the president’s proposal to reduce inflation by ensuring “the wealthiest corporations pay their fair share” that he shared on Twitter. Besides, Biden said that before he came into power, the US deficit was increasing every year. He believes that reducing the deficit would help handle inflation, and this is what the government has been trying to do. According to Biden, they have managed to cut the deficit by $1.5 trillion, which is the biggest one-year decline ever.
Under my predecessor, the deficit increased every single year.
This year, we’re on track to cut the deficit by $1.5 trillion – the biggest one-year decline ever.
It matters to families, because reducing the deficit is one of the main ways we can ease inflationary pressures.
— President Biden (@POTUS) May 14, 2022
In response, Bezos stated:
“The newly created Disinformation Board should review this tweet, or maybe they need to form a new Non-Sequitur Board instead. Raising corp taxes is fine to discuss. Taming inflation is critical to discuss. Mushing them together is just misdirection.”
Notably, Amazon, which paid $3.7 billion in US taxes last year on global revenue of $469 billion, is often criticized for not contributing enough to federal levies and not paying taxes. Amazon didn’t pay any federal income taxes in 2017 and 2018. In addition, Jeff Bezos himself pays little in income tax compared to his massive wealth of as much as $137 billion. According to ProPublica, in 2007 and 2011, Jeff Bezos did not pay a penny in federal income taxes.
US Inflation Still Close to a 40-Year High
The US has been seeing the worst inflation rate over the past 40 years. According to US Labor Department data, the annual inflation rate for the US is 8.3% for the 12 months ended April 2022 after rising 8.5% previously. Supply chain issues, surging demand, production costs, and swaths of relief funds all have pushed inflation up. The Russian-Ukrainian war further accelerated price increases, robust consumer spending, solid pay raises, and persistent supply shortages.
In April, annual inflation moderated for the first time in months, but the Consumer Price Index (CPI) still increased by 8.3%. The core CPI still rose 6.2%, against expectations for a 6% gain. Core inflation that excludes costs for groceries and gas picked up 0.6% in April from the prior month, faster than its 0.3% increase in March.
Many analysts have been predicting a slowdown in price increases or even outright price cuts on many goods. However, those forecasts look increasingly uncertain for now.
Bezos Criticizes Biden Administration Again, Accusing It of ‘Misdirection’ over Inflation