Biden economic adviser says White House hasn't 'missed much at all' on inflation

Jared Bernstein, a member of President Biden's Council of Economic Advisers said Monday that he doesn't believe the White House "missed much" on inflation during CNBC's "Squawk Box." 

Bernstein emphasized that Biden has made inflation his top economic priority and said "that there's always something we can do." Inflation hit 8.6% in May, climbing to another 40-year high. 

"To the extent that the White House missed this in terms of the inflation story, and I know you said that you've missed it before, we're not going to re-litigate that. But what I want to understand is what you think the lesson of it was and is to the extent that the public wants to know that there was a lesson, that you've learned it and that going forward you're going to approach this differently," CNBC host Andrew Ross Sorkin said. 

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Bernstein said it was an important question that was "so much better than the ‘gotcha’ stuff." 

"I think the most important lesson is that when you're living in an uncertain world when people were making the predictions that they made, no one knew about delta and omicron, no one new about Putin's invasion Ukraine. In a world with geopolitical economic uncertainty what you need is a White House that understands the depth of importance of insurance policies," Berstein said. 

Sorkin pressed further, saying that while Ukraine and the pandemic made things worse, there would still be "an inflationary story" even if those things were taken off the table. 

"Absolutely. Because, well, first of all, we’re having an inflationary story in every advanced economy in the globe, and in fact, inflation is historically elevated everywhere. So it is certainly not just one country’s fiscal or monetary policy," Bernstein said. 

The CNBC host asked what the White House missed and what the lesson was in missing it. 

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"I don't think the White House missed much at all in the following sense. We have a team, and I know you're pushing in a different direction, but I think looking forward this is what's most important. We have a team of seasoned people here led by a president who believes that we have to do everything," Bernstein said. "We don't sit on our hands and hope that these forecasts for stable growth and inflation slowing down come true."

He said that he's "never done more" in his career to help with supply. 

"Head down, continue to do all we can to fight inflation. The fact that we have a highly competent group here working to do this is extremely different than just trying to spin things and say who got right what at what time," Bernstein added.

Biden's approval rating was at 33% among Americans and 35% among registered voters, according to a Wednesday Quinnipiac poll.

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Bernstein also said that inflation was made worse by the war in Ukraine. 

"So if you listen to the president’s three point plan on fighting inflation, he put number one as Fed independence for a reason. It is the primary inflation fighting institution both here and globally and inflation of course very much exacerbated by Putin’s war, is in fact a global issue, so we need a fed that is independent," he also said. 

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In April, inflation reached 8.3% after hitting 8.5% in March. The national average cost per gallon of gas exceeded $5 over the weekend. 

A Washington Post reporter said Sunday that it could be too late for Democrats on the economy as Democrats amend their messaging tactics when it comes to inflation and gas prices.