Pelosi blames US inflation on “war in Iraq”

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
18 Jun 2022 09:46
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As Democrats try to avoid responsibility, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi blamed rising costs in the US on the "war in Iraq."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Archive)

In a massive Freudian Slip, US speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday that the coronavirus pandemic and the "war in Iraq" were to blame for the rising cost of living in the United States.

"We have the war in Iraq, we have Covid," she was heard saying in a video.

Nancy Pelosi thinks we’re still in a war with Iraq and is also amazed to learn that she has hands. pic.twitter.com/VYo6TRcAWO
— Sara Gonzales (@SaraGonzalesTX) June 16, 2022

Simultaneously, Pelosi's office rushed to correct her statement to read "Ukraine."

The faux pas, which Pelosi did not catch or correct, is indicative of a new trend in which American leaders failed in differentiating between the US's 2003 invasion of Iraq and the current war in Ukraine.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, President Joe Biden, and former President George W. Bush have all made major Freudian slips either by conflating the 2022 war in Ukraine with the 2003 US invasion of Iraq or by confusing "Ukrainian" for "Iranian".

Bush mistakenly bashed the "brutal, unjustified invasion of Iraq" at an event last May as he was offering a critique of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Meanwhile, Biden, in his first State of the Union speech, confuses "Iranian" for "Ukrainian: "Putin may circle Kiev with tanks, but he'll never gain the hearts and souls of the Iranian people" Biden said.

It is worth noting that the US invasion of Iraq left at least five million Iraqi orphans, murdered over 100,000 Iraqis, forced four to five million Iraqis to flee their homes, displaced ancient Iraqi minority groups, and destroyed much of Iraq's infrastructure and economy.

See more: Civilian casualties due to US Interventions since 9/11

US inflation soars to highest level since 1981

In May, the annual inflation rate in the United States reached 8.6 percent, the highest level since 1981. Food and fuel prices have risen dramatically, with the national average gas price surpassing $5 per gallon this week.

A recent Wall Street Journal poll found that 83 percent of US citizens believe that the country's economic situation is poor or "not so good."

Inflation blame game

Pelosi, just like other Democrat leaders, tersely blamed the state of the US economy on the situation in Ukraine.

The House Speaker has constantly used the phrase "Putin's price hike" to blame inflation on the Russian president, echoing President Joe Biden's rhetoric.

In an effort to save Democrats from the public rage, she also blamed rising food prices on monopolies in the meat packing and shipping industries, and high gas prices on the energy industry.

Conservatives, on the other hand, argue that the buck stops in Washington and have accused Biden of strangling domestic energy production through executive orders closing pipelines and prohibiting drilling.

They also insist that by increasing the US budget to nearly $6 trillion and passing spending bills such as the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, Biden devalued the dollar and passed the cost on to consumers.

Earlier this year, Pelosi argued that increased government spending would have the "exact opposite effect" of increasing debt and inflation.

In contrast, Larry Summers, former President Barack Obama's economic adviser, called the American Rescue Plan "the least responsible macroeconomic policy we've had in the last 40 years."

Since Biden took office in January, the US inflation rate has risen dramatically, rising from an average of 1.4 percent in December 2020 to 7 percent in December 2021, two months before Russia's military operation in Ukraine began. Gas prices rose as well, from an average of $2.28 per gallon in December 2020 to $3.40 the following year.