Biden Needs to Get Out of 'Echo Chamber' to Bring Down Inflation, Business Leader Says.
This article is written by and originally appeared in The National Desk.
WASHINGTON (TND) — Consumers are grappling with record-high gas prices and the trickle-down effect is also hurting businesses. On top of that, energy costs are also contributing to the decades-high inflation numbers.
Business leaders within the Democratic party are putting more pressure on the president to do something to fix record-high gas prices that are hurting the workforce and cutting into companies' bottom lines.
Many are blaming the Russian invasion of Ukraine for high gas prices but prices were already on the move beforehand.
Javier Palomarez, president and CEO of the United States Hispanic Business Council, says the inflation price hikes are creating an “untenable” environment for small businesses.
“The funny thing about rising energy costs, it’s like an invisible tax. All of a sudden everything costs more: Manufacturing, production, transportation, even farming fertilizer costs more and so what we're seeing is that obviously, the American family is feeling it but more than anyone American small businesses are feeling it,” Palomarez says.
With inflation sitting at 8.5%, a recent Wall Street Journal poll found 83% of Americans believe the economy is "poor" or "not so good.” As the economic downturn persists, people are looking back on President Joe Biden’s decisions to understand what led up to this point.
“We’re bleeding out from a self-inflicted wound. His first day in office, President Biden shut down the trans-Canada pipeline and that's what began what we're seeing today,” Palomarez said. “I think he needs to get out of the echo chamber, I think he needs to listen to the American small business community and let us advise his strategy.”
Palomarez says that while the administration should maintain its goal of decarbonizing, in the meantime, the nation needs to increase oil and gas production.
“To ensure that we don't find ourselves dependent on foreign adversaries for our own fuel in our own energy,” he said.
The World Bank lowered the forecast for global growth from 4.1% to 2.9% Tuesday and warned that many countries could fall into a recession as the economy slips into a period of stagflation.
Amid the growing concern for the world economy and fears of a recession in the U.S., Palomarez says it’s time for the president to focus on helping small and medium-sized businesses, which create about 70% of jobs in the country.
“We do appreciate the efforts that this administration has illustrated time and again but I really believe that this president, who I still believe in, would do well to quit listening to his little circle of advisers, get out of the echo chamber. Listen to American small businesses,” he said. “We just want our administration to listen to what we have to say.”
