National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard speaks during the daily press briefing at the White House January 11, 2024 in Washington, DC. Brainard answered a series of questions about the economy and inflation.
Drew Angerer | Getty Images
Director of the National Economic Council Lael Brainard on Tuesday blamed the rise in consumer prices on “contractionflation“, doubling the stakes on the last battle front of That of President Joe Biden corporate pressure campaign.
“If you look at certain commodities, like eggs or milk, they’ve gone down. But consumer brands, instead of actually lowering prices, have shrunk packaging,” Brainard said on CNBC’s “Money Movers.” . “It’s the contraction in inflation that the president is really drawing attention to.”
Brainard’s comments came hours after consumer price index showed inflation above expectations, with an increase of 0.3% in January. In particular, food prices fell by 0.4% during the month. Consumer brands like Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble and others have raised prices over the past year to keep profits afloat.
Shrinkflation, the practice of shrinking the size of products while keeping prices the same, is Biden’s latest line of attack against businesses, which he launched Sunday during the Super Bowl.
The White House and that of Biden 2024 The re-election campaign has touted the recovery in inflation as a key achievement of his economic agenda, dubbed Bidenomics. But consumers haven’t yet felt the relief in their wallets and they blame Biden for that, according to recent polls. Instead, Biden pointed the finger at companies’ price-gouging tactics, which he says are the real driver of continued high prices.
“The president is going to continue to emphasize that input costs have fallen and supply chains have recovered,” Brainard said. “He will continue to call on businesses to pass these savings on to the American consumer.”