Rick Scott blames Joe Biden, inflation for ruining the ‘holiday’ spirit
Rick Scott. Image via AP.

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Could the CPI hike ruin Christmas?

The holiday season is coming, but U.S. Sen. Rick Scott worries that the high cost of living will mar the general merriment.

In his latest denunciation of inflation under the Joe Biden administration, the Senator warns that cost spirals threaten to “crush spirits” amid “holiday preparations.”

““As Americans begin holiday preparations, Joe Biden’s raging inflation crisis is set to crush spirits for the second year in a row. For nearly two years, families in Florida and across the country have been dealing with rising prices and Biden has done NOTHING to fix it,” Scott contended Thursday, in a statement from his Senate office that blamed Biden and Democrats for the “devastating crisis.”

Though Scott is the richest member of the U.S. Senate, that wasn’t always so, he reminded.

“Growing up, my family lived in public housing and had to fight tooth and nail every month just to get by. Too many families in America are now living that same struggle and it appears that things will only get worse. Unemployment is rising, prices continue to skyrocket and we could face a critical shortage of fuel and heating oil this winter,” Scott warned.

Fuel oil, up 69% year over year, is among the biggest drivers in the October CPI, which rose 0.4% over the month, leading to a year over year jump of 7.7%. Shelter costs, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, made up over half of the monthly increase.

Scott’s warning elides the BLS contention that inflation is actually easing. The 7.7% increase was the smallest since January of this year, and energy and food indexes are seeing smaller year over year increases than they saw in September.

Scott’s warning of a potentially compromised holiday season because of federal policy may seem familiar. His successor as Governor, Ron DeSantis, spent much time in late 2021 warning that supply chain issues may ruin the holiday season.

“You see all of these problems with the shipping and not being able to get goods. We don’t even know if the kids will get toys for Christmas,” DeSantis said last October.

For a second straight year, the grim specter of the Grinch apparently looms over the Sunshine State.

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has been the Northeast Florida correspondent for Florida Politics since 2014. His work also can be seen in the Washington Post, the New York Post, the Washington Times, and National Review, among other publications. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski


5 comments

  • Linwood Wright

    November 10, 2022 at 12:18 pm

    Joe Biden is the most powerful President the world has ever seen.

    Somehow, he’s able to cause inflation across Europe that’s worse than it is here, and inflation across the rest of the world that about on par with ours.

    https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/inflation-rate

    Meanwhile, Turkey, the country with a dictator that Trump buddied up to, has inflation rates approaching 85%. Incredible how powerful Biden is to do all this.

    • David Deptola

      November 11, 2022 at 2:11 pm

      sorry but you need some real help!!! things were fine until he took office, lets hope things change soon or you be eating what ever you can find.

  • Frankie M.

    November 10, 2022 at 12:47 pm

    Never did get that vintage tickle me elmo last Xmas. Thz Chiner! Now that sleepy Joe bas outlawed sweet baby Jesus from nativity scenes inside guvmint buildings we can’t even say merry xmas or make.anit-Semitic slurs. Land of the free indeed.

  • Virginia

    November 10, 2022 at 1:43 pm

    I’ll bet Rick Scott’s Medicare fraud ruined many Christmases and Hanukkahs back in the day. Don’t really see how Biden sets the rate of inflation when it is coming from problems created by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

  • Ocean Joe

    November 10, 2022 at 8:34 pm

    Uncle Fester is like a blood filled gnat buzzing around waiting to be slapped flat. He fleeces taxpayers, gets a perverse reward of a $300,000,000 golden parachute despite exposing HCA to the largest financial penalty in US history (to that point), buys himself the governor’s office, wrecks Florida’s environment, moves on to the senate and helps the GOP go 0-3 in ruby red Georgia for senate seats, (no way the abortionist who opposes abortions can win without Kemp on the ballot), could give Florida and the nation the greatest Christmas gift of all time: RESIGN.

Comments are closed.


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