CNBC’s Rick Santelli Rails Against ‘Politicized’ Inflation: ‘First it Was Transitory… Now We’re at Putin!’

CNBC’s Rick Santelli complained about a revolving door of causes being blamed on rising commodities prices, and complained inflation has become “politicized.”

The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced the consumer price index in February jumped to 7.9% from last year. Meanwhile, Month over month, inflation climbed 0.8%, relative to January.

Santelli announced the numbers on CNBC’s Squawk Box, where he noted that such an increase has not been seen since 1982.

The news is not good for President Joe Biden. The president has presided over record price increases for food, fuel, and energy sources to heat homes.

Biden passed the buck Wednesday when blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine for pain at the pump.

Putin, who is a war criminal, is a convenient scapegoat. But as Santelli noted, prices on basic commodities have been rising for more than a year. He also noted the headache has been blamed on a number of factors.

Addressing host Joe Kernen, Santelli said:

Of course, this inflation news is going to be tough for the administration. Nothing, Joe, nothing has been more politicized than inflation. Just let’s harken back to all the things we’ve been through. First it was transitory, then, ‘inflation is good,’ then we went to corporate greed. Now we’re at Putin.

Listen, it’s probably all the above, but no matter how you slice it, it’s all about commodities for the most part. And king commodity is energy, and most people in the United States are reminded of that about that, every three to four days when they go fill up their tanks.

The “inflation is good” comment was a likely reference to Democrat Party-friendly media outlets, which did their best last year to throw Biden a lifeline on inflation.

CNN, for example, published a web story last December which was headlined: “Why inflation can actually be good for everyday Americans and bad for rich people.”

Watch above, via CNBC.