MSNBC Mocked for Tweet Claiming ‘Why the Inflation We’re Seeing Now is a Good Thing’

Jackson RichmanNov 8th, 2021, 5:36 pm
 
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Twitter users mocked MSNBC on Monday for tweeting an article with the comment, “Why the inflation we’re seeing now is a good thing.”

The article, headlined “How Covid became the unlikely hero of our inflation crisis” and written by James Surowiecki, delved into some of the economic issues arising in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, and pointed out several ways that American workers and consumers had benefitted:

Of course, having the price of something you buy a ton of rise 10-20 percent in a matter of months hurts. But that’s the point: It’s enough to talk about the inflation we actually do have (inflation we haven’t really had to deal with for more than a decade). You don’t need to, as it were, over-egg the pudding.

At the same time, any discussion of inflation needs to include the context in which it’s happening. Historically, recessions have left Americans poorer, not better off. But the Covid recession was different. As people shifting their habits drastically in response to the pandemic, they spent much less and saved more. Even though millions of Americans lost their jobs, enhanced unemployment benefits and stimulus payments left many of them better off, not worse. And the stock market, after initially falling, boomed.

However, none of that context was present in MSNBC’s tweet, and Twitter users were swift and blunt in their mockery.

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