MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” was a showcase of inflation realities this week as host Joe Scarborough looked stunned when his wife and co-host Mika Brzezinski revealed that the price of butter has soared to a staggering $7. Once a former Republican congressman, Scarborough now helms a liberal-leaning show, but even he couldn’t hide his disbelief over the basic cost of groceries.
“A few weeks ago, someone who said they’d be voting for Kamala Harris told me, ‘Oh my God, Trump’s going to win… I go to the grocery store, and butter is over $3,’” Scarborough recounted. Dismissing the complaint at the time, he joked, “I kinda laughed and thought that’s a bit reductive, right?”
Brzezinski quickly corrected him. “It’s $7… I’m just saying, it’s $7,” she interjected solemnly.
Scarborough’s shocked reaction—“What, is it framed in gold?”—was the reaction of many Americans, feeling the daily pain of rising prices and declining real wages. A chart then appeared on the screen, showing that nearly half of Americans feel worse off than they did four years ago.
“If you look at the cost of groceries, if you look at the cost of gas, if you look at the cost of things compared to four years ago,” Scarborough admitted, “it was a very simple answer for working-class Americans.” The reality of inflation had finally come crashing through.
Yet, just a week ago, Scarborough had claimed that the “next president inherits a remarkable economy.” It’s a stunning contradiction from the same man who, back in March, assured viewers that President Biden was “intellectually, analytically… the best Biden ever,” while downplaying the President’s numerous verbal slip-ups and confusion over foreign dignitaries. “I’ve spent a couple of hours with Joe Biden,” Scarborough insisted in March. “He’s far beyond cogent. In fact, I think he’s better than he’s ever been intellectually, analytically.”
Many Americans might disagree, however. From a record-breaking 40-year high in inflation in 2022 to rising food prices in 2024, it’s clear the administration’s big spending has come with serious consequences. In 2022, when inflation had reached new peaks, Scarborough enthusiastically backed Biden’s call for more federal spending, saying Americans were “sick and tired of oil companies and tech companies…paying zero in taxes.” Biden’s solution was the Inflation Reduction Act, a bill that included a 15% corporate minimum tax rate. Scarborough and others on the left hailed it as “anti-inflationary” and “deficit-reducing.”
Yet, according to the nonpartisan Penn Wharton Budget Model, instead of reducing the deficit, the Inflation Reduction Act would add approximately $750 billion to the debt over the next decade. Even with other analyses, such as one from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, which suggested a modest $252 billion reduction, Biden’s ambitious spending programs—including a sweeping $400 billion student debt cancellation—have kept the U.S. debt spiraling upward, adding a projected $4.3 trillion over the next decade.
For many economists, it’s this kind of high spending that fuels inflation. As Jason Furman, former chair of Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, warned in 2022, “Pouring roughly half a trillion dollars of gasoline on the inflationary fire…is reckless.”
In the real world, working Americans are feeling the effects. Billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson put it bluntly on Fox News, saying, “Under Biden, because of high inflation, real wages have declined from where they were when he started.” This translates to Americans struggling with everyday expenses, from rent to groceries to gas. A recent Bureau of Labor Statistics report confirmed it: consumer goods prices have risen by about 20% since January 2021.
As Scarborough himself acknowledged, the numbers don’t lie, and working Americans are shouldering the cost. Inflation has chipped away at purchasing power, and with wages struggling to keep pace, everyday expenses are becoming burdensome for many.
The morning show segment, intended to be light-hearted, became a sobering reminder of the inflationary strain that Americans across the country are experiencing. Scarborough’s shock over $7 butter may have been genuine, but it’s a shock millions of American families encounter every time they walk down the grocery aisle.
