‘Too many things unaffordable:’ Biden fires up price wars as inflation cools

He amplified his crackdown on soaring prescription drug costs, hidden fees for cable and air travel and corporate “price-gouging.” He also promised to “keep fighting to bring down costs.”
Following the links the above quote, the CNBC articles suggests we can expect progress on the first two items (prescription drug costs and hidden fees), but there's nothing I read in the linked article about dealing with price gouging other than some stern words. Maybe something is indeed in the works, but it wasn't obvious to me at the least.
Instead of taking a routine victory lap, the president doubled down on the war, pledging to do himself what the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes have not: Make things cheaper.
[…]
It is a marked tone shift from the president’s typical reactions to positive inflation data.
I do appreciate this narrative shift—transitioning from tone-deaf/gaslighting to acknowledging that key issues still aren't addressed.
- He's trying to thread the needle, and to me it's kinda working. He won't be effective on most of it, I'm sure, but I've given up hope of effective government and just like it when it makes nice sounds.
  
  I feel like the biggest reason he won’t be effective is that he’s against pure obstructionists in the GOP. They have no desire to govern and somehow won the House.
- Democrats know all they have to do is say the right things and people will keep voting.
  Biden has no intention of doing anything meaningful on inflation.
  
  Do you think Trump would?

He has no power to do anything really. I'm starting to think more socialism makes sense. I kind of want profit limits on certain essential sectors like food, medicine, probably others.
I'm tired of hearing about how company X made 3 billion more this quarter than last year. It's one thing to be profitable and make something, it's another to give it all to the execs and make consumers eat more year after year.
Raising prices to raise profits when you're still profitable is ridiculous and greedy.
I don't see how Biden could fix the situation on his own. It needs a massive change.
- Nestle should not be allowed to own water supplies, it's beyond disgusting.
- Want to buy a new TV? Sure capitalism _{can work for that}
  Need Healthcare? Or food? Or internet? Or housing? Capitalism does not work for that.
- Exactly. Nothing short of some socialism is going to fix this when companies can increase prices as much as they want. Current generation kids will say "well the fair market means someone will lower prices and everyone else will have to follow or lose customers." Adults know that all that's happening is everyone is raising prices across the board since they all win.
  
  Depends on what you guys think "some" socialism means.

I'll never get articles like this. First off, Biden, specifically, is the one creating a price war? Huh, only him. No one else is engaged in any way, shape, or form.
Second, oh, he's only doing it because of the election. How do you know that? What proof do you have other than timing? Did you read his mind? That's a guess at best.
Third, why does the president always get all the blame or all the praise no matter what? We don't have a dictatorship (however much some people want us to). This has always seemed to be such bullshit to me. I hate how people act like the president is to blame for every single bad thing that ever happens that's even tangentially related to the government and given all the praise when other parts of the government did things that the president has nothing to do with.
Four, there's so much bias on this article that basically just says "Biden bad even though he's trying to help. Doesn't matter. He's still bad."
- I mean, it's not anything special to presidency. With concerts, it's the conductor that gets the praise… with companies, it's CEOs, with sports it's usually coaches.
  We're not good in general at remembering the individuals, let alone acknowledging them and their cog in the machine. A flaw to be sure, but a universal one.
  That said, I certainly agree with the sentiment, the wrong people do get the praise and blame for those under their authority.
  
  Well, I dunno' about a universal problem, but it's definitely a nasty little thing stuck in the craw of the social zeitgeist.
  I genuinely blame it on corporate media. They NEVER simply describe events and must sensationalize and narrativize everything. It gives credibility to what would otherwise be judgemental gossip, and people latch on and follow suit because of the sense of formality the "news" gives it.
- Well said but 50%-60% of everyone else is fucking stupid. You can't fix stupid.
  
  George Carlin said it best. To paraphrase: Think about a person of average intelligence. Now realize that 50% of people are stupider than that.

If I may, it’s almost as if…
THE RENT IS TOO DAMN HIGH!
- Somebody should run a political campaign on this premise
  
  It'll only work if they have some seriously epic facial hair

Inflation cooling doesn't mean prices go down.
- Especially when it seems most were artificially inflated.
  
  Can't let the shareholders get hurt

Worrying about the price of cable is the most boomer shit I've ever heard of.
- Cable companies having a monopoly on internet in most areas affect almost everyone and should be dealt with though (it won't be though).
  
  Right?
  At my address, my choices for high speed Internet are Comcast or Go Fuck Yourself.
  
  If you look at other countries like Germany you can get high speed 400mbps for around $30-35 a month. Fiber isn't as available in a lot of areas but it is expanding and you can get 1000mbps for $45 a month.
  US cable companies are price gouging customers so bad. And that's all while getting money from the government to fund their infrastructure expansions.
- "People are paying too much for television packages and don't have options to change it!"
  "Yeah Grandpa, we figured this out in 2010."
  
  Yeah, just pay $20 a month across 16 different streaming services that all have siloed content! It's so much better now! /s

About time we saw some Dark Brandon again.
- I used to think that was the dumbest shit a democratic administration would embrace...
  Then they started unironically using the term "Bidenomics" like making people associate Biden and Regan was a good thing.
  Like, if 20 years ago someone said in 2024 both candidates for US president would be ripping off Ronald Regan Id have laughed in your face.
  But we're really fucking there, and at this point no democratic voter has a say of in it

A dozen eggs costs over $6 still. This is after the industry was called out for gouging 15-20 years ago AND after the bird flu panic raised prices a year or 2 ago (that was found to be BS too). He ain’t gonna do anything. He is another “chump block” for big biz, but at least he’s not Trump. I’m so tired of all this edit: some pics of the egg prices here today
- Might be the store you shop at is to blame. I can get a dozen cage free eggs for $2.49 at my local Safeway. I feel like some stores just refused to lower their prices back down after that bird flu panic. They're all greedy, some just greedier than others.
  
  $3.49 here.
  
  I have several stores to pick from and that’s what the it is here. (Chicago area)
  
  People shop at the stores available, to which they can travel.
- I live in the middle of Wyoming and an 18 pack of eggs is only $3.48 at Walmart. I dunno what HCOL area you're in or what kind of fancy stores you visit but eggs costing 50 cents each isn't the norm.
  
  I live in a HCOL area and a dozen eggs at Lidl is under $2
- $2.82 for 18 here from a store brand, $3.84 for 18 cage free.

But funding genocide isn't unaffordable...
Got plenty of billions to give to Netanyahu to continue his genocide of Palestinians no matter what. Just not enough for Americans to have stuff like healthcare or retirement.
Nope.
Gotta have priorities, it's not like we could ask the wealthiest to pay their fair of taxes either. Just think of all the donations politicians like Biden would lose our on!
- What the fuck are you talking about? Biden and the Democrats are the only politicians trying to tax the rich, get people healthcare, and keep Medicare funded. Blame the Republicans that stop them every time. It has nothing to do with not being able to afford it.
  
  Yea the US could sacrifice zero dollars in defense budget and still provide adequate service to the population. Healthcare is cheaper when it's not being profiteered by insurance middlemen, and private companies pricing is really hard to influence directly without something like a price fixing lawsuit.
  But hey gotta maintain the "democrats are just as bad" image.
  
  They’re one of those “gEnOcIdEr JoE” types that don’t realize the US would’ve backed Israel regardless of who was President.
  Also, the military industrial complex is fucking insane and it’s arguable that the US has invested so much into it that it would hugely impact the economy between all the programs, jobs, and money in general we (over)give to them.
  
  Yes.
  If you pretend the only two options are Republicans or Moderate Dems, then the moderate Dems are the only ones doing anything.
  They're throwing glasses of water on the fire while your house burns down and stopping for five minutes between glasses to demand you praise them.
  And that is the two party system. And only the two parties can change it.
  Which is why Bernie has spent decades trying to get a progressive movement going. And it's finally happening.
  So now we have some democrats willing to fix shit.
  But don't just lump everyone with a "D" next to their name into the same group.
  So I'll go back to blaming the Republicans when Republicans make shit worse.
  And I'll keep blaming moderate Dems when they refuse to fix anything once in power. Even the rare things they do fix, it's still less than what Republicans break.
  Keep it up, shit keeps getting worse. It's just hitting a couple branches on your way down. It's ain't even a parachute, sure as shit isn't preventing the fall.
- Not only funding genocide but also defunding a country legitimately trying to defend itself from an invasion. Somehow, he can invoke emergency powers to weaponize Israel, but Ukraine's fate is left to another group who can't even manage to pass a bowl of mashed potatoes.
- Military budget has nothing to do with prescription drugs and groceries.
  
  Wait...
  You think the 15 billion Biden wants Israel to have is coming out of the defense budget?!
  https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/20/us/politics/bidens-funds-israel-ukraine.html
  You think any of the billions we give them annually is being taken away from the DoD?
  Ludacris.
  The military budget isn't paying for that.
  It's getting added to our debt, which will then prevent moderates and Republicans from supporting shit like universal healthcare or tax cuts to the least wealthy
  Gotta say, didn't think I'd have to break that down. Thought everyone in a political sub would understand