Washington Post reporter Michelle Singletary has been criticised and sparked outrage for telling Americans to “calm down” and “stop complaining” about inflation in the United States.
The personal finance columnist discussed the nation’s rising inflation rate while appearing on MSNBC on Wednesday. During her conversation, the television station’s anchor Chris Jansing mentioned a poll that had been done by Politico and Morning Consult. The poll showed that “38 per cent of Americans say they would rather see a recession than the inflation that we’re dealing with”.
“I read that to mean that more than a third of Americans are so pressed by what they’re having to pay for gas, for food, everyday items, rent, that they’d rather see a recession. Is that where we are right now?,” Jansing asked.
In response, Singletary said there are a large amount of Americans spending more money and they’re “not going to go under.”
“You got to stop complaining when there’s so many people who literally the inflation rate means they may only have two meals instead of three,” she added. “There are Americans who did extremely well in the last two years in the market. You still have your job.”
“And yea, it’s costing you more for gas, but guess what? You’re still going to take that holiday, that Fourth of July vacation, you can still eat out,” she continued.
Singletary went on to encourage Americans not to get so worked up about inflation rates and to stop living in “fear.” She added that they could use their “energy” to be there for other people.
“I’m going to need you to calm down and back off,” she said. “Because it feeds into this fear and then this fear feeds into people making decisions that creates the very thing that they are fearful of. If you’re in that category, calm down. Stop looking at your portfolio and you know what you can do with all that energy? Help other people.”
When it comes to Americans overall, she claimed that they aren’t thinking “realistically,” as the country isn’t in a recession.
“Many Americans aren’t suffering as much as they think they are and we can think things into existence because we are unrealistically fearful of something that hasn’t happened yet,” she added. “We don’t know if we’re in a recession yet.”
On social media, fans have criticised Singletary’s comments, given the fact that she’s had a successful career and background.
“Washington Post finance columnist Michelle Singletary, with a reported net worth of $7 million, and a $135,000 salary, is telling Americans who are worried about inflation that they should ‘stop complaining’ and that they need to ‘calm down and back off,’” one Twitter user wrote.
“Calm Down Back Off STOP Complaining about @JoeBiden BAD POLICIES INFLATION says MSNBC Talking Head! Is Michelle Singletary one of those WEALTHY Democrats who don’t care about American citizens and HATE USA?,” another added.
Other people claimed that Singletary’s remarks were out of touch with reality and shared some of the financial hardships they’ve faced throughout the pandemic.
“@washingtonpost U need to tell Michelle Singletary to STFU,” one said. “My husband’s an owner operator. He made $33 last week because of fuel prices & companies aren’t paying enough to make up for fuel prices. She needs to shut up. We’re losing everything because of inflation. She don’t know s***.”
“Absolutely the most insensitive out of touch rant,” another added. “@SingletaryM can take her communist loving self, calm that fat mouth down and back off because Americans are suffering while she sits in the lap of luxury.”
Throughout the pandemic, inflation rates have continued to be on the rise. According to the latest Consumer Price Index report, shared by the US Department of Labor, the inflation rate rose by 8.6 per cent over the last 12 months. Within the same time period, the average price of volatile food and energy rose by 6 per cent. As noted by CNN, the average price for a gallon of gas in the US is nearly five dollars.
