Jen Psaki Faults Americans’ Spending Habits for Economic Woes

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Jen Psaki Faults Americans’ Spending Habits for Economic Woes: ‘Root Cause’ of Supply Chain Problems

White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Wednesday faulted Americans’ pandemic-time spending habits for rising prices and widespread supply-chain failures.

“What’s your message to Americans who are still so worried about their Christmas gifts on time, [and] Halloween?” a reporter asked Psaki at the daily White House press briefing. “Is this going to be happening at a fast enough pace?”

The White House’s message, Psaki replied, was that Americans were spending too much.

“Well, I think our message is that, one, what’s happening right now… is that so many people across the country are purchasing more goods online,” Psaki replied. “Maybe some of it is from habits that developed during the pandemic when people weren’t leaving their homes.”

“Some of it is because we’ve seen an economic recovery that has been underway for the last nine months,” she added. “That is leading to a massive increase in volume. That’s what’s happening at ports. But what we would tell people is we are addressing and attacking the supply chain issues, even with the increased volume, which is the root cause here.”

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