A stopped clock is right twice a day, and sure enough, that brings us to White House spokesweasel Jen Psaki.

The latter spoke the truth for once, at least on the words "extraordinarily elevated," now that the consumer price index (CPI) has been released, showing a higher-than-forecast 8.5% rise, and sure enough, for once she was right.

According to the Daily Caller, she tried to prime the ground for the coming number just yesterday:

"Because of the actions were taken to address the 'Putin Price Hike,' we are in a better place than we were last month, but we expect March ... CPI headline inflation to be extraordinarily elevated due to 'Putin's Price Hike', and we expect a large difference between core and headline inflation, reflecting the global disruptions in energy and food markets," Psaki said.

The rest of her statement was garbage.

She still claims that the whole fiasco was Russian president Vladimir Putin's doing, and America's economy is simply helpless in the face of Russia's gargantuan and merciless economic shadow.

In other words, the mighty $21.4-trillion American economy is subordinate to the whims, the crushing boot, of a feudal, puny, and stunted Russian economy, which at $1.65 trillion GDP doesn't even best Texas's, the latter of which clocked in at $1.9 trillion in 2021.

Gas prices are cited as the root of the inflation, and Psaki gaslights with alacrity on the matter in her statement above, but none of what she says has any basis in fact.

The U.S. imports about 60% of its oil from foreign suppliers now that Joe Biden has ended U.S. energy independence.  Of that 60%, 8% was from Russia, and according to NBC News, that amounted to about 2% of what the U.S. consumed.  Cutting off Russian oil imports, as Congress has forced Biden to do, doesn't exactly make a significant dent in U.S. oil availability, even if the global price of oil goes up.  And amazingly, energy production is still being repressed here in the States by Biden, which could fill that hole in a matter of three or four months according to energy industry insiders.  Joe prefers to beg dictators to make up the difference, as well as squander the strategic reserves, and yell loudly about "going green."  And somehow, that tiny impact is enough to send food prices spiraling to ever higher levels, as the FDA warned last month here. 

Psaki seems to be the one in charge of crafting all of Biden's fanciful excuses for these monster inflation numbers.  A survey of the Daily Caller's headlines shows these:

White House Claims Inflation Spike Is 'Temporary,' Will Be Gone 'Next Year'  —July 15, 2021

Psaki Says Surging Prices Are 'A Good Thing' When Cornered By Jake Tapper —Oct. 16, 2021

Psaki Says Higher Gas Prices Show Need For Green Transition —Nov. 12, 2021

'Putin's Gas Price Hike': Psaki Pins Russia And Oil Companies For Rising Gas Prices —March 10, 2022

And she's still on the blame the oil, blame the oil companies, and blame Putin kick for the highest inflation in 40 years, coming up with ever more creative excuses, except for the actual reason, which is the Federal Reserve's money-printing, premised on Congress and cheerleading Joe's crazed federal spending spree — the trillions splashed out over the past two years on stimulus, COVID relief, and infrastructure packages.  Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon, as Milton Friedman stated.

Now Psaki and the team she leads are trying to pre-empt bad numbers by warning about them before they happen.  That's pathetic.  That's a bid to fool the public, which is not being fooled based on various poll numbers — and the memory of inflation as it built all through the past year.

These bad numbers are bound to get worse, given the Bidenites' refusal to recognize the reality of where inflation comes from, and will necessitate big Federal Reserve rate hikes to wring this excess money sloshing around the system out.  Two such hikes are forecasted this year, and they might not be enough.

The problem here is that with the Bidenites denying the root cause of inflation, they aren't going to solve it.  They can release all the strategic oil reserves they like, they can blame Putin to high heavens — they can even un-ban drilling — and it's not going to stop the runaway inflation from coursing through the system.  Only fiscal discipline will, which means ending the money-printing.  Joe's not up for that, so expect the excuses to get even more surreal.

Image: Screen shot from Fox News video via YouTube.