MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan dug into the “real villains” of the inflation crisis during a segment of his show Sunday.
Hasan, who likened inflation to a specter looming over America ahead of the midterm elections, tackled a topic that has been a major concern for Americans.
A recent Monmouth University poll found 82% of Americans named inflation as a very or extremely important issue, CNBC reported earlier this month.
Politicians including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, have recently called on Democrats to address the state of the economy while Democratic strategist Mike Lux told NBC News that the party never should have downplayed inflation.
“Working-class folks are getting hit hard by inflation and we need to make clear that we understand what is going on, we know that people are having a tough time and we are with them in this fight,” Lux told the news outlet.
Hasan called on Democrats to go on the offensive on Sunday and blame those he labeled as the “real villains” of the crisis: corporations.
Hasan, seconds later, addressed a 2021 story from Business Insider that highlighted corporate profit margins reaching their highest point since 1950.
“The little guys, Joe and Josephine Six-Pack, they’re getting snookered at every turn by the profiteers and the price gougers,” argued Hasan before he pointed to recent profit increases by petroleum companies, meat packers and Amazon.
He also pointed to remarks from President Joe Biden, who, in May, addressed corporate executives’ actions amid inflation.
“But it’s not enough to occasionally mention it in passing, there has to be an across-the-board, all-hands-on-deck, 24/7, Democratic Party campaign that identifies price gouging and corporate profiteering as one of the key drivers of inflation in this country,” Hasan said. “You have to lay it out for the voters because the facts are on your side.”
You can listen to Hasan’s full remarks below.
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