The White House harshly criticized Amazon founder Jeff Bezos after he went on the offensive against President Joe Biden in a series of tweets in recent days to slam the White House’s approach to inflation and taxing wealthy corporations, CNBC reported.
The exchange marked an escalation in a simmering feud between Biden and Bezos as the president has frequently used Amazon as a foil in an attempt to pass legislation for higher taxes on the richest Americans and big companies to help pay for his economic agenda, according to The Hill.
After Bezos charged over the weekend that Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan that he signed into law last year contributed to a sharp rise in prices and that inflation is most harmful to the poor, deputy White House press secretary Andrew Bates responded.
Bates said in a statement that “it doesn’t require a huge leap to figure out why one of the wealthiest individuals on Earth opposes an economic agenda for the middle class that cuts some of the biggest costs families face, fights inflation for the long haul, and adds to the historic deficit reduction the president is achieving by asking the richest taxpayers and corporations to pay their fair share.”
He added that “it’s also unsurprising that this tweet comes after the president met with labor organizers, including Amazon employees.”
In reaction, Bezos on Monday accused the White House of trying to change the subject and again criticized its economic policy, tweeting that “remember the administration tried their best to add another $3.5 TRILLION to federal spending. They failed, but if they had succeeded, inflation would be even higher than it is today, and inflation today is at a 40 year high.”
The Hill noted that although the White House is on the defensive about higher inflation, a public argument with Bezos could be of use, as Biden has repeatedly singled out Amazon for not paying federal taxes as part of a broader push for the wealthiest corporations and individuals to pay their fair share.
Biden has also in recent weeks publicly backed attempts to unionize among Amazon workers.
“Amazon, here we come,” Biden said at a North America’s Building Trades Unions legislative conference last month after workers at one of its Staten Island, New York, sites voted to be represented by a union, The Hill reported.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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