A controversial New York Times contributor — who raised eyebrows when old tweets critical of “white people” resurfaced — is once again feeling the heat for claiming that “inflation hysterics” is being driven by wealthy people.
“[A]ll the stuff you see about inflation in the news is driven by rich people flipping their s— because their parasitic assets aren’t doing as well as they’d like and they’re scared that unemployment benefits + stimmy checks + 15 minimum wage + labor shortage is why,” Sarah Jeong said in a tweet Wednesday.
Jeong reportedly left the Times’ editorial board in September 2019 and assumed the role of a “contracted contributor” for NYT Opinion.
The liberal writer faced quick and thick backlash for her latest comments about the economy.
“This Tweet is a failure to comprehend basic economics,” Outkick founder Clay Travis said in a tweet.
“Rich people are far less impacted by inflation than poor people because rich people spend a comparatively smaller amount of their income on products. Inflation is a massive default tax on the poor,” he added.
Carol Roth, author of “The War on Small Business,” also slammed Jeong, writing: “You could check just about *any* asset class and know this makes absolutely no sense-assets have been inflated to record levels by Fed $ printing and govt stimulus.
“Here’s the S&P 500, for example. Inflation is a tax that impacts the middle class and poor the most. Facts > feels,” she added.
Liz Wolfe, an editor at Reason magazine, tweeted: “Oh my god, can you imagine being this willfully ignorant.”
Josh Barro of Business Insider called her comments “idiotic.”
“Asset prices have risen sharply. Inflation is squeezing at the middle of the income spectrum; wage growth is outpacing inflation at the bottom, and people at the top are enjoying asset price spikes,” he wrote.
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro called it “idiotic gobbledygook.”
“Those most worried about inflation are those whose wages have been eaten up by inflation. The rich, who have their money in assets like stocks and real estate, are making bank,” he wrote.
And Ruthless co-host Comfortably Smug wrote: “The fact is the liberal elites gaslight and hate you. Rich people love equities outperforming, it’s working class people that have to worry about groceries being more expensive and gas prices going through the roof. But ivy league journos want to tell you don’t believe your lying eyes. Incredible.”
Still, Jeong remained defiant in face of the backlash.
“[W]aaaaah the working class’s income is keeping pace with or outstripping inflation but my capital gains aren’t boo f—- hooooo,” she wrote.
“I have like all notifications turned off on here and i turned off comments on the original tweet, so mostly I know I’ve riled people up real bad because of the clustering of death threats in my email inbox and well… I don’t regret it,” she added.
In 2014, the South Korean native tweeted: “Dumbass f—- white people marking up the internet with their opinions like dogs pissing on fire hydrants.”
In another 2014 tweet, the tech writer asked, “Are white people genetically predisposed to burn faster in the sun, thus logically being only fit to live underground like groveling goblins.”