Susan Shelley: Did anyone in the Biden administration ever pass an economics class? Maybe not.

Watching President Joe Biden sit for an interview always reminds me of “University Days,” a chapter in the great American humorist James Thurber’s 1933 autobiography, “My Life and Hard Times.”

Thurber tells the story of a fellow student in his economics class who was one of Ohio State University’s outstanding football players, a tackle named Bolenciecwcz. “In order to be eligible to play it was necessary for him to keep up in his studies, a very difficult matter, for while he was not dumber than an ox he was not any smarter,” Thurber writes.

All of Bolenciecwcz’s professors helped him along, especially before the big game against Illinois. When it was the star player’s turn to answer a question, the economics professor asked him, “Name one means of transportation.”

As Bolenciecwcz “sat staring at him,” the professor offered more hints. “I might suggest the one which we commonly take in making long journeys across land,” he said.

“There was a profound silence in which everybody stirred uneasily,” Thurber writes, until the professor “abruptly broke this silence in an amazing manner. ‘Choo-choo-choo,’ he said in a low voice, and turned instantly scarlet.”

A lot of people in journalism should be blushing at the ridiculous softball questions typically asked of Biden, whose abysmal record in office has led to a job approval rating of 35%, according to Pew Research’s survey in April. Did you know his favorite flavor of ice cream is chocolate chip? Of course you did, he’s been asked the question many times. Did you know that a congressional investigation found that “Joe Biden met nearly every foreign associate funneling his family millions” and “lied to the American people when he claimed he ‘did not’ interact with his family’s foreign business associates,” according to bank records and witness testimony?

You probably didn’t know that. Even a simple question such as “What business is your family in?” could prove unanswerable for the Big Guy, and the cheerleaders certainly don’t want to be responsible for knocking the star player out of the game.

So it was striking to see CNN’s Erin Burnett interviewing Biden somewhat aggressively about the state of the U.S. economy on Wednesday, as the president sat staring at her with a frozen, stunned expression.

“The cost of buying a home in the United States is double what it was, when you look at your monthly costs, from before the pandemic,” Burnett said. “Real income, when you account for inflation, is actually down since you took office, economic growth last week far short of expectations. Consumer confidence, maybe no surprise, is near a two-year low. With less than six months to go to Election Day, are you worried that you’re running out of time to turn that around?”

“We’ve already turned it around,” Biden snapped. He pointed to the financial markets’ positive reaction to last week’s negative economic news. “One of the reasons why people feel good about it, not being as strong as it was before, is, they believe that the Fed’s going to respond.”

Burnett wasn’t impressed. “They hope they’re going to get a rate cut,” she said.

That led to Biden’s delusional brag that he has the best record of any president in “bringing down inflation.” On camera, in front of everybody, Biden said this about inflation: “It was 9 percent when I came to office. Nine percent.”

Not according to the U.S. government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In the first half of 2020, inflation, measured by the rise in the Consumer Price Index, was 1.8%. In the second half of 2020, it was 1.6%. Biden was sworn into office on January 20, 2021. That month, inflation was 1.4%. But just three months later, inflation had jumped to 3.0%, and by December 2021, it reached 5.5%. In 2022, inflation was above 6%. It slowed to 5.4% in the first half of 2023, 4.2% in the second half, and currently hovers at 3.8%.

Remember, these numbers are cumulative. Prices have gone up because the buying power of your dollar has gone down, and they’re still going up, and it’s still going down.

The president allowed that “people have a right to be concerned, ordinary people,” and then said, “The idea that you bounce a check and you get a $30 fee for bouncing the check, well, I changed that.” Biden boasted that he cut fees for returned checks and late credit card payments. “I mean, there’s corporate greed going on out there,” he said.

Even Thurber’s football player classmate would have been embarrassed to give an answer like that.

“There’s real pain,” Burnett pointed out. “Grocery prices are up 30 percent, more than 30 percent since the start of the pandemic, and people are spending more on food and groceries than they have at any time really in the past 30 years. I mean, that’s a real day-to-day pain that people feel.”

“It’s real,” Biden said, “But the fact is that, if you take a look at what people have, they have the money to spend.” Then he talked again about corporate greed, complaining, “Snickers bar, they did a thing, and they’re like 20 percent less for the same price.”

Yes, life is beautiful in America under Joe Biden, everybody just bouncing checks and eating chocolate bars

The president’s tone-deaf remark that people “have the money to spend” on higher prices may have been informed by recent comments from JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who told investors in April, “American consumers still have excess savings.” But Dimon warned that lower-income earners are rapidly running out of money, saying the bank is beginning to see problems in the subprime auto loan market.

Well, nothing bad ever happened from problems with subprime loans.

Did anyone in the Biden administration ever pass an economics class? Maybe not. The chair of the U.S. Council of Economic Advisors, Jared Bernstein, has a bachelor’s degree in music, a master’s degree in social work, and doctorate in social welfare.

I wonder if he ever played football.

Write Susan@SusanShelley.com and follow her on Twitter @Susan_Shelley