CNN's Jake Tapper gave White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett a rather inconvenient reality check when he asked him to explain Donald J. Trump’s boast that the country is enjoying “the best economic numbers ever.”
The problem? The actual numbers don't seem particularly interested in cooperating with Trump’s self-congratulatory assessment.
“So let’s break down the economic numbers,” Tapper said. “Growth is a modest 2.2%. Unemployment is relatively low, but ticking up a bit at 4.2%. Hiring is weak, only 29,000 jobs added in September. July and August were revised down. Inflation is at 3.4%. Prices rose 0.4% in August.
"Wage growth is at a five-year low. Hourly wages are down 0.3% over the past year," he continued. "So, assessing it here, it’s a growing economy, but hiring is slow. Wages are not keeping up with rising prices. So, what is the president talking about when he says it’s the best economic numbers ever? Is he misinformed or is he not telling the truth?”
Tapper pressed Hassett on the glaring disconnect between Trump’s rosy claims and what the economic data—and Americans themselves—are showing. Hassett, naturally, had an explanation: If people aren't feeling like the economy is fantastic, perhaps they simply aren't appreciating how fantastic it supposedly is.
"Well, it's true that the polls, which have gotten the president's success wrong every time, have been saying that people are looking a little bit depressed about the economy, but if you look at their actions, the actions speak way louder than words," Hassett replied.
"And so what we know from the economic literature is that if people are worried about whether they're gonna lose their job, if they're worried about whether they're gonna get a pay cut, then they start reducing their consumption and increasing their savings," he continued. "It's called the buffer stock theory of savings."
"And so what we see right now is that people are really, really optimistic about the future, about their future incomes, because they're spending really, really at record levels," he continued.
Then Tapper played a clip of JD Vance admitting that prices are high.
"Now he blamed Democrats for the high prices, but is he wrong that prices are high?" Tapper said.
"Oh, prices are high in the sense that inflation went up about 20% under Joe Biden, and the inflation rate has gone way, way down," Hassett insisted.
“The hard data are radically inconsistent with the polls,” Hassett said. “And so, which do you believe, the government hard data or the polls that have been wrong about every single election since I can remember?”
“But the government hard data is that only 29,000 jobs were created!” Tapper shot back.
“Oh, come on! That’s just last month,” Hassett said, then Tapper noted that previous months’ numbers were revised.
“Two years ago, President Trump said he thought he could get mortgage rates down to 3% or even lower. Last week, mortgage rates had the biggest weekly jump in four years. It’s more than 7%," Tapper said. "Why has President Trump failed to deliver on that promise?”
Hassett somehow insisted that "The economy is booming."
"The economy is booming" is doing some heavy lifting while Americans can't afford healthcare, groceries, or housing.
