NEC Director Kevin Hassett: ‘Real Incomes Have Grown About $3,000 in President Trump‘s First Couple of Years’

EXCERPT:

HASSETT: “Oh, absolutely. And, you know, I think that if you look at the last couple of inflation reports, the thing that we got today that showed the Fed‘s favorite measure actually went down, it was negative for one of the first times in a long time. The Consumer Price Index had just a massive, massive decline in the latest monthly report. And it wasn‘t just because of energy. A lot of the policies that we‘ve been pursuing, like TrumpRx, is making it so that drug prices are going down. And so, we‘re mindful of the fact that prices went up a lot over the last 4 or 5 years before President Trump came in. But — and that people still are feeling pain. But on the other hand, real incomes have grown about $3,000 in President Trump‘s first couple of years. They declined that much over four years under President Biden. And so, people are seeing their wages go up more than prices. And they‘re finding, you know, as you looked at that consumption number, that was adjusted for inflation. And so, a big solid consumption quarter, like we saw in Q2, is a sign that consumers are optimistic about what’s going on on average.”