Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, said recent wage gains are not enough to offset what he described as the financial damage caused by the policies of Joe Biden. In a recent discussion, Hassett outlined how real wages have changed this year and criticized Democratic approaches to health care and consumer costs.
Hassett said purchasing power has increased but still falls short of the losses families experienced.
“Purchasing power has gone up that so real wages that’s w divided by P, for our technical people of the audience, have gone up by about $1,200 this year,” he said.
He described the gain as only partial progress after earlier losses.
“So the way to think about it is that we’ve dug a $3,000 hole because of Biden policies, and we’ve, you know, gained $1,200 on the way out already, which should give you a great deal of hope for the future, that the wage increases that we’re seeing will continue, and even if inflation stays positive, make it so that people feel way better when they go to the grocery store and to buy a car.”
Hassett pointed to consumer costs and said the administration has taken steps to bring expenses down in specific areas.
“You know, we’ve reduced the cost of buying a car with the deductibility of interest,” he said.
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He added that multiple policy actions are in motion.
“I mean, there’s a million things that we’re doing to fix this problem, but it’s just kind of astonishing to be the cost problem is somehow being blamed on us.”
He then shifted to the Affordable Care Act, arguing that its design and later changes under Democratic leadership pushed prices higher.
“Now think about it, especially with the Obamacare thing. So Obamacare is 100% democratic policy. It’s always been 100% democratic policy,” Hassett said.
He criticized the expansion of subsidies during COVID-19.
“What they did is they expanded the subsidies during covid and then all those subsidies basically went right into the pockets of insurance companies, and Obamacare insurance policies have doubled in price relative to normal policies, and so the fastest inflation in the economy is these big government subsidies thrown at Obamacare insurance.”
Hassett compared the pattern to other federally backed programs.
“Think about it’s kind of like if you give lots of student loans, then the tuition goes up. It’s that effect,” he said.
He argued that Democrats are now directing blame at the Trump administration instead of addressing the underlying issues.
“And so now they’re blaming President Trump for Obamacare as well. They should have fixed Obamacare in the first place,” he said.
Hassett said former President Donald Trump had advanced a plan that would have changed how subsidies were distributed.
“President Trump had a plan in the big, beautiful bill to give people some subsidies, but the Democrats didn’t like it, because the subsidies weren’t going to their campaign contributors, the insurance companies,” he said.
The comments reflect ongoing disagreements over health-care policy, consumer costs, and the long-term effects of economic decisions made under each administration.
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