Hassett Calls Affordability Crisis a ‘Myth,’ Citing $5,000 Gain in Household Spending
White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said inflation-adjusted consumption has risen about $5,000 per household since President Donald Trump took office, calling the “affordability crisis” a “myth” in an interview with Fox Business.
Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, made the remarks Monday on “Kudlow,” eight days before the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
“The amount of consumption per household has gone up maybe around $5,000 per household,” Hassett said, according to Newsweek.
“That’s after inflation, because of the income boom, the capital spending boom, the fact that people aren’t losing their jobs. All the things that have made the economy great means that ‘affordability crisis’ — it’s a myth!”
He said complaints about affordability are “inconsistent with the data” and that Americans are “$1 trillion better off than when President Trump took office.”
The exchange began after host Larry Kudlow acknowledged that high gasoline prices were a burden for many Americans. Hassett predicted pump prices would “drop like a rock soon.”
The national average for regular gasoline was $4.247 a gallon on Wednesday, according to AAA, up from about $3 before the Iran war began in late February.
Commerce Department figures show aggregate personal income has risen 7.3% since January 2025 to $27.6 trillion, while spending has climbed 9.3% to $22.3 trillion. Consumer prices are up roughly 6.1% over the same stretch.
Inflation accelerated to 3.7% in September from 3.4% in August, faster than forecast, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Hourly earnings rose 0.1% that month while prices climbed 0.6%.
Other readings are mixed. The Conference Board said Tuesday its consumer confidence index jumped 7.5 points to 91.7 in October, helped by easing gas prices.
The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index, however, sits near a record low at 48.0, Newsweek reported.
Economists Push Back
Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, called affordability “a serious problem for the majority of Americans.”
“After inflation, wages are falling, personal saving rates are low, and borrowing costs are on the rise,” Zandi told Newsweek.
“Overall spending has held up, but only because the well-to-do are doing fine financially,” he said, “as their AI-powered stock prices have lifted their wealth.”
Moody’s research published last year found the top 10% of earners now account for roughly half of all consumer spending.
David Wessel, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said aggregate numbers hide what ordinary households face, because “Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have a lot of money and spend a lot,” which “brings up the average.”
“I wonder how much money Kevin Hassett would bet that gasoline prices are going to drop like a rock. If the president could do that, why wouldn’t he do it before the midterms,” Wessel said.
Hassett’s argument tracks with Trump’s own. At the Republican National Convention in September, the president said of affordability, “It’s fake,” and said his opponents had caused the problem.
In an interview with Gray Television this month, Trump said affordability “is big” but pinned it on his predecessor. “We’re bringing it down,” he said.
Content created by Conservative Daily News and some content syndicated through CDN is available for re-publication without charge under the Creative Commons license. Visit our syndication page for details and requirements.
