White House economic adviser Jared Bernstein said on this week’s “Fox News Sunday” broadcast that the U.S. economy was “moving on the right track.”
Partial transcript as follows:
BERNSTEIN: Well, I want to try to paint a realistic picture that’s nuanced, that takes into account everything you just said. But also reflects not just what on people — what people are saying, which we have to listen to, they are the best arbiters of their economic conditions, but also what they’re doing. So we’re just coming out of a Black Friday, that is already setting records for online buying between 10 and 16 billion for Black Friday online.
We are looking at consumer spending that’s been driving this economy forward posting growth rates that are north of 5%. We have an unemployment rate that’s been below 4% for 21 months. Now, what that means in a period where inflation has come down by two-thirds, it peaked at 9%. It’s now 3.2.
SHANNON BREAM: And wages have not kept up.
BERNSTEIN: So real wages have grown, real wages, in other words, wages are beating prices now. So is disposable income, by the way.
BREAM: For most of that time, they have not.
BERNSTEIN: Correct. So I’m talking about the last four or five months. So that speaks to both. I think my argument and perhaps your argument — my argument is that we are moving on the right track, but we have a lot more work to do. The question needs to be, in regard to all these polls you just cited, are we moving in a direction that will reach the American people, give them more buying power, continues to see actual declines in gas prices. By the way, you put up a slide there, 3.79 for gas prices. That is a stale picture, Shannon.The average gas price 3.25.
BREAM: Yes, well, listen, I need to find that, you know, around here, D.C., we’re not going to find that. But hopefully out in the country, people are doing a little bit better. You talk about spending on Black Friday, which is always a good indicator to look at where people are. But we’ve got this headline from The Wall Street Journal this morning: “American borrowers are getting closer to maxing out.” They’re talking about how close people are to getting to the very last of what they have in savings or at their credit limit. So still spending, yes, but that is going to come due at some point. They say delinquencies are way up between September and October as well.
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
