During the “Overtime” segment that airs on CNN of his HBO show “Real Time” on Friday, comedian Bill Maher stated that while there are positive economic statistics and inflation is trending in the right direction, people are generally dissatisfied with the condition of the economy because of the price of things they buy every single day.
Maher asked Democratic strategist James Carville a viewer question on why voters aren’t “responding to positive economic news” in polls. Carville responded, “Well, you’ve got 60% of the Republicans who believe the earth is 6,000 years old.”
Maher then said, “Oh, that’s not a good answer.”
Carville continued, “5.6% growth, alright, by any record, now, people if don’t feel it in — look, I think we should have made a change. You and I agree on that, and I don’t know how much of it is is that they can’t see beyond the president. The cost of living has hurt people, but you just can’t look at this economy and go, I would say this is a bad economy. That’s impossible.”
Maher responded, “But that’s not really what you want to tell the voters.”
Later Maher added, “Here’s what I think it is, the things that — like, you can cite the statistics, and, yes, inflation is going down, it’s going in the right direction, but the things that — the things people buy every day in this country, bullets, eggs, gas –.”
Carville cut in to say, “Gas is down.”
Maher responded, “Not here.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
