Trump’s top economic adviser doesn’t seem to understand that people are in trouble – Mother Jones

President Donald Trump hosts a political event at Rockland Community College in Suffern, New York, May 22, 2026. Anthony Behar/SipaUSA/AP

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Sunday morning on Fox News, President Donald Trump’s top economic policy adviser, Kevin Hassett, dismissed Americans’ struggles to cover the rising cost of living by noting that people are “spending more.”

But Kevin, isn’t that the problem?

When the host asked Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, why people are defaulting on credit cards at the highest rate in 15 years, he responded: “People are spending more on gas, but they’re also spending more on everything else. Not just on groceries but also on restaurants.”

“It’s a sign you see when people are optimistic about the future,” Hassett continued, noting that people generally spend less money when they’re worried about job security or rent.

Hassett: “People are spending more on gas, but they’re also spending more on everything else – not just groceries, but restaurants and so on. I think it’s a sign you see when people are optimistic about the future.

-Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-05-31T15:24:18.844Z

In fact, when measuring non-essential goods, it may be the optimism of higher-income Americans that is supporting the spending numbers. Moody’s Analytics reported, based on its analysis of federal data, that the top 10 percent of earners were responsible for much of last year’s consumer spending. And although Moody’s numbers have been questioned by some economists, the stock market’s strength — the S&P has gained 25% since Trump returned to office — has funneled truckloads of money into the coffers of the richest 10% of Americans, who, according to St. Louis Fed data, own more than 87% of all public stocks and mutual funds. (The bottom half of American families own only about 1% of these assets.)

So even as Hassett downplays Bureau of Labor Statistics data showing that inflation is rising faster than wages, and President Trump dismisses the notion of affordability as a “hoax” and a “scam,” American consumers are feeling the pinch.

Part of his response to the Fox host’s question about credit card default data seemed particularly revealing about the administration’s priorities: “We talk with the CEOs of the credit card companies all the time and we see some increase in stress,” he said, but “there is no financial threat to the credit card companies.”

BREAM: The Journal says the percentage of credit card balances past due is 13%, the highest in 15 years. People use them for their necessities. Your message for them? HASSETT: We talk to the CEOs of the credit card companies all the time, and there’s no threat to them. People take a little longer.

-Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-05-31T15:19:56.658Z

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