NEC Dir. Hassett: There’s a Whole Bunch of Stuff Where the Price Is Lower, Like Gasoline, Mortgage Rates

RUSH TRANSCRIPT:
Karl: “Goods that we buy regularly, our household. Let’s take look at this. Coffee as you mentioned up 15%. Uncooked ground beef up 14%. Bananas up 8%. Fresh cakes and up cakes up 6%. Lettuce up almost 6%. Lunch meat, salad dressings, tomatoes up well more than that Americans are clearly feeling the prices are continuing to go up, and many — with many of the goods they buy regularly they are going up.”

HASSETT: “Well —“

Karl: “And more, I mean, a significant number.”

HASSETT: “When we came in, the very first thing that all of you folks were talking to us about was egg prices. Egg prices are down year over year. You could have put that in your chart. But the fact is when we had almost 10% inflation in the —“

Karl: “And that was about economic factors. That was bird flue with the egg prices, to be clear.”

HASSETT: “The meat prices problem is we shut the border from Mexico because of infestation in Mexico. Those are targeted problems. You have lunch meats, but the meats are coming slower from Mexico because there is a pest infestation there. But the bottom line is if you want to control inflation, you’ve got to not spend like a drunken sailor. If you want the macroeconomics of it, we are reducing the deficit this year. So far this year in the calendar year it dropped by almost $400 billion and that $400 billion is probably going to be $600 billion reduction in deficit this year. That’s the kind of stuff that takes the pressure off the price of everything.”

Karl: “It’s a large deficit. The president claims that Thanksgiving costs are down 25%. Does he know that’s not true?”

HASSETT: “If you look at Walmart and the few places that put out their prices —“

Karl: “Wait, wait. I got to stop you. The Walmart comparison is like not — I mean, Walmart had a Thanksgiving package last year. They have a Thanksgiving package this year. The one this year contains much less than what the one last year — that’s why the price is less. We have chart here. Last year 21 total products. This year 15. Total number of items in the products was 29%. Now 22. There is more generic brand stuff. So, I mean, Thanksgiving, if you are going to the store to buy groceries for Thanksgiving, it’s going to be more expensive this year.”

HASSETT: “I really don’t understand where you are going in the sense that Joe Biden gave us — Joe Biden gave us 20%.”

Karl: “He is not president. Donald Trump is president.”

HASSETT: “You want us to fix the hole that Joe Biden —“

Karl: “No, the —“

HASSETT: “The prices went up so much under Joe Biden and inflation is about half what it was in December. This is something that is being figuresed fast. Real income are up after dropping 3,000 under Joe Biden. You could find a few things where the price is higher, but there’s a whole bunch of stuff where the price is lower, like gasoline, mortgage rates “