National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett painted a rosy picture of the economy Sunday, downplaying Americans’ growing pessimism about the economy amid high gas prices and rising inflation as the Iran war goes on.
“Look at what’s happening to real wages,” Hassett told ABC News’ “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl, claiming “really positive news” about the economy was being ignored. “On balance, real incomes, real wages are going up.”
The latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that wages did not increase at the same pace as inflation in April; wages were up 3.6% for the year and inflation was up 3.8%.
White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett appears on ABC News’ “This Week” on May 31, 2026.
ABC News
In two recent surveys, Americans’ view of the U.S. economy soured.
In Gallup’s latest survey, Americans’ economic confidence dropped to the lowest point since October 2022. Additionally, the University of Michigan released its twice-monthly consumer sentiment survey the same day; consumer sentiment fell for the third straight month, reaching the lowest number ever recorded and dropping 10% since April.
When pressed by Karl on the anxiety expressed by Americans over the war’s impact on the economy, specifically rising energy prices, Hassett argued that Americans will look positively on their economic situation when making political decisions.
“But are you saying Americans are not hurting?” Karl asked. “Just talking to people, I mean, people seem anxious and uneasy about the economy, don’t they?”
Hassett replied, “Well, look, in the end, people look at their wallets and they decide how to vote, and if they look at their wallets and look at how much money they have after the increase in prices, they’re going to find that they have a lot more money.”
Hassett did acknowledge high energy prices are causing a pinch but said he was hopeful that would subside soon.
“That’s extremely frustrating, and it’s something that we’re working on doing lots of different things to minimize the disruption, and hopefully again the problem of the Gulf will be over soon, and then things will go back to normal.”
But when the Middle East situation will be resolved is still unclear — and experts are warning the situation could soon worsen.
Karl asked Hassett about a comment from Exxon Mobil Senior Vice President Neil Chapman, who warned that oil inventory is “really low” and that oil prices could shoot up in a matter of weeks. Hassett dismissed Chapman’s assessment, insisting that there is enough inventory.
“We track inventories every day. We started out with billions, billions of barrels of private and government inventories, and we still are in the billions, and so there’s plenty of runway,” Hassett said.
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