White House Assures Credit Card Company CEOs That They’ll Be Fine
Democrats must be delighted every time Kevin Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council, shows up on TV to tell Americans that they are wrong about the state of the economy.
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With prices continuing to rise as a result of the war with Iran and Donald Trump’s tariffs, more and more people are forced to skip meals or cut corners to put food on their tables. Others have to dip into their savings or go into debt. However, there is some good news: The record credit card debt they are racking up isn’t a problem.
At least not for the CEOs of the companies that are benefitting from the hardships of regular Americans.
That’s the message Kevin Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council, sought to convey when he was confronted with the fact that credit card balances that were at least 90 days delinquent had reached their highest level in 15 years.
However, instead of assuring Americans, who currently owe their credit card companies $1.25 trillion (or about $10,000 per household), that things will be fine and that the White House is on the case to address the affordability crisis the president’s policies and decisions have exacerbated, Hassett went into a different direction.
“We talk to the CEOs of the credit card companies all the time. And we do see some increased stress,” he said on Fox News on Sunday. “But, for the most part, delinquency is different from default, and there’s not any kind of financial threat to the credit card companies. They are not headed toward default scenarios. It’s just that people are taking a little bit longer.”
Hassett, who is one of the many millionaires serving in the White House, also suggested that it is a good sign that Americans are not only spending more on gas and groceries but also on restaurants because it shows that they are optimistic about the future.
The White House economic adviser also bragged about kicking many food stamp recipients off the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and said that partisanship is to blame for record low consumer confidence.
However, Fox News’s own poll shows that the opposite is true. A mere 18 percent of independents approve of Trump’s handling of the economy, and that figure is even lower when it comes to inflation specifically.
In addition, only one out of seven independents say the economy is good or excellent. Conversely, more than half of people who describe themselves as “very conservative” feel that things are going well… and they probably do so because it would be blasphemy to criticize Trump.
Everybody else has a very gloomy outlook on the economy, and it probably doesn’t help to have the always-grinning Hassett tell them that the very real pain they are feeling is just made up and that they don’t need to worry about the well-being of the credit card companies that get rich off their struggles.
