Economist Art Laffer said Wednesday that the corporate media doesn’t understand why voters have a bleak view of the economy.
President Joe Biden currently has an approval rating of 32.4% on the economy, compared to a disapproval rating of 62.4%. according to “There are people who comment on what the economy is doing right now and how they feel right now,” Laffer told “Kudlow” guest host David Assmann. (Related: ‘Almost laughable’: Economist pours cold water on Biden’s attempt to blame media for economic pessimism)
“When you look at total employment, the unemployment rate has come down significantly because people are concerned about employment, not the unemployment rate,” Laffer added. “Despite the unemployment rate being low, the employment rate is very low and people are just leaving the labor force. So employment is down significantly and that’s what people are feeling.”
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Laffer also pointed out that the same dynamic is influencing media coverage of inflation. The consumer price index rose 3.1% in November, following a 3.2% rise in October, but the rate was significantly lower than the June 2022 peak of 9.1%.
“People are worried about prices, not inflation,” Laffer said. “Inflation has been related to prices for a long time, but right now prices are up, I think 17.7% since President Biden took office. Prices have not come down at all, even though inflation has come down significantly. Obviously they’re angry because it’s the prices that are killing people, and the inflation rate is up 17.2% since Biden took office in January 2021. .
Asked by reporters on Saturday how he views the economy, Biden accused the media of not portraying the economy in a positive light and told them to start “covering it the right way.” according to On Fox News.
“Finally, GDP growth. This past quarter it was almost 5%. That’s a pretty impressive number, except that GDP is really low. It’s not tracking what happened after President Trump left office.” added Laffer. “We haven’t quite caught up yet, and they’re not looking at growth rates, people are looking at output, not output growth. So in all these things, people are focusing on low inflation, low unemployment, very high There’s a disconnect in how they report it as high GDP growth. No one cares about those things, they care about this level. That’s why people feel bad. They continue to do so. It’s going to keep me feeling sick for a while, but they’re right.”
Mr. Asman also mentioned the rise in mortgage interest rates. “This puts the American dream out of reach,” Assmann said. “That’s the fact, that’s what people feel and know, and that’s what gets reported, especially on other channels, but again, what gets reported is not what people actually care about. ”Ruffer said. “They care about prices, employment and mortgage rates.”
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