Economist Art Laffer said on Wednesday that corporate media outlets were failing to understand why voters had a dim view of the economy.
President Joe Biden currently has a 32.4% approval rating on the economy compared to a 62.4% disapproval rate, according to the RealClearPolitics average of polls between Nov. 29 and Dec. 18. “You’ve got people making comments what they think the economy is right now and how they feel right now,” Laffer told “Kudlow” guest host David Asman. (RELATED: ‘Almost Laughable’: Economist Pours Cold Water On Biden’s Attempt To Blame The Media For Economic Pessimism)
“People care about jobs, not about unemployment rates and so when you look at total jobs, it’s way down,” Laffer added. “We have a very low employment rate even though the unemployment rate is low, people have just left the labor force. So jobs are way down which is what people feel.”
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Laffer also noted the same dynamic affected the media’s coverage of inflation. The Consumer Price Index rose 3.1% in November, following a 3.2% increase in October, rates much lower than the high of 9.1% in June 2022.
“People worry about prices, not about inflation,” Laffer said. “Now inflation is related to prices over long periods of time but right now prices are up, I think it is 17.7% since Biden took office. Even though the inflation rate is down quite substantially, the prices are not down at all and it is prices that are killing people, so they obviously are upset.” Inflation has risen 17.2% since Biden took office in January 2021.
Biden blamed the media for not painting the economy in a positive light, telling members of the press to start “reporting it the right way” when asked about how he viewed the economy Saturday, according to Fox News.
“The last thing is GDP growth, this last quarter was almost 5%, which is a very nice number, except GDP is what’s really low. It’s not kept track with what happened after Trump left office,” Laffer added. “It’s not caught back up yet at all and they are looking not at growth rates, people look at output, not at output growth. So, all of these things, there is a disconnect how people report the news as being low inflation, low unemployment and very high GDP growth. No one cares about those, they care about the levels of this. So, that is why people are feeling bad. They will continue to feel bad for quite some time to come and they are correct.”
Asman also noted the increase in mortgage rates. “That puts the American dream out of reach,” Asman said. “It does, and that’s what people feel and know and what is reported, especially on other channels, by the way, but here too, what is reported is not really what people care about,” Laffer said. “They care about prices, jobs and mortgage rates.”
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