As President Donald Trump struggles to address Americans’ growing concerns about affordability, he’s gotten some sympathy from one of former President Barack Obama’s top economists.
Jason Furman, a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and former president of the Council of Economic Advisers under Obama, said CNBCWednesday’s “Squawk Box” pessimistic consumers ignored gas prices that remained affordable, making Trump’s job of addressing the affordability crisis more difficult.
Gas prices in December marked the lowest they’ve been all year, according to data from the AAA motorcycle club, with unleaded gasoline $0.18 cheaper nationally this year compared to last. National average prices hit their lowest on Monday, hitting $2.85 a gallon. That didn’t stop consumer confidence from falling to its lowest level since April, and approval ratings indicating that more Americans don’t agree with how Trump is handling the economy.
“I was devastated,” Furman said. “When you’re in government, they tell you, politically, the one price that matters is the price of gasoline. That’s the one price that was big this year. And I feel a little bad for President Trump who doesn’t get any credit for that.”
Trump continued to offer his own mixed signals about the affordability crisis, including saying in a primetime address last week he inherited an economic “mess” from the Biden administration, offering to reduce checks for millions of military personnel for housing supplements, while at the same time calling the economy the strongest it’s ever been.
According to Furman, Trump also has a bit of a tough crowd: Consumers were concerned about inflation and the price of groceries, which have risen nearly 30% over the past five years, making it harder to ease economic anxieties, even when there are other optimistic signs.
“Consumers are just into this kind of, whatever the highest price is, that’s the price they’re going to focus on and be upset about,” he said. “And this is a really difficult problem to solve economically or politically.”
Conflicting economic indicators extend beyond prices, Furman said. The United States saw the strongest economic growth in two years last quarter with GDP growth of 4.3%, which exceeded the estimates of past analysts. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate rose to 4.6% in November, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, well above last November’s 4.2% and above 4%, which is considered reasonable.