国家经济委员会主任凯文·哈塞特周日描绘了一幅乐观的经济图景，淡化了美国人对经济、高油价和通货膨胀日益增长的悲观情绪。
“看看实际工资发生了什么，”哈塞特告诉美国广播公司新闻的“本周”联合主播乔纳森·卡尔，声称关于经济的“真正积极的消息”被忽视了。"总的来说，实际收入和实际工资都在上升."
劳工统计局的最新报告显示，4月份工资的增长没有与通货膨胀同步;今年工资上涨了3.6%，通货膨胀率上升了3.8%。
在最近的两项调查中，美国人对美国经济的看法变坏了。
在盖洛普的最新调查中，美国人的经济信心降至2022年10月以来的最低点。此外，密歇根大学在同一天发布了每月两次的消费者情绪调查;消费者信心连续第三个月下降，达到有史以来的最低水平，自4月以来下降了10%。
当卡尔问及美国人对战争对经济的影响，特别是不断上涨的能源价格所表达的焦虑时，哈塞特认为美国人在做出政治决定时会积极看待他们的经济形势。
“但你是说美国人没有受到伤害吗?”卡尔问道。“只是和人们交谈，我的意思是，人们似乎对经济感到焦虑和不安，不是吗?”
哈塞特回答说，“嗯，看，最后，人们看着他们的钱包，他们决定如何投票，如果他们看着他们的钱包，看看他们在价格上涨后有多少钱，他们会发现他们有更多的钱。”
哈塞特承认高能源价格造成了经济困难，但他说他希望这种情况会很快消退。
“这非常令人沮丧，我们正在努力做许多不同的事情来尽量减少干扰，希望墨西哥湾的问题能够很快结束，然后一切都会恢复正常。”
但是中东局势何时能得到解决还不清楚，专家警告说局势可能会很快恶化。
卡尔向哈塞特询问埃克森美孚高级副总裁尼尔查普曼的评论，他警告说，石油库存“真的很低”，油价可能在几周内飙升。哈塞特对查普曼的评估不以为然，坚称有足够的库存。
“我们每天都跟踪库存。我们一开始有数十亿、数十亿桶的私人和政府库存，我们现在仍有数十亿桶，所以有足够的跑道，”哈塞特说。
White House economic director downplays Americans' economic anxiety amid high gas prices and inflation
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett painted a rosy picture of the economy Sunday, downplaying Americans' growing pessimism about theeconomyamid high gas prices andrising inflationasthe 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 Statisticsshowedthat 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%.
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, inthe 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.
