On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Your World,” House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO) reacted to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) by noting that interest rates have been rapidly skyrocketing, arguing President Joe Biden is “doubling down on the wrong policies to try to help this economy,” and stating that he’s worried that there will be further rate hikes to bring down inflation.
Smith responded to a question on whether the collapse is reminiscent of the situation in 2008 by saying, “Well, the very last time we’ve seen a bank of this magnitude fail was in 2008. And that could be a true indication of where our economy is at. We haven’t seen interest rates rise this fast in 40 years. In fact, they rose more than the last 15 years combined. And you go back to 15 years, that’s 2008. So, the economy’s not looking good. But, of course, then you have the President doubling down on the wrong policies to try to help this economy, which is the wrong recipe for America.”
Host Neil Cavuto then asked, “I understand where you’re coming from. I don’t think the economy’s looking good. The problem is, when it comes to jobs, it might be looking a little bit too good. In other words, good enough with the 311,000 jobs gained this month, more than half a million the prior month…a million jobs in the last few months. It’s so good that the Federal Reserve, some fear, is going to jump on that, Chairman, and continue to raise rates. Does that worry you?”
Smith answered, “It worries me about a lot of the economic factors.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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