White House on Buying Power Falling Under Biden: ‘Prices Are Still Too High’ 

On Monday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” White House Council of Economic Advisers Chair Jared Bernstein responded to buying power being less under President Joe Biden by stating that “prices are still too high” and while real wages have grown recently, there need to be further gains.

Co-host Joe Kernen said that while inflation has “come down, as you say, gas prices have come down, inflation has come down, but people are still spending 30% more at the grocery store. Even though now it’s only going up at 3%, that’s still in there. And wage gains — real wage gains didn’t start until mid-last year. So, people are still — their buying power is less than when President Biden came in. And you just have to acknowledge that and not say everything’s great and that Bidenomics did all this.”

Bernstein responded, “As I said in my first set of comments, and as the President says every time he talks about this, prices are still too high. We very much agree with that part of your wrap.”

He added, “We have a 70% consumer spending economy. When you maintain an unemployment rate that’s been below 4% for almost two years and inflation is easing as much as it has — and that’s the other part I want to push back on, those real wage gains — which have been year-over-year growing for ten months in a row, now, we need more of that, but it’s not just a blip — they’re supporting consumer spending on the private side. If you look at investment, private investment up massively in terms of investing in manufacturing facilities, and, again, the president’s fingerprints are very much on that inflow of private capital investment.”

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