Affordability crisis should ‘improve’ in 2026: US Treasury adviser

00:00 Speaker A

You know, we have a strong GDP number. You have painted a strong picture for the future. But consumer sentiment figures for December released this morning showed consumer sentiment deteriorating to a level we haven’t seen since April. A lot of people think everything is too expensive now, but wouldn’t that help with the affordability issue if we saw more growth in jobs, higher wages, as you mentioned? Do Americans need to be a little more patient, for lack of a better way to put this, perhaps until the middle of next year?

00:37 Speaker B

American families have suffered tremendously in the last four years. Living standards had collapsed under the previous administration. And yes, it will take time. But the good news is that the policies the president has put in place, particularly no taxes on tips and overtime, will significantly increase after-tax wages next year. We’ve seen Jennifer through November, actual blue-collar wages are included in the organization data, as this becomes risky for me, non-production supervisory workers 16 years to date. This is one of the largest increases to install a new administration in 60 years. That’s why we ask for patience as things are getting better. But we understand people’s frustrations, confidence numbers are poor. In part, I think this perhaps reflects poor voting. I think what people do is more important than what they say. But if the economy continues to improve, and we’ve been saying this for some time, the Minister has said very clearly that 3% growth this year is quite doable, even though no one thinks so, then people will be very happy when we get to 26 and beyond, and a lot of these numbers will increase as well.