Untitled Document

[00:00:01] 20 million immigrants. Look at the [00:00:03] housing housing stock of working [00:00:05] Americans. And [00:00:06] >> meanwhile, Scott Bessent, the Treasury [00:00:08] Secretary, was on the Hill yesterday [00:00:10] speaking with the House Financial [00:00:11] Services Committee, and it got pretty [00:00:13] feisty. Democrats tried to go up against [00:00:15] the Treasury Secretary. It seems there [00:00:16] was a pretty significant IQ gap between [00:00:18] many of the Democrats and the Treasury [00:00:20] Secretary, who is one of the more [00:00:21] intelligent people in American politics. [00:00:23] whatever you say about Scott Bessant's [00:00:26] actual perspectives on things like [00:00:27] tariffs and you know I have some [00:00:29] quibbles there's no question that Scott [00:00:31] Bessant is a brilliant human anyway [00:00:33] Scott Bessant was appearing before the [00:00:35] house financial services committee and [00:00:36] he was asked about inflation in housing [00:00:39] and he started talking about the fact [00:00:40] that you need to deport people and if [00:00:43] you deport people then that is going to [00:00:44] reduce the demand for housing because [00:00:46] you're reducing the demand for housing [00:00:47] by I mean just definitionally Maxine [00:00:49] Waters had a problem with this again one [00:00:51] of the great hilarities ities of the US [00:00:54] Congress that Maxine Waters, who is as [00:00:56] corrupt as the day is long, has been [00:00:58] sitting on the financial services [00:00:59] committee for decades. [00:01:01] >> I believe the ranking member does not [00:01:03] understand the definition of generalized [00:01:05] inflation versus one-time price [00:01:07] increases. I would also note that [00:01:11] housing, especially for working [00:01:13] Americans, a Wharton study, has shown [00:01:16] that the mass unfettered immigration [00:01:18] adding 10 to 20 the million new people [00:01:21] demanding housing, Congresswoman, is [00:01:24] what caused a great deal of housing [00:01:26] inflation for working Americans. So you [00:01:28] and the Biden administration should be [00:01:30] ashamed. which is also which is also why [00:01:33] we are seeing rents. There was just a [00:01:35] recent media story on this rents are [00:01:37] going down partially because of that [00:01:39] enforcement. So I Mr. Secretary [00:01:42] >> is supply and demand continues to work [00:01:45] 10 and 20 million immigrants look at the [00:01:48] housing housing stock of working [00:01:50] American. [00:01:53] >> So that was Maxine Waters telling Besson [00:01:55] to shut up because she wanted to seize [00:01:57] back her time. Having participated in [00:01:58] some of these hearings, I I truly [00:02:00] believe that not televising hearings [00:02:02] would be better for the country because [00:02:03] all it is mainly are Congress people who [00:02:06] are posing for the cameras. Maxine [00:02:07] Waters being a key representative of [00:02:10] that particular view on how hearings [00:02:12] ought to be used. Scott Bessant was also [00:02:14] quizzed by Representative Gregory Meeks [00:02:16] on committing to investigate alleged [00:02:18] corruption in the Trump administration. [00:02:19] Here's how that went. [00:02:22] >> All you have to ask is yes or no. Uh, [00:02:23] no. Congressman, the you have to ask the [00:02:26] OC is an independent entity and I would [00:02:28] No, Congressman [00:02:30] I take that as a no. You traveled to [00:02:32] Vince Vincent. [00:02:38] You do not want to answer that question. [00:02:41] I take that as a no [00:02:42] >> for 7 billion. I'm asking you to do your [00:02:45] responsibility as secretary of the [00:02:48] treasury. [00:02:50] You do not [00:02:50] >> Mr. Makes you time is expired. You You [00:02:54] can erase the witness and he's the one [00:02:56] that went past your time, Mr. Chairman. [00:02:58] No, [00:02:58] >> he did not answer my question and he [00:03:00] wouldn't make [00:03:02] >> He had six seconds left to try to answer [00:03:04] your question and the [00:03:06] >> It was a yes or no. It was a yes or no [00:03:08] answer. I asked him will he or yes or no [00:03:14] covering for the president. [00:03:15] >> Yeah. Well, [00:03:16] >> stop being his fault. [00:03:17] >> Yeah. These hearings are are so uh the [00:03:19] these these hearings are so useful. [00:03:21] They're so useful. Representative Steven [00:03:24] Lynch, Democrat of Massachusetts. He [00:03:26] also went up against Bessant. Again, did [00:03:28] not go amazing for him. [00:03:31] >> Question and a serious issue for the [00:03:33] financial services industry, especially [00:03:35] as a secretary of the treasury. [00:03:37] >> That's an important No, this is my time. [00:03:39] I haven't asked any more questions. [00:03:41] >> As I haven't asked you any more [00:03:43] questions, [00:03:43] >> the gentleman from Massachusetts, [00:03:45] >> I'm trying to get to my next question. [00:03:46] Could you speak a little louder? I can't [00:03:48] hear you. Yeah. Okay. I I I might I [00:03:51] might. [00:03:54] >> Okay. So, good times. Good times over in [00:03:57] the House. Now, on a more substantive [00:03:59] level, Scott Besson cited 4.1% growth [00:04:01] under the Trump administration as a big [00:04:03] highlight for the Trump administration. [00:04:04] Obviously, the perception of the economy [00:04:06] is going to have a massive impact on the [00:04:08] 2026 elections and looking forward on [00:04:09] the 2028 presidential election. And here [00:04:11] is best inciting solid growth under [00:04:13] President Trump. Particularly in the [00:04:15] last half of last year, [00:04:17] >> the US will have reported likely despite [00:04:21] the government shutdown, despite the [00:04:23] longest government shutdown in history, [00:04:25] 4.1% growth for the past three quarters [00:04:29] and so we we have been successful that [00:04:32] at that Europe last week celebrated.3% [00:04:36] growth. So they uh it's no comparison [00:04:41] and I think we are beginning to [00:04:43] accelerate and importantly everything we [00:04:46] are doing is to fix this terrible Biden [00:04:49] inflation from the the past four years [00:04:53] 21.5% [00:04:54] much more for working families and we [00:04:57] are bringing that down [00:05:00] >> and there's no question that the economy [00:05:02] has been chugging forward at a a very [00:05:05] rapid rate at this point that is [00:05:07] particularly again because of the tech [00:05:08] industry that is now being decrieded by [00:05:11] the entire left and populists on the [00:05:13] right. It is the supposedly terrible big [00:05:15] companies that are driving economic [00:05:16] growth in the country right now. Even [00:05:18] though, for example, software companies [00:05:20] have been taking it on the chin because [00:05:21] AI is now substituting itself for some [00:05:23] of the big software companies. 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Sales [00:06:38] exceeded analyst expectations and nearly [00:06:40] $114 billion according to the Wall [00:06:42] Street Journal, driven by growth in the [00:06:44] company's digital advertising and cloud [00:06:46] computing units. Net income was $ 34.5 [00:06:49] billion. That is a 30% increase compared [00:06:51] with the same period a year earlier. [00:06:53] Google is using all of that money to [00:06:55] develop AI models and build the data [00:06:57] centers needed to train and run them. [00:06:59] Again, Google is an extraordinarily [00:07:01] well-run business, obviously, which is [00:07:03] why they have such a high valuation. [00:07:07] Now, there are some problems that the [00:07:09] Trump administration needs to move on if [00:07:12] it does wish to shore up the the growth [00:07:15] numbers that it is currently pursuing. [00:07:17] In my opinion, the the tariff uneasiness [00:07:19] is leading to an unnecessary dampening [00:07:22] of economic growth. Now, Scott Besson [00:07:24] did go up against Maxine Waters on [00:07:25] tariffs and inflation. And here's what [00:07:26] he had to say. [00:07:29] >> Quote, "Tariffs are inflationary." Did [00:07:33] Did you say that at that time? Yes or [00:07:34] no? [00:07:35] >> Uh, [00:07:36] no. [00:07:37] >> Okay. Thank you. Okay. Again, I want to [00:07:40] be clear. So, just let me ask you, are [00:07:43] tariffs [00:07:45] inflationary? Yes or no? [00:07:47] >> According to the San Francisco Federal [00:07:49] Reserve with 150 years of data, yes or [00:07:51] no, [00:07:51] >> tariffs do not cause inflation. San [00:07:54] Francisco Federal [00:07:55] >> Last November as the Trump [00:07:56] administration finally began to realize [00:07:59] that affordability issues in America are [00:08:01] not a hoax. [00:08:05] >> Now again, Scott Scott Besson suggesting [00:08:07] there tariffs do not cause inflation. [00:08:09] Well, when it comes to inflation as a [00:08:10] generalized phenomenon, as as he has [00:08:12] pointed out, as opposed to one-time [00:08:14] price increases or temporary price [00:08:16] increases, it's not tariffs generally [00:08:18] that cause inflation. It is bad monetary [00:08:20] policy, loose monetary policy. As Milton [00:08:22] Freeman famously suggested, inflation is [00:08:24] anywhere and everywhere a monetary [00:08:25] phenomenon. With that said, the study [00:08:27] that he is citing does not claim that [00:08:29] tariffs aren't inflationary. The study [00:08:31] that he is citing says quote our results [00:08:33] suggest that immediately following an [00:08:34] increase in tariff rates the [00:08:36] unemployment rate tends to increase and [00:08:37] inflation tends to fall. This pattern [00:08:39] suggests that at first the effects of [00:08:40] tariffs more closely resemble a negative [00:08:42] demand shock. That is consumers and [00:08:44] businesses pull back their spending [00:08:45] which slows economic activity and also [00:08:47] slows down inflation. Over time, [00:08:49] however, economic activity picks back up [00:08:51] and inflation then increases to a higher [00:08:52] rate than it would have been without the [00:08:54] tariff increase. In other words, there's [00:08:56] an immediate pullback in spending. That [00:08:58] creates deflation because people aren't [00:09:00] spending as much. So, the prices go [00:09:01] down. Then people come back, they start [00:09:03] spending again, but the prices, because [00:09:05] supply is restricted, the prices are a [00:09:07] little bit higher than they would have [00:09:07] been. Okay. So, have the tariffs been [00:09:10] this gigantic boon to America's economy? [00:09:11] The evidence has yet to show that [00:09:13] they've been a gigantic boon to [00:09:14] America's economy. Did you like this [00:09:17] clip? 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