“It may not seem so to some, but many Americans are struggling . . . “

Photo above - this is one of the images returned when I googled "AI art average American" . . .

“It may not seem so to some, but many Americans are struggling”. This sort of observation – in the opening of the interview with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant (linked below) – completely encapsulates the disconnect between Washington DC, Wall Street, and “many Americans”.

To be fair to Secretary Bessant, those are NOT his own words. They were penned by the reporter for “The Street”. The target audience for this publication is well-to-do investors who imagine they are going to read some secret known only to the craftiest Wall Street bigshots.

“It may not seem so . . .but Americans are struggling”. Ponder those words for a moment. How can ANYONE be so completely disconnected from the reality to not realize that . . .

78% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck

The average salary is $59,000 a year. This may SEEM adequate, but . . .

The average cost of a home is $420,000. $59K salary qualifies you only for a mortgage on a $150K home. Try buying anything, anywhere, for that. You’d need an income of $170K to get an “average” $420K home.

The average rent in America is $2,100. More than half of your $59,000 income (after social security withholding, Medicare withholding, federal income tax, and state income tax) would go toward rent. Better to live in mom’s basement, no?

I’m not going to do a deep dive on mortgage defaults, evictions, car repo’s, credit card delinquencies, unpaid child support, food stamp use, bankruptcies. Anyone can doomscroll these for themselves if – like Wall Street and DC – they are disconnected from how average Americans actually live.

I bet Treasury Secretary Bessant didn’t understand how his anodyne remarks on inflation and unemployment would be read by average Americans. But Bessant has a point. The federal government – if it sticks with interest rates, the go-to tool, is bound to screw up either inflation or unemployment. If you're only tool is a hammer, the world is going to get nailed.

No matter what, Trump is going to be blamed for what comes next in the American economy. And despite the truly awful economic job done by aides who concealed Biden's advancing dementia, Trump will deserve all the blame he gets. Nobody asked for a trade war with Canada, 401k balances in a death spiral, FAA controllers to be fired, or more unemployment in general. Trump told us fixing things would be painless. It never is. We always get fooled by campaign rhetoric. Shame on us.

I’m just sayin’ . . .

Treasury Secretary delivers startling message on U.S. economy

Majority of Americans Live Paycheck To Paycheck – Forbes Advisor

Average Salary in the U.S. in 2024