Heritage Foundation Chief Economist E.J. Antoni told Newsmax that Democrats don’t know a thing about "affordability."
Antoni told The Count on Saturday his personal experience highlights what he means.
"I filled up for two thirty-three a gallon today. That's the lowest. That's the least I've paid in years because, as you were saying earlier, drill, baby, drill," he said.
He said Democrats want to have people believe affordability is a problem created by President Donald Trump, when in reality it was Democratic policies that put the U.S. into a period of high prices for everything.
"We are producing a record amount of oil in this country," he said. "And as you start bringing down the cost of energy, you bring down prices everywhere because energy affects the price of everything we do and everything we buy."
"But going back to this broader point here of affordability," he said, "it's a word the Democrats are using because it's so amorphous. It can mean whatever they want it to mean. But note that they completely ignored the cost-of-living crisis during the Biden administration. Remember, they tried to tell us inflation was transitory, and then they said it was Putin's fault.”
He asserted you can’t have it both ways, as the Democrats are trying so hard to persuade Americans.
"And then they said it was supply chains. And then they said it was somehow a sign the economy was doing well. It's all nonsense," he said.
Antoni said Trump’s policies today are what’s behind driving prices down.
The Heritage economist said paychecks don’t lie.
"If we look at, for example, the average American's weekly paycheck, what that paycheck can actually buy, it fell four percent under the Biden administration because prices rose faster than earnings. But under Trump, it's gone up about 1.6 percent," he said.
"So that tells us two things. Number one, we were headed in the wrong direction. Now we're headed in the right direction. But the second thing is that we haven't yet regained all the lost ground from the Biden administration," he said.
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Jim Mishler ✉
Jim Mishler, a seasoned reporter, anchor and news director, has decades of experience covering crime, politics and environmental issues.
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