Republicans who slammed Biden over gas prices preach patience under Trump

0:01 I want to bring in MS Now's Ariel Hickso who is in Woodbridge, Virginia.

0:03 Henrietta Trays is co-founder and director of economic policy at VEDA Partners.

0:07 Sam Stein is back with HENRIETTA, THE AVERAGE CREDIT CARD DEBT IN THE U .S.

0:12 IS AT AN HISTORIC HIGH ACCORDING TO MOST RECENT

0:14 DATA FROM THE FED AT IT WAS $1 .28 TRILLION,

0:18 IF YOU STACK THAT AMOUNT IN DOLLAR BILLS

0:23 IT WOULD REACH OVER 80 ,000 MILES INTO SPACE,

0:25 MORE THAN A THIRD OF THE WAY TO THE MOON.

0:28 SO WHEN KEVIN HASSETT SUGGESTS THAT CREDIT CARD SPENDING IS

0:32 A SIGN OF A STRONG ECONOMY, IS THAT A THING?

0:38 THAT IS NOT A I THINK THAT, LIKE EVERY AMERICAN,

0:41 YOU RELY ON A CREDIT CARD WHEN YOU RUN OUT OF SAVINGS.

0:44 SO THE COROLLARY HERE IS THAT SAVINGS RATES ARE ACTUALLY AT THREE-YEAR LOWS.

0:49 AND THAT'S BECAUSE VOTERS AND CONSUMERS have effectively run out of money.

0:54 And what's really telling is that for the first time since the war started,

0:58 we're just now starting to get earnings

1:00 reports from major restaurants around the country.

1:03 And they're showing in real time, that by the end of the month,

1:07 when people haven't been paid in 25, 26 days,

1:10 they run out of money and they stay home.

1:13 And restaurant sales fall off a cliff.

1:14 And that's when somebody would rely on a credit card instead

1:18 of using the THAT'S WHY SAVINGS RATES ARE SO LOW RIGHT NOW.

1:21 SO SAM, WHAT IS THIS DISCONNECT BETWEEN THE WHITE HOUSE AND THE AMERICAN

1:26 PEOPLE OVER THE ECONOMY BECAUSE SO MUCH OF WHAT THEY TRY TO CLAIM IS

1:32 disproved by common sense i don't think it's a disconnect i think they're just

1:37 trying to put a shine on something that doesn't deserve it uh you know

1:42 with gas prices up with consumer

1:44 sentiment historically down with credit card debt

1:47 high there's not much to work with i mean there's a few things here

1:51 or there uh better than expected job numbers sporadically but not really if you

1:56 look at the jobs data much of The hiring is in the health care sector.

1:59 If you look at the stock market, which they do tout regularly,

2:02 a lot of it's due to the big seven tech companies.

2:05 So they're just trying to find things to sell to t

2:08 American public to say that the president's prescription is working.

2:12 When in reality, the data is very clear

2:14 that we are not in a great place economically.

2:17 And frankly, it could get worse.

2:19 I mean, we're talking about gas prices at high levels right now.

2:22 We're not even in the peak travel season.

2:24 Memorial Day is coming up, summer travel is coming up.

2:26 And the inflation that is transitory hasn't gone fully through yet.

2:29 So all the stuff that is related to fuel costs,

2:32 we're going to end up seeing a spike in costs for those goods as well.

2:36 So it's just going to be IT WILL BE A REALLY ROUGH SLOG FOR THE ADMINISTRATION.

2:39 THAT'S WHY YOU HAVE PEOPLE LIKE KEVIN HASSETT SAYING,

2:40 LOOK, WE'RE SPENDING SO MUCH MONEY ON OUR CREDIT CARDS.

2:43 YEAH, AND ARIEL, TODAY,

2:44 AAA'S NATIONAL AVERAGE FOR GAS HIT ANOTHER NEW NATIONAL HIGH, $4 .56.

2:50 I KNOW YOU'VE BEEN TALKING TO AMERICANS

2:52 ALL MORNING WHO ARE MAKING SOME TOUGH CHOICES.

2:54 WHAT ARE YOU HEARING?

2:57 WELL, COMMUTERS ARE TELLING ME THAT THEY ARE really trying

3:01 to find more and more creative ways to get to work.

3:04 They're increasingly relying on carpooling,

3:06 ride-sharing apps as well as public transportation.

3:10 The app Scoop tells me they've seen a 40%

3:13 INCREASE IN DEMAND OVER THE PAST FEW MONTHS.

3:15 AND HERE IN D .C., MANY COMMUTERS ARE RELYING ON SLUGGING.

3:20 NOW, THAT MIGHT BE A PHRASE YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF BEFORE.

3:22 IT'S COMMON IN A D .C.

3:24 AREA.

3:24 IT BASICALLY WORKS OUT LIKE THIS.

3:26 A driver will come to a lot like the one that I'm standing on and pick

3:30 up some commuters and they'll all head

3:32 into the same destination together in D .C.

3:36 so that they can offset some of those costs.

3:39 And some of the commuters I have spoken to earlier today tell me

3:42 that those slugging lines are getting longer

3:44 and longer as those gas prices are going up.

3:47 Take a listen.

3:50 This is a lot more convenient since I can just drive

3:52 to this lots about 15 for my house and then I could just go

3:57 straight to DC to fill a tank it's like $75 crazy can't do

4:01 it so for me I just do this route makes a lot more

4:04 sense for me do you think that you're going to really focus

4:07 on carpooling for the near future yeah absolutely and the way i'm preparing

4:10 or just getting my money up it's all you can really do

4:14 in this life get your money out SAVING MONEY EVERY WAY THAT THEY CAN.

4:20 AND I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT ALTHOUGH THERE

4:23 ARE HOPES THAT THOSE GAS PRICES ARE GOING TO COME DOWN,

4:26 MANY OF THESE COMMUTERS CAN'T really prepare for that in the future.

4:29 So they are just trying to find more

4:31 and more cost-effective ways to get to work on time,

4:36 especially as there is that push for federal workers to show up

4:39 in the office and gas prices are once again very high, Chris.

4:44 Yeah so Sam MSNOW's Capitol Hill producer Jack Fitzpatrick chased down

4:48 Republican lawmakers who just a few years ago were quick to say

4:52 that gas prices were horrible under President Biden but then contrasted

4:57 that to now when by the way prices are much higher.

5:01 Here it is.

5:03 What should Congress do about gas prices at 411 national average?

5:08 Well, there's nothing we can do.

5:10 I mean, I don't like to brag about all the expensive,

5:13 expensive places I've been but earlier today I went to the gas station.

5:18 Gasoline and diesel fuel and oil is a product of the conflict in Iran.

5:22 How do you square that patience with impatience with gas

5:25 prices under Biden when it at times is 330, 340?

5:29 I don't have to square anything with you.

5:31 Okay.

5:31 Okay.

5:33 Politicians should not get a free pass

5:35 on the ridiculously high energy prices under the Biden administration.

5:39 Do you think that the war should stop because of this?

5:42 How patient can you be?

5:45 Just because gas prices have come down a little bit, they're still really high.

5:49 430 gas prices, do you think the war in Iran has gone on long enough?

5:53 Nothing to say about that.

5:56 Just let me get your reaction to that because I'm trying to figure out this sort

6:00 of whole idea that I get they don't want to say anything bad about Donald Trump,

6:07 but their constituents, Sam, know what's going on?

6:12 I mean, what more is there to add to that clip?

6:15 It says everything, right?

6:17 They obviously don't want to talk about it.

6:19 And even if they were to talk about it,

6:21 there's really not many good answers here.

6:23 I mean, the most you can come up with that I've seen is something like,

6:27 well, it's short term, you know,

6:29 maybe dial back on a Starbucks every now and then.

6:32 I think someone said that.

6:33 I think someone said that.

6:34 Or, It's worth the price of a non-nuclear Iran,

6:38 and maybe that is an acceptable talking point for a couple weeks.

6:43 But we're in week 10 of this war,

6:45 and as everyone knows, gas prices go up very fast.

6:49 They come down very slow,

6:50 and experts predict that it could be a year before we're back

6:55 to the sort of capacity that we

6:57 had when the straight-of-hormones was completely open.

6:59 So there's not many good answers here, and that's why you see people

7:03 being evasive or confrontational or oddly defensive,

7:05 like Senator Kennedy was in that clip.