it is not an answer on

optimistic or pessimistic. it is why you feel that way and what about the economy makes you feel either optimistic or pessimistic. about the economy that making you feel either optimistic or pessimistic. we get the line for economic alchemists to a two on the best to make blind, to a 2748 8001. we'll also preview some of that federal reserve board of governors meeting happening today and larger on the networks will show you the news come friends from vet chair jay paul all. this is warning, we'll hear from the president and yesterday in philadelphia speaking about the economy. we'll hear from congressional republicans and will also show you some of the results yesterday in races primary

races in nevada and in south carolina. >> first over to the presidents trip to philadelphia. the low courting this morning at axios. a headline, joe biden talks inflation that union convention in philadelphia. president joe biden visited philadelphia yesterday to address members of the largest federation of unions in the country, the afl-cio, about how his administration is trying to tackle rising inflation. -- the big picture. the state of the economy is quickly becoming biden's biggest problem, which could have dire effect on his party's electoral assess in. the fall, actress says the president who has labeled addressing inflation as his, quote, talk to mr. priority, has also laid blame on russian president vladimir putin's invasion of ukraine, the pandemic, and congressional republicans. kind of a similar sentiment expressed to in a headline from bloomberg this morning. biden's, quote, never been more

optimistic is their headline despite troubled uconn me. the president speaks to union members. as for defense malls and interest high rate. here's the president yesterday displaying some of that optimism on the economy in philadelphia. >> well, we brought down covid deaths by 90%. we opened schools and businesses that were shuttered. it all created the greatest job recovery in american history. people don't want to talk about these days, but it's true. since i've become president we've created 8.7 million jobs in 16 months on an all-time record. [applause] and even last month, 390,000 jobs. and 600,000 new manufacturing jobs they said manufacturing is dead in america. look, folks. [applause] our unemployment rate is near historic lows. and 3.7%, millions of americans

are leaving -- i love these guys talking about -- why, this guy left my employment and went to another job. because he got paid more! [laughter] [applause] isn't that awful! isn't that a shame that they got to compete for labor. [laughter] better paying jobs! for better jobs for them and their families. it's been a long time since that's happened in this country. but it's happening now. and it's working. >> and some of the republican response on capitol hill is coming to light. the wall street journal reporting this morning with this headline, a gop offers of plans to fight inflation, congressional republicans since are beginning to detail their plans to combat inflation and soften its impact on households, indicating some tax trade and regulatory policies they might pursue if they take control of the house and senate in this false midterm elections. senator chuck grassley tuesday

proposed to adjust a tax code provision for inflation and reduce some taxes on investments. meanwhile, republicans on the house ways and means committee outlined their anti inflation agenda, calling for rescinding unused federal spending, reducing regulation and negotiating new trade agreements. the policies, writes the wall street journal, offer a preview of the midterm election campaign where inflation is likely to be one of the core issues. as republicans try to regain control of the house and senate. but in a closely divided congress, it is difficult to design politically viable legislative proposals that remove money from the economy or significantly reduce costs for businesses and households. that's at the wall street journal. and our opening question for you this morning, are you optimistic or pessimistic about the u.s. economy? 202-748-1000 if you're an optimist. on the economy, anyway. for 202-748-1001 those of you pessimistic on the u.s. economy.

thoughts on twitter. this one from the park story said, did i just hear that republicans have a plan to do something other than overthrow the government? this one says the evil democrats to claim supplies high high prices and everything -- -- they impossible green regulations that are choking the life of a domestic industry and driving manufacturing overseas sees again. and jim with his comments on the show this morning, saying, i have a feeling for the 65% of americans tapping savings to make ends meet. i would hate to have to sell shares in this market. let's go to our first call from john in brooklyn who? is on the optimistic line. john, go ahead. >> how are you doing? thank the lord for c-span. i am john -- of brooklyn, new york, and i feel good about the economy. biden's going to bring it out. he did it before. that's what the democrats do. when nixon, i'm in when bush

left the white house, president biden and obama, you remember the condition that the nation was in? they brought it back. biden is the most experienced president -- i'm 73 years old -- biden is the most experienced president that i've seen so far. got a lot of experience, he went obama, solved the recession before. you've got the experience and he was doing it, if the republicans would've helped him, but -- to feed him and make sure he's not successful. these gas prices have 9000 -- and won't use them. one of them made nine billion dollars since this recession. one made a six billion. did she come all into the white house, and if they don't start drilling with those permits, he

should suspend them. give them to somebody that will sort through it now he's going to saudi arabia. he needs to. the the what you call it, when he was president, he went straight to saudi arabia. they were doing a dance with them. biden has got the right ideals. he is on the move now. he wrote a letter to all the companies, shall, exxon. he is calling the man. he's -- this recession has admitted made by the republicans, thank you very much. thank you for c-span. >> there are some additional reporting on that from the associate press. we'll tell you about that a minute. let's go to our pessimistic line. this is paul. pessimistic on the economy. lexington kentucky. welcome, paul. paul, make sure you lose your volume there on your television. go ahead with your comments, sir. >> i don't have it on.

i was going to say, i'm pessimistic because the oil companies have no real motivation to produce. because they are making so much money currently. that's the supply and demand. without the fuel, we can't produce our agribusiness cannot produce. that's going to maintain high prices in the grocery store. just to go back to oil. the saudis, they are not motivated to give us a good deal, or make up the supply in oil that we need or europe needs. we're just fighting an uphill battle. congress, they're talking about

things that matter. we have bigger issues. then fighting around on gun legislation. i'm all for it. it can be done a lot easier than what we are going to plan on spending money for. i don't know how we're going to get it turned around until congress wants to talk about something substantial towards our nations economy. thank you. >> on the issue of oil prices, this is the reporting this morning from the associated press. further action anticipated by the administration. biden tells oral refineries, produce more gas, viewer profit. president biden on wednesday called on u.s. oil refineries to produce more gasoline and diesel, saying their processes have tripled during a time of war between russia and ukraine. as americans struggle with

record high prices at the pump. the crash that families are facing deserves immediate action. biden wrote in the draft of a letter to oil refineries obtained by the associated press. quote, your companies need to work with my administration to bring forward concrete near term solutions to address the crisis. the ap writes, the gas prices nationwide are averaging roughly $5 a gallon. an economic burden for many americans. and a political threat for the going into the midterm elections. broader inflation began to rise last year. as the u.s. economy recovered from the coronavirus pandemic. but it accelerated in recent months as energy and food prices climbed after russia invaded ukraine in february. and disrupted global commodity markets. on the optimistic line, anna in south windsor, connecticut. go ahead. >> good morning. i'm optimistic because i believe in president in

president biden. i support him and his policies and what he thinks. i also believe that the republicans, cheney and kissinger are like trojan horses who are helping with the trial to put up a case of defense for president trump. this is a defense for him all of the prosecutors -- everyone who's testified, those, are true things, those are true thing. president trump is ill. stick with mental health. how can you try somebody with criminal referrals who is mentally sick. through mental health, he will get off with everything. i believe he is really sick. we should pray for him. i think that having -- advice from an alcoholic, now they tell us, that can get the

sympathy of everybody. all of his friends who say they, i think the republicans did not vote against him during the impeachment. because they had strength and compassion not to go against him with his illness. they know that he's sick. -- >> our focus here, anna, is on the economy. we'll go to bill in new york city who is pessimistic. good morning, phil. >> good morning. you're one of my favorite, favorite commentators, moderators, where we want to call yourself. good morning, thank you for taking my call. i want to say, yes, i am absolutely pessimistic. the reason why is because we have a bunch of people who have a bunch of money. and a lot of people, the majority of, us i have no money. and we live in a system that is truly not really for anyone except those who want to take

advantage of other people. when i'm going to say is this. we are in this system that people are taking advantage of everyone else. they're all behind it colluding people that are taking advantage of us. have a good day. >> here's a new york times this morning. and why times that come. the headline, biden weighs tear throwback to ease inflation. even a little bit. writing that president biden is weighing whether to rollback some of the tariffs that former president donald j trump imposed on chinese goods in the hopes of mitigating the most rapid price gains in 40 years. according to senior administration officials, business groups, some outside economists have been pressuring the administration to relax at least a portion of the taxes on imports. saying it would be a significant step that the president could take to immediately cut cost for consumers. yet, any action by the administration to lift the tariffs is unlikely to put a large dent and on inflation rate that hit 8.6% in may.

the political ramifications could be severe. an influential study this year predicted that a move to lift tariffs would save households 797 billion dollars a year. administration officials say the actual effect would most likely be far smaller. in part because there is no chance mister biden will roll back all of the federal government's tariffs and other protection trade measures. on the issue of energy prices, it's part of the criticism the house republicans in their efforts to overtake the house in the fall midterm elections. they spoke about their critiques of the presidency asked today. president biden's inflation increasing agenda is crushing the american dream. for millions of families across the country. we've heard some of the stories, families are already talking about canceling their summer vacation not just because of the inflation, but because they can't even afford to fill their gas tank, because gas prices

are so high. more than double where they were when joe biden took the oath of office. if you look at all the different crises that we've been talking about for the last year and a half, that have been added onto in created by this president from inflation, to high gas prices, to the border crisis, to crime that's running rampant throughout our country. let alone the foreign policy debacle is that we've seen over and over again. it's costing families with thousands of dollars more. just think about this. last week, the house natural resources committee, which is the committee that as jurisdiction over energy policy along with the house and committee held a hearing. you would think with skyrocketing gas prices, the natural resources committee would hold a hearing about how to lower gas prices. they could actually move legislation that we recommended and urge them to take up to lower grass prices at the pump today. no, that's not with they had the hearing on. the natural resources committee

had a hearing on big cats. that's right, amidst this gas prices. that's crushing american families, taking money out of their pockets every single week when they fill up their vehicle. instead of having a hearing on how to lower gas prices, they had a hearing on big cats. that is how out of touch speaker pelosi and the democrats here and washington are with the american people. >> we mentioned there are primary elections in a couple states yesterday. including south carolina. this is from the state, the newspaper in south carolina this is from their front page this morning on at the state.com. here's the headlines. on the two congressional rice is people keeping an eye on. tom rice's repeated, russell fry, tom rice from congress as trump impeachment fight loomed large. republican nancy mace defeats trump endorsed challenger katie arrington in south carolina

primary. asking this morning about your thoughts on the economy. are you optimistic or pessimistic? let's go to greg, who is on the optimistic line and mechanics, berg pennsylvania. >> mr. gallant, by the way, you're not one of my favorite moderators. most of you have become woke. unfortunately. i'm optimistic. but for a different reason than any of the other people calling in on the optimistic line. i'm optimistic because november is going to be a huge correction. the only thing joe biden well,, first joe biden makes very -- except when he gets up and when he goes to bed. the obama administration acolytes are telling him what to say. they control the teleprompter. look at the policy on -- why would they consider doing something on tariffs when they

won't allow the asset in the united states to be used. meaning gas. well, because trump imposed the tariffs so we do everything opposite of what trump did. that is their only logic. if he would decide this asset was in the ground that would be worthless, worthless in ten years, if this crap continues, that asset is not being used. if he said today, we are going to allow we're going, to make it easier to pump for say five years. the price of cast would go down immediately. it's a futures market. what's going to cost. ? if you're in one of those companies that own all of that property, that asset is going to be zero soon. what do you do for your shareholders and for your company before it goes to zero? do you sit there and say i'm woke, i'm not going to do

anything because i'm all about greta thunberg, whatever her name is over in europe. i mean, come on. it's all about, what would donald trump do, and then we'll do the opposite. that's why i'm optimistic. people see through that. >> we'll go to jerry, he is on the optimistic line as well. livingston, tennessee. good morning. >> good morning. jerry, -- >> go ahead, jerry. >> i'm optimistic about -- when joe biden took office they brought people back to work. inflation a bat on them if you don't have a job to start with. wages are up. here in livingston, you can't hire people to work. look at all your restaurants, all that stuff. the gas prices, the congress is saying, let's get it together about -- let's get together and do away

with this federal tax on gasoline until this stuff is over. that does not have to be permanent. however long it takes. that would relieve. and now i'm telling you, the economy is not bad here in livingston, tennessee. around tennessee, you can't put a house up for sale that sold -- you put it up for sale. there's all kinds of markets for home. gas prices are not going to come back down until they lower the taxes or this heart market slows down. everything it takes to build a house has got to be -- i just think that, i think we're on the right track. this inflation will last forever. these -- were in manifest will 3000 jobs -- just building car batteries. people i talked to here in livingston, they say gas prices are too high. -- they have gotten jobs.

we have food lines in covid. backed up in a small town in livingston, tennessee. people are a lot better cheaper than they think. go back to where they are there a lot better off. thank you. >> all right, to our lean on the pessimistic line, nurse moreno beach, florida. arlene, good morning. >> good morning. >> i. >> yes, good morning. i'm pessimistic, but temporarily. because it will be optimistic in november or whatever. but i want to ask any of the folks that are listening, are you better off today than when what you were four years ago? we have problems, and it started when joe biden started signing all those cancellations when everything trump put in order. and our white people, which get along fine with black people. five years ago, we have no relations, problems in our

races until he started criminalizing the white folks. and also, i think that it would help us optimistically to have a more positive attitude that this is only, that this is only temporary. >> all right. next up is vicky on the optimistic line, in orlando, florida. go ahead. >> good morning. yes, sir. i agree with the lady that just spoke and the gentleman before. we're going to be okay. come november, we won't even have to think about joe biden or none of them fools that's been in office for the last three years, trying to tear our country don't. we are going to take our country back and we're going to put it back on the right road, and it's going to be in our rearview mirror this was just a little pothole we rolled in.

>> all right this, is the opinion, one of the opinions from the new york post this week. your 401k is in the feds hands this week. all this week, at this week's policy meeting, the federal reserve will have to choose its position if it fails to accelerate the pace of interest rate heights it risks -- oh i, apologize about that we, lost that. here we go, back on the screen again, oh, technology. it risks losing control of a runaway inflation. yet if it surprises us with a faster pace of interest rate increases, it risks for the tanking the stock market, and thereby creating the conditions for an early article no landing. the fed is largely to blame for its terrible policy dilemma. last year, when the country's largest peacetime budget stimulus on record risked overheating the economy, the fed kept interest rates at their zero lower bound and allowed the money supply to balloon. it did so in the mistaken belief that the pick up

inflation was but a transitory phenomenon caused by covid induced supply chain reactions. let's hear from andrew in public and city, maryland. pessimistic along. go ahead. >> i. thanks for having me. so basically, the reason why we should be pessimistic in there's both parties are bought and paid for and we can look at this real quickly where if the biden had recently affirmed his decision to enact the highest pre medicare prima heights in history and strangely just before the elections and further the fed comments you made there that spot on and no one is talking about it and we've had an on market bubble and now it's deflating, right? so the fed has bought so many treasury guys to the tune of trillions. on top of that, --

securities, nipple bought more than they did in 2008 relief in part and all that and. so we are watching all of these asset bubbles begin to deflate. mortgage rates have gone from 3% to over 6% in about six months. that is counter to the fifth mandate which is the stability and price in price. so what's going to happen is you're not going to be able to afford those high housing prices. and that's going to cause a housing crash, whether you believe it or not. it's going to happen. jay powell oversaw a corrupt federal reserve board of governors. captain, rosengren both designed resigned after being caught and capital is doing -- sp5 hundred features trading. it won't happen to him, nothing. >> hey, andrew. explain for us what you mean when you see a housing crash coming. what do you think that means? what does that look like?

>> so i'm giving money my own example. when i couldn't find a house because of work it was so highly competitive in my area -- a new construction. the radar locked in back in december was 3%, right? and as time passed, they couldn't look in the rate because it was, what? maybe six plus months out. and so basically, every month that went by and those mortgage rates kicked up admit that i could afford to pay less and less and. and so basically, people who thought that they were looking that like that because of 3%, they can no longer afford to pay that price, that sticker price at the quoted mortgage rate. and so you take that a macro look, people who are trying to finance houses, i.e., not black rock, they are going to end up

having to step out of the market until prices come down to match what they can afford on their interest rate. and so, i mean, you've seen the mortgage rates go about 6% now, right and? so naturally the price the prices are going to have to go down to balance out to what their monthly payment is affordable for them. >> you've got your house last december. do you think with, the rising interest rates, that that of course is still high, prices record highs, presses for housing, that there are a lot of people waiting on the sidelines because they want and they can't avoid the price of the house and, to, now that county for the mortgage? >> exactly, exactly. the steep prices were first and foremost [inaudible] on the sideline to. second is the crazy demand, and you can compete with a cash offer, which is another thing that 0% interest rates for the federal funds rate, beat wall

street house, the prime dealers were able to get cheap money and then they could start funding their own housing landlord businesses. and we, the consumers, we don't have access to 0% interest or, sorry, 0.2 5%. and so we are beholden to whatever the financial project is down the line for people like jpmorgan, bank of america, wells fargo. they get their money from the fed to keep, and then they can go ahead and, you know, pay in cash. >> all right, appreciate your call this morning. this is a headline from politico this morning. the headline in politico -- biden strength for message on deteriorating economy. people speaking yesterday, the president, at the afl co convention in philadelphia. here's a look. >> i did my plan for the economy we made extraordinary progress. and put america in a position to tackle the worldwide problem

that's worse everyone everywhere but here, inflation. it's tapping the strength of a lot of families. i grew up in a household not far from here, -- in wilmington, where the price of a gallon of gasoline. went up as a the conversation of the dinner table. it mattered. it mattered to my working family. magic, oppressive food went up. the problem is republicans in congress are doing everything they can to stop my plans to bring down costs for ordinary families. that's why my plan is not finished and why the results aren't finished either. jobs are back, prices are still too high. covid is down, but gas prices are up. our work isn't done. but here's the deal. america still has a choice to make, it choice between a government by its a few for the few or a government for all of us.

democracy for all of us and an economy for where all of us have a fair shot and a chance to earn our place in the economy. my plan is simple. first, i'm doing everything you know in my power to block putin's gas price hike. just since the inquiry invaded ukraine, it's gone up $1.74 a gallon. because of nothing else but that, so i have a plan to bring down the cost of gas and food. it's going to take time, but let the world coordinate the largest release for what i've been able to do. the largest release of oil from a global fund in history. 1 million barrels a day. and 240 million barrels to boost global supply when i convinced other nations to join us to keep prices from rising even more.

>> some comments on social media on twitter. this one saying, republicans ain't going to fix it in. terms of the economy they just said they want to give investors and corporations more republican tax cuts. the same, groceries up 20%, gas up 80%. college up 5000. anarchy and crime running rampant. same question, same puts answer, it's not my fault. republicans refuse to vote for bills that will fight inflation. who is to blame? this one is saying, i believe the war in ukraine is not put enough pressure on mbs to increase oil production or removing mbs from power in saudi arabia, major contributor to inflation. derek is saying, i'm sure that everyone who just sold their homes in an overinflated markets are optimistic about buying a home once the market corrects itself. are you optimistic or pessimistic on the u.s. economy? if you are optimistic, the line 20274 8000. pessimistic, 202748 8001. our optimist wine, brentwood

and maryland. richard, good morning. >> good morning, i'm reasonably optimistic. i'll be more hopeful if the biden administration has the conviction and backbone to do what nixon did, putting christ concerns for 60 days to get the country through the summer months. it's showing now that the corporate america, it's squeezing the economy, it's already come out on many occasions that that gouging with their profits and bottom line. they really are doing the legwork for the republican party to gain control by building up the satisfaction for the november vote. if we vote republicans back in, it's going to deadpan out again. they asked mitch mcconnell sometime ago, not long ago, what are your policies, plans to get the economy out of this tailspin inflation? his reply was, you'll have to vote for us to see. what kind of slide of tongue with that?

did he want people to vote, they don't want to state what they were doing. they don't know what to do. republicans never have the executive leadership to govern this country. they are good opposition party. telling their lies about what you're not doing. when they get their hands up the power, we fizzle out. i just hope that biden would consider price controls for 60 days. the energy would be frozen which affects all of our other products and services. we might have a chance to spin out of this. if we give republicans the range of power, show me historically what it has done. it never led a recovery. they've already always inherited a recovery. they blow it up from george bush ii, george bush the first. and so i am probably optimistic that they will take those stern measures just to get us through

the summer. with price controls. it will all pan out. i thank you for the opportunity. >> thanks for the call. we'll go to missouri. cans on the optimistic line. go ahead. good morning. >> -- he also called 169 [inaudible] he calls everyone. he's calling us [inaudible] anyway, i'm optimistic. i've got a little bit of life stock. my sheep, my cattle, they're bringing in more than they were two years ago, three years ago. the highest price i ever sold any of those was back under barack obama. now i'm selling the highest price sheep i've ever sold in my life. i'll be selling more next

month. what little piece of land i've got, it's nothing. good -- the price of oil got down to 12:50. 80 96 per gas. [inaudible] w took us through some wars. the next price of a barrel and oil up $147. i was paying for dollars for gas. it's 118 today. i am paying for 59. some of these people are calling, the companies are scoring us over. >> how much have you had to adjust, can't, your profit margins? you're selling sheep at record prices. it's certainly costing you more to run your farm, correct? >> yes, sir. that grain producers are selling the highest price brain they've ever sold in their lives. and yet in 24 their vote for republicans again. in 1984 i sold feed for --

and ronald reagan was breaking farmers faster than they could make these and i put the bumper sticker on why. [inaudible] blood shield that said vote republican -- and quiet for more four more years. but it's not crying, they started committing suicide. for the democrats in the congress got us some crp, which is a conservation -- program in about 86 to try to save farmers, because they were going for and left. a guy named willie nelson and john melon camp and maybe chris christopherson, they had a foreign aid tour to get someone into the farmers hands. so anytime's republican in, working people execute. but you're not smart like these people there on january 6th and on that note, it's going to be -- so i don't want to get two out

of line for you, but like i said, old goofy gray -- about every week, and against -- a whole bunch of crap the other day and always had. so -- -- >> okay. show up next in fayetteville, north carolina on, the optimistic line. carol, good morning. >> good morning. i agree completely with the man that just spoke. he has a lot of wisdom. we don't understand trump inherited a good encounter me he. didn't do jack. what he did was lie to the american people and try to overthrow the government. never before has if we ever had to try to overcure overthrow our own government. here i am a, veteran of four black, north carolina. do we understand what he tried to do to this country? and he lies all the time.

why would you praise a man like that? what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and versus sole? america is losing its soul. you're lifting up donald trump as if he's a king. remember we asked for a king and we got -- . you're asking for donald trump and you're getting evil. >> okay. to rick on the pessimistic line in sarasota, florida. >> that's nick. yes, i feel at least for the for the short term pessimistic will cause the democrats, for whatever reason, never know anything about economics. and just take one segment, the energy sector. look what we need to do is get, your very first caller today was talking about 9000 permits. but nobody ever corrects the record on it. i never hear anybody on c-span quite people either. that's the, used to give out five your permits and leases. now they're 12 months because they're trying to destroy

fossil fuels and the energy is not just putting gas in the tank. and that's higher enough now. but you've got fertilizers for farmers, classics and other materials made for petroleum. it's not something you can just cut out and say let's put up a bunch of solar panels when the country leads energy and can't run it. so we've got to get the republicans back in and get sanity back to running the economy, and then you will have lower prices and your energy where it needs to be. you need to be able to dwell on lands where it's available, not just got permits like someplace where there's no exploration or doing anything only for 12 months. that's why they are not using them. but nobody ever pointed out. >> thanks for that observation. article here looking at the role of the supply chain when the, role of covid in china in the u.s. economy, with the headline from the washington post -- warehouses are packed in china and the u.s.. the warehouses and trying to

get and the united states are stuffed with unsold televisions, refrigerators and sofas, a shared sign of diverging pandemic recoveries that could herald renewed pressure on global supply chains and shake up his selection of goods in americas stores. the post says that merchandise is piling up for different reasons in each country in. the united states, consumers are spending more on in-person experiences like restaurant meals rather than on goods, as they did last year, a switch that has left retail stockpiles at a record high. chinese inventories are rising as a result of the government's zero covid policy, which depressed consumer spending in recent months while allowing manufactories to keep producing. inventories of finished goods in april equaled more than 21 days of sales for the first time in at least 12 years, according to capital economics, a research consultancy. selling off these mountains of goods will soups growth rates in the world's two largest economies. discount required to clear warehouse raced on both sides of the pacific could offer american shoppers some retail

bargains, though economists say any savings only flowers and laptops will do little to reduce the 8.6% inflation rate. at a news conference yesterday on capitol hill, senate republican leaders critical of the administration, including wyoming's john barrasso. >> there was more about this news this past week for american families who are struggling to get by in the joe biden economy. class prices highest ever in the history of the united states today over $5 a gallon on average across the country. the inflation numbers that came out last week were actually even worse than the experts anticipated. and while the inflation rates numbers are high is even higher than that for people going to the grocery store. you go and buy things that normal people buy a. i was at the grocery store in wayne buying hamburger, eggs, milk, soup. all of those things are up much higher than the average rate of inflation. so people really are struggling.

they are having a hard time just keeping up with where they were last year. it's costing them a lot more to do that. they feel really crushed now in this blue dye biden economy. what did the democrats have to say about it? well, they have two different responses. one is surprised, and the others smoke superiority. and the surprise came from the secretary of treasury last week when she was in the finance committee, and she said she was surprised at how negative people feel about the economy and amazed about the pessimism that was out there. you're talking about people in the democratic party, tone deaf, tenure on all of this, failing to see the suffering of the american people are living with right now. >> more of your calls. what is next up in jacksonville, north carolina. optimistic on the u.s. economy. tell us why. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> i just want to say i agree

with the lady from fort bragg, north carolina. common, can you hear me? >> yes we can. >> hello? >> rhonda just, make sure you mute your volume and go ahead with your comment. >> okay. i just want to say i agree with the lady from fort bragg. trump is crazy and it's proven that is crazy by looking at these hearings. i would rather have somebody in charge of a country that's not going to overthrow our government where we lose our democracy and pay 50 cents more for gas and have our democracy and then to have somebody like trump in charge. but the bottom line is virtually every republican in congress voted against baby formula, child tax credit, cheaper gas, stupor insulin, stimulus checks, background checks, veteran cancer care, fair elections, and anti domestic terrorism. so what is the gop? there cruel. but i'm not here to bash the gop. i'm here to say you've got people with 100,000 dollar cars and trucks going to the gas

station and complaining about gas. efficient afford 100,000 or 50,000-dollar vehicle, you can afford to be a little more gassed. the economy is everywhere across the whole, it's a worldwide. people are paying higher prices and in every country and the united states is like the fourth, there like them before. we've got three other countries paying more for gas than we are. you've got the war in ukraine. i mean, we had a covid. we had the people, you know, whenever biden became president, he had to deal with all that covid because trump left him a mess. you know, and biden has been trying to clean up everything that trump screwed up when he was president, and thank god for mike pence that we did not lose our democracy. and i would recommend that everybody, whether your republican democrat or independent, needs to look at these january hearings to see

what a quick trump is and how he, hopefully, will go to prison for treason. >> and just a reminder to our viewers that those hearings are live here on c-span. they will resume tomorrow at 1:00 eastern, our coverage on the c-span networks, including on the free c-span now mobile app. it's water, florida, is next. it is j on the pessimistic line. good morning. >> yeah, good morning, how are you doing? >> fine, thanks. >> i'm a little disappointed in hearing everybody blaming trump again still. i mean, this is ridiculous. january 6th -- commission is nothing but a political shot so they can gain more votes, trying to damage trump later down the road. but that has nothing to do with the economy. the problem with the economy is you keep pumping money into it it drives prices up. and if it drives prices up everything else starts to vote. that's why the stock market is down.

i mean i have never seen a president come out and blame everybody but and self. he's taking no responsibility for any of the problems that we're having right now. it's everybody else's fault. and now, because there's a mid term coming up, if the republicans fault. if anybody is calling, remember that joe biden has a majority in the house and the senate because it's 50/50, and with the vice president vote that makes it 51. so you need to stop allowing these people to call you and claiming that trump is a criminal. first off, it's been absolutely no proof of any criminal activity whatsoever by anybody. and you love these people to skew this. why are you just sitting that? you need to correct people about this. at least get them to understand what this commission, quote, unquote, is not about a criminal trial. >> james is next in akron, ohio,

on the optimistic line. go ahead. >> yes. let me say this before i kick my comment. you know, i think republicans or people that support donald trump think that everybody is just total, totally gets the trump because, donald trump. but that's not accurate. but i think the policies and the things that this put before it is the problem. i'm optimistic because i've been watching tom hartman and they had the same problem problems in world war ii. they had the problem -- ronald reagan, richard nixon. they -- double tax approval for counting the prices. and that's what's going on right now. and once this is done, our guest problems and all those things are going to go away. and once that does happen, will be all right.

and like the lady from north carolina, everybody needs to watch this january 6th episode that's going on now, going again tomorrow, i think canceled today. but we all need to see this, because some people, for whatever reason, they can't be convinced of anything. but until they see it and know what's going on, just maybe, just maybe we'll be here. if not, the republicans get back in, and it's not a threat, because it may happen, and when they get back in, we are going to be a country similar to all these places that they say we don't want to be like, like russia, venezuela. we are going to be a combination of that kind of stuff in the washington post this morning, members of the presidents administration, labor secretary, marty walsh, and the chair of the council of economic advisers, cecilia lena ross, have penned a column in

the washington post this morning supporting the administration, obviously, touting the administration, what they say the administration has done and inflation they. right over the past year and a half americans have gotten back to work in record numbers, faster than any previous recover in modern history. for example, the sheriff people between the ages of 25 and 54 are employed -- in metric that economists watch closely to understand the health of the labor market -- has recovered faster since april 2020 than it did during the previous four recoveries. importantly, this recovery has also been more equivocal girls than those in the past. the share of black men who are now employed, employed now, exceeds the share immediately before the pandemic -- which was not the case during the last two economic downturns. overall labor force pandas the patient is still below pant pre-pandemic levels due in part to demographic trends, and we have more work to do to ensure that all americans who want to work can work. but the labor market is closing the gap much faster than doing

the past two recoveries. that's at washington post dot com. monty is in big spring, in spring, texas, and he is pessimistic on the economy. good morning. >> yes. i'm pessimistic on the economy until more americans -- republicans do more to educate themselves. we had trump stating that air america's energy independent. anyone who is not petrochemical ignored knows that this is a falsehood. america imports thousands of gallons of refined gasoline every day. -- we were truly energy independent this would not be the case. -- to turn shell oil into gasoline. angelo is the reason we became in net energy exporter, which is not the same isn't energy independent. if we were energy independent, and texas shale oil went to negative price were bowel in 2019 under trump, which have

had 99 cent gas. but we lack the refining capacity. i encourage all americans, do your due diligence, stop the confirmation bias addiction seeking and stories of processed food plants being absent for -- stop these rumors that the american people are fighting against each other and educate yourself. we are not petrochemical educated. we have never been energy independent and we never will be until people educate themselves. thank you. >> headline from the new york times that this morning downplaying oil, white house firms up biden saudi trip. president biden's much anticipated trip to saudi arabia has formally set for the white next month the white house announced on tuesday. but officials play down the chances of securing much we have been stabilizing energy markets roiled by mirages and create invasion of ukraine. mr. biden will make his first trip to the middle east as president from july 13th to july 16, stopping forcing israel and the west bank before

heading to jeddah, saudi arabia, where he will meet with the crown prince mohammed bin salman, the reported mastermind of the brutal 2018 assassination of a saudi dissidents with american ties. the trip was generating waves of criticism even before it was officially announced. human rights activists, media figures and even some of mr. biden's fellow democrats denounced the idea of a president shaking hands with a saudi leader said to have ordered the killing and dismemberment of jamal khashoggi, a leading critic of the royal family police in the united states and wrote a column for the washington post. members of congress, republicans also critical of that trip and critical of the administration's efforts to lower the price of gas in, reportedly, through that trip. here is steve scalise, the minority whip, in the house, and his comments yesterday. >> in fact, joe biden is getting ready to announce to the next three days that he's going to fly to saudi arabia to

bake them to produce more oil. just think about the lunacy of that. so joe biden who talks about global warming all the time i, want to how many people are going to ask joe biden was a carbon footprint of his trip to saudi arabia's. over 5000 miles travel, to go to saudi arabia to big saudi princes to produce more oil after he begged vladimir putin to produce more oil and putin said no. if you weeks ago when he tried to call saudi to produce more oil, it didn't even return his phone call. joe biden, you do not need to go to saudi arabia to find a way to produce more energy. it's right here in america. in fact, you could go less than 1000 miles to port fujian, louisiana, in my district, the heart of dwelling in the gulf of new mexico, where joe biden shut down production on american lives. shut down american energy. he could fly 1000 miles less than 1000 miles and by the way i can tell you president biden,

you don't have to ask down certainly if you're -- in for duke fujian, louisiana, their answer will be yes because they know had to produce good clean american energy, by the way cleaner than anywhere else in great. don't fly over 5000 miles to saudi arabia when you talk the answer because they are a port cartel. opec is a cartel. their monopoly. they like a higher price of gasoline. but even if they said yes, first of all, the energy they produce is not as clean as what we produce in america because what we -- buy saying no to american energy as joe biden did in day one when he went into the white house, by going in dancing saudi to produce more energy that takes more money out of america's coffers so america actually makes next to income that people right their taxes to the irs from the, largest producing federal agency for tax revenue is the department of interior, drilling on

federal and state lands, public and private lands, generates more income than any agency other than the iris. and that money is depleting, that revenue is depleting. no you no ice else it means? states like louisiana actually sherrilyn revenue when they drill for oil. so my colleagues in north dakota are seeing a huge decrease in the school budgets because joe biden shut down american energy and that takes money out of the school systems coffers. >> -- >> and a quick look of at a couple of primary elections. a headline in the washington examiner this one. adam laxalt, nevada's nominee to challenge democratic senator catherine cortez nazinin -- premier sent on tuesday and will go on to challenge democratic senator catherine cortez masto in the general election. and they want the laxalt embrace to former president donald trump's efforts to challenge the 2020 election results based on unfounded claims of systemic fraud, and allies of the former president campaigned in the state on laxalt behalf.

also a race in texas a, special election. this headline is from town hall. start of the red wave, mauro flores flips texas border district's special election. republican mairead flores beat democrat sanjay densities on tuesday in the special elections for texas d+ five 34th a district part which floors along the mexico border. right there also the first mexican american -- one in the 84% hispanic district which biden won by four points in 2020. some comments are not better on a morning question. this one from ray saying that joe biden campaigned against fossil fuel exploration and extraction and isn't surprised there is less of it and in company they're holding back capital in an era of chess esg mantra mandates and painfully diffident financing, but in reaping what he have an -- average says whether you feel

optimistic or pessimistic, if republicans get back in power, they will take undeserved credit for all those lower priced goods coming from china because of the effects of the pandemic and either the supply chain issues. republicans can't govern. charlie is in monroe, louisiana, next up, on the pessimistic line. good morning. >> good morning. i'm commenting on -- about creating jobs. -- the residents of this purse can't get the government to -- at the convenience store i work up in this parish pull up every morning and workers getting out of the illegal elites which received in the middle of the night. many of them already coming into a. have been on this in 73 years. if -- it's killing our country and making people --

and so are local officials. early one is getting the bid fit of this administration or the people on the free trade. i vote for impeachment and thank you for taking my call. >> anna optimistic line, pointer quarter, florida, lou. hello there. you in florida, you're on the air. yes, i'm here. a couple of things that i a little statement by mr. scalise i just want to go back and review the economy. economy -- all four you'll find out this -- typical when saudi would, be is much more economical -- to drill around. another two, the gop put donald trump in there for a reason. he's not qualified and it's very obvious now it's coming up more every day. he's signing things that --

should vote on. number one. number two, he's signing things that were -- a typical example was the tax structure. i mean, rumors into jelly two trillion dollars a year in tax revenue because of the tax reform he said. i mean, that's eight trillion dollars as of this year. i mean, -- should you suddenly, could be used somewhere. the pandemic hit, and even he did nothing. you just worried about his campaign. so he's not he's done a lot of strange things. another issue would be the economy was the tariffs. he issued tariff increases to other countries with his u.s., usa and see, and it's nothing but nafta we defined. what's going on is recharging would tariffs to another country. and all they do is adjust the price structure to make amicable numbers --

compensate for the tax. and we can't increase our price is going to other countries, because we're, we're maxed out. and we are paying tax in our market for both. them and us. i'm sorry, but that's how i feel. and donald trump is not qualified. end of story. i'm sorry. >> all right, and that's flew in florida. here on washington journal. if there is more ahead. we will continue our conversation about the economy with economist stephen moore. he will join us. he is with freedom works, their senior economist. we'll talk about the economy and more and hear from you later wu for ian buettner's reporter and jenner for yadkin joins us from gender and she'll have the latest on the severe drought conditions and the water shortages in the west.

>> january 6 public hearings continue as they release evidence gathered in their investigation. tune in thursday of the committee examines how then- president trump may have pressured vice president pence to not certify president biden's election. watch live thursday at 1:00 p.m. eastern time on c-span3, c-span now, our free mobile video app, or anytime online at c-span.org. you can also visit our website, c-span.org/january6 to watch previous hearings and other videos related. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. if you are enjoying book tv, then sign up for our newsletter using the qr code on the screed to see the schedule of upcoming programs, author discussions, book festivals and more. every sunday on c-span2 or

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reassessment of john f. kennedy have jfk grew dealing with investing in foreign challenges. saturday on c-span two. find the full schedule on your program guide, or watch online anytime at c-span.org/history. washington journal continues. washington journal continues. >> joining us is stephen moore, who is freedomworks senior economist and former trump senior adviser for the 2016 campaign. joining us this morning to talk about the economy and in the biden administration policies to address things like inflation and more, steve moore, welcome back to washington journal. >> thank you for having me. >> we started the program asking are you curious about

whether to be optimistic or pessimistic on the economy. where do you stand on things i? >> pretty pessimistic right now. we've seen you, know, this huge sell off on the stock market. this is been an incredible burn market over the past three months. investors have lost by my estimates about ten trillion dollars in this huge sell-off that seems to be continuing a day after day, although it looks like the future -- the features were up this morning. that's a big wealth loss for american savers, for peoples pension funds, for peoples 401k plans. and also the liquidity lead for business and so i'm worried about that and i'm worried about a massive borrowing that's going out in washington and i testified yesterday in front of the budget committee in the house about you know all the spending that's going down in washington. and it's been an almost amount of money last year. last year we passed three

trillion dollars of spending that the economy didn't need and i think that was a match that met with this forest fire of higher inflation. so i think it's an incredibly prepare precarious time for the economy right now. i'm hoping that we can skate around a recession. as you know, the official definition of a recession is two straight quarters of negative growth. now, we had negative growth in the first quarter. it looks like the second or just going to be not negative, but not hot, like 1% is the latest estimate. so is getting around the edging of oven in a recession. i hope we can avoid it but right now, frankly, it doesn't look very positive. >> do you think the fed at, then meeting today and they will reportedly adjust interest rates up, it's a half percent, three quarter percent, do you think that's the right move for them? >> well actually, the latest bet is that is going to be three quarters percent or maybe even a 1%. because we've got this large inflation report just in the last few days. yesterday, the producer pricing,

that number was up basically producer prices were running roughly 10%, at 80 got inflation running at almost 9%. those are numbers you, know, we haven't seen since the late 1970s, early 19 80s. it's been 40 years since we've got numbers that bad. so the fed, i've been pretty critical of the fed since the last year. i think they've been way behind the curve in terms of trying to extinguish it in this inflation. they should have been raising rates last year much more aggressively, and then let it get out of control. i mean, think about the narrative over the last nine months about inflation. first, you know, the biden administration and the fed said, oh, there's no inflation. and then, as it got worse, 4 to 5 to 6%, they said, remember that it was transitory, that it was transitory, it was temporary, it was going to go away. that that clearly didn't happen. and they said for the next few months, oh, it's picked, he speaks, while it hasn't picked. the numbers have gotten worse. [interpreter] you can't -- look, i think inflation is like a cancer cell. you can't let it miss has to

size. or it just gets, it kills the economy. we've allowed that to happen. i think the fed should take very aggressive action right now to bring this inflation rate back down to at least below 5%. does the administration, has the administration, outside of the fed to add anything to address in direct play shun in your view? >> they've done a lot on inflation. it's all been negative. in other words, i believe it's the biden administration's massive spending. by the way, donald trump who i worked for, as you mentioned, i was senior adviser for trump. i think you did wonderful things for the economy. even republicans were spending way too much money. we spend on covid in the last two and a half years or so five trillion dollars that we didn't have. now some of that spending was necessary, because we are dealing with this deadly virus. we spent more and more money that we didn't have. it was pretty predictable. if you just flood the economy

with cheap money, we are going to get inflation. >> obviously a lot of the pressure for consumers is at the gas pump. how much of this do you think is driven by the war in ukraine? with these prices have gone up this i had it not been for the war in ukraine. >> listen, i think joe biden, it rests with him. he basically even said, and he's campaigning for president, he was debating donald trump, he hated the oil and gas industry. you want to drive it out of business. this is directly result of the biden war on american oil and gas. you have a climate change fanaticism that's really taken over the democratic party that believes that the congress and the presidents are changing the temperature of the planet idling. that's likely to happen. the first act that joy bratton past when he became president was for example killing the keystone pipeline. you need pipelines to get oil and gas to the market.

we should be and, my opinion, we should be producing three or 4 million barrels a day's under the trump policies than we were under the biden. you reduce the supply of something, what happens to its price? it goes up. >> the associated press reporting today that there is a letter, the biden administration is sending to oil finer, biden tells oil if minors, produce more gas, fewer profits. he has been critical of the profits that been made in the oil industry and in other businesses as well with inflation on the rise. >> yeah, what worries me, there is all of this passing the buck by the biden administration. let me give you an example. when donald trump left office in january of 2021, these are just facts, the inflation rate was about 1.5%. 1.5%. here we are, 15 months later the inflation rate has gone from 1.5% to 8.5%. does anyone thinks that's a coincidence? this is a direct result of the biden policies. the fed has something to do

with it too. you cannot continue to massively spend and borrow trailing's and trillions of dollars. i don't care if you're the public, and democrat, you know it's wrong. you know what we do in washington is wrong. it's had a harmful effect. for the president to blame the oil companies, the pharmaceutical companies, the chicken producers. it's always somebody else. this is something i find unattractive about this president. he refuses to be like harry truman, when my favorite presidents, who had that -- the buck stops here. what he meant by that,, of course i am a ceo, i'm a president, i take responsibility for what's happening. when does biden ever take responsibility for its happened? >> our guest is stephen moore, we welcome your calls and comments on the economy. 202-748-8000 is the line for -- four 202-748-8000. 202748 8002. we'll get to your calls momentarily. i want to play for you, steve,

the comments the president is on the road to defending his administration's record on the economy. talk to yesterday philadelphia before the afl-cio. let's take a listen. >> we brought down covid deaths by 90%. we open schools and businesses that were shuttered. and all created the greatest job recovery in american history. people don't want to talk about these days, it's true, since i became president, we've created 8.7 million new jobs in 16 months. and all-time record. even last month, 390,000 jobs. 600,000 new manufacturing jobs. manufacture -- look, folks, our unemployment rate is near historic lows. 3.7%, millions americans, i love these guys talking about

why these guys left my employment, which one other job. because he got paid more. [applause] isn't that awful? isn't that a shame that they got to compete for labor? better paying jobs for better jobs, for them in their family. it's been a long time since that is happened in this country. it's happening now. it is working. >> stephen moore, the president touting his job creation record. >> yeah, well, it's a strange economy right now. the president is right, to the jobs market is a strong as i've seen it in 30 years. there's no question about it. we have jobs out there there is about 10 million open jobs in the country today. that's the very positive news about the economy. by the way, for people who might be sitting on the sidelines of the labor force and thinking about, after two years of covid, thinking back

at the labor force. i would advise you to get a job now. i'm really worried that you're going to see that positive job picture that the president is talking about, it could disappear pretty quickly. >> what's the cause? that >> the inflation, increasing interest rates. the stock market collapse frankly. this is an incredible reduction in the amount of money that businesses have to spend. you are already starting to see some signs. wall street journal last week said a lot of major businesses put hiring freezes on. tesla is actually reducing the workforce. it's a precarious time. it's a really strange economy. you have a good job market. you've had this inflation that's getting worse, and worse each month. i'm really worried that you're going to see, this is the end of the ride, the end of the party on the good jobs. i hope i'm wrong. look, i root for america. i want to see as great as many jobs as we can. i want to see that inflation rate blacked out. when i first came to this town

in the early 80s, i remember when we had that 12% inflation under -- it was the reason that quarter lost the election to raegan. because of the out of control inflation. the way we had to get out of that recession, i don't know if you are old enough to remember this, i do, around 82, we had a terrible recession. 12% unemployment i don't want to see a return to that. >> you tell us on this on you earlier comments. the headline this morning in the washington times, fed board meets, higher rate than anticipated, you said, reported on tuesday that the producer price index which gauges inflation before it hits consumers surged 10.8% from may, in may, from a year earlier. in terms about soaring cost, heaping pressure on the central -- aggressive action. tell us more about this producer price index and its rise. here >> we have the consumer price index. and then we have the producer

price index. the consumer price index is where you paint the store. four eggs, four fruit, four cars, obviously gasoline. and then you have producers, producers other companies. what they pay for example to get them urgency and they're going to sell. usually when the producers are paying more, what you think they do? they have to pass those costs on to consumers. that's one of the reasons why i think we don't hit peak consumer inflation yet. at some point, the company, either the companies have to go out a business, right, or they have to push those on. i think are going to see a few more months of that inflation numbers. i do think the inflation is going to start to come down. that is the positive news i also think the unemployment rights are going to start to go up. >> let's go to calls, anthony first up on the republican line in detroit. good morning. >> good morning, yeah, i'm not too optimistic. i understand i'm no scholar, i

thought the united states dollar was the world reserve currency. with this hold russia thing going on, it looks like the world countries are trying to back out of that. that's not going to look too good for our dollar. in terms of our politics,, well we just had democrats and republicans. all they're really capable of doing is -- which is doesn't add to the productivity of our country. >> stephen? >> first of all, this gentleman is right that we've gotten out of control government budget. if you were to ask me,, in fact, when i testified yesterday before the budget committee, i was asked, well when advice would you give to this president? and this congress? cut spending, we have got to get the spending down. as i said, we've seen four trillion dollar increase in the death of her last year to have since biden's been in office. we saw big crease and that debt at the end of the trump administration.

you can't continue to spend the amount of money he don't have. it's interesting, there's this new kind of economic theory that some of the progressives have been touting which is called modern monetary theory. the government can just keep borrowing and borrowing and spending and spending trillions of dollars. and it's not going to hurt the economy. because where the, quote, world reserve currency. how do you like it now? how do you like five dollar gasoline? how do you like eggs are up 35%. used cars, everything is up. in fact, when i do c-span or other shows, i talk about the eight to 9% inflation. people get angry at me. they say, you know wet? the gasoline, my utility bills, my rent, the food i buy, that's up not 8%, that's up 15 or 20%. the essentials that people have to buy is even more than eight a half percent. it's putting a real strain on family incomes. inflation is running out about

eight and a half percent. wages are going out about 5%. that means americans are getting four. >> let's hear from him on the ground democrats line in wisconsin. >> mr. moore, i'd like to ask a couple questions. trump took all that relatively stable economy from obama and you put the deficit up by a trillion. interest rates were strong on the bed to keep interest rates at zero. the stock market would go up. another 50% of the americans don't have any money in the stock market. the only ones are the big banks and housing developers. when it comes to oil prices, when covid hit in march of 2020, the production went from 12 billion barrels to ten. now it's back to -- and they're shipping more oil to europe than we ever have out of the atlantic. is that biden's fault? also, the grain farmers are getting $3 a bushel, trump's

tariffs against china on grain. now they're getting 14 for. beans there's winners and losers. these farmers are actually quite happy with the prices. i mean, not everyone's losing in this economy. i'd like to have your answer please. >> a lot of good points that gentlemen makes. i'm going to challenge some of them. the economy wasn't strong when obama left office. in fact, only four out of ten americans raided the economy is good or great at the end of the obama administration. people were very concerned about the economy. we have the weakest recovery from recession in history under a boma. even the democrats admitted that in the hearing yesterday. we took over a struggling economy. i am proud of what we did. we reduced taxes for american businesses to make us more competitive. we reduce the regulatory burden. we got really tough with china

in terms of much tougher trade deals. we secured the border, which is something that's not happening today. we had an incredible economic boom under trump. i remember so vividly in early 2020 thinking, oh my god, we have one of the greatest economy ever. lowest unemployment rate in 50 years. lowest poverty rate ever recorded. everything, wages are rising for workers. i remember thinking, gosh, something is going to happen. i meet here is going to hit. you're going to have an earthquake or something. who would've expected this virus to hit american shores. obviously, that did great damage to our health but also to our economy. trump policies, where you like donald trump or not, were hugely successful on the economy. i'll simply say that. look, in terms of the oil

production, we peeked out at about 12 million barrels a day under trump. today, where roughly 11 million barrels. wait a minute, the price of oil has doubled. we should be, in my opinion, if trump were still president we producing four or 5 million more barrels a day think about that. with oil at $100 a barrel, we're losing roughly half a billion dollars a day. $500 million a day because of this insane war on american oil and gas by the biden administration. >> they hit the industry, they want to take it down to zero. well they're off to a good start. >> the color mentioned -- we were destroy earlier. headline from the new york times, biden weighs tariffs rolled back to is inflation, even a little bit. would you support that? >> you know, i'm a free trade guy. so i don't like tariffs. and tariffs are taxes, and i

don't like taxes. but i'm not an expert on this, but i do believe that china is an existential threat to the united states. they are, you know, we are seeing them building up their military and a very aggressive, dangerous way. we've seen them involved in extreme predatory practices i. think americans want -- and by the way a lot of the supply chain problems that biden is talking about are the result of our over dependence on china. so you know, i don't like tariffs, but i would keep tariffs on china because of their behavior. but we are in an extremely dangerous situation with this country. and let's maybe, let's produce more things at home rather than be so depended, like, with these computer chips, and then, you know, if we have a tariff on china, we can use that money to cut other taxes. so i'm not in favor of reducing those from tariffs on china. >> all right.

let's go to alex on silver spring, maryland, independent line. >> good morning. i have just one question, really is a follow-up question for you. and i'm not going to, like, tell you how to do your job as a moderator for your show, but it just strikes me as as somebody, if you ask somebody question and they answered without actually addressing the subject that you asked, it comes across as a little bit weird to be, personally. so, the follow-up question that i would ask you, and honestly all be surprised if you don't even address this subject at all like you did when you ask a question the first time, is, do you think that the war in ukraine really had absolutely no impact on gas prices whatsoever that's? my question, thank you. >> well, good. this i'm glad this gentleman brought that up. because they never get indirectly answer question. because absolutely, the crane

question has added to the gas price. now about 75% of the gas price increase happened before russia went into ukraine. but there's no question about it. yes, absolutely. russia is a major oil producer. we've lost their production. but so, my only, you know, point i would make about that is it's all the more reason why we should be producing more oil and gas here at home. can mean, somebody has to explain to me how it makes any sense that we're not getting the increase in our oil and gas production in texas, north dakota, alaska, pennsylvania, oklahoma, and yet, now you've got the president goes over to saudi arabia hansen glove, it's humiliating, and asked the saudis to increase their oil production when we could be getting it at home. somebody has to explain to me how that is improving our economic situation, because we could be producing so much oil and gas here at home. we don't have a shortage of oil and gas. we have 500 years worth of coal,

we have 300 years worth of natural gas, we have 250 years worth of oil. and don't forget, that the first act of the biden administration was to kill the keystone exile pipeline, which is critical to our supply chain, and then he says, oh we have the supply chain problems. well, maybe it wouldn't be so bad if we didn't kill pipelines, refineries as well there's a question on twitter for you about that. it says, mr. moore, how could importing tar sand oil, the most expensive oil to refine, reduced prices? all companies can stand business if -- their cover cause i'm home. >> not exactly a sure i understand the question. we can be producing 3 million to 4 million more barrels a day, easily. in fact, the -- information agency had predicted about 15 million barrels here. >> in the u.s.. >> here in the u.s., right. domestic production. now candidate is, you know, canada. look if, we got it right, between canada and the united states and mexico, we wouldn't have to be reliant on any of these countries.

we wouldn't have to be reliant on the opec countries, we wouldn't have to be reliant on iran, wouldn't hadn't after we reliant on russia. we should actually be exporting our natural gas to europe so they are not dependent on russia. we have massive amounts of natural gas. we have the cheapest natural gas in the world. so we should be producing it. but people have to realize that there is a war against american oil and gas producers in washington. you go back and watch the debate between joe biden and donald trump, and biden said, i want to destroy the american oil and gas industry. now, the iron irony is the oil and gas industry is making all sorts of money because the international press has gone up so much in the last year and a half you know, the price of always about $60 a barrel when trump left office. now it's $120 a barrel. >> well, let's hear from peter on the republican line, valley cottage, new york. good morning. >> hey, you've got it right. that's great. good morning. good to speak to you again,

steve. you are absolutely on the money. just like with this individual set about keystone. it just shows that the public doesn't really understand all the dynamics involved in the economy. it's about supply. it doesn't matter if the law stays here in the united states. it's about supply and demand. so more supply, to lower the price. i want you all the time on kudlow. you do a great job. i suggest that people who watch this show watch kudlow and get an understanding of how things work. the one thing they need to understand is that even if the biden administration reversed all its policies right now, it would take at least a year to a year and a half before we see any results. president reagan took three years for him to get inflation under control. -- reduce the money supply, lower the balance sheet on the fed, slowly raise interest rates, and if we're lucky, we'll have

a might recession and we won't get hurt badly. but you're doing a great job, steve, explaining to the public, pasta. >> well, thank you for the can call. and i'll just add one thing to want this gentleman said. you know, when you look at this oil and gas situation, we really had an opportunity to be producing more. and not a lot of people are going to push back the. say what about climate change? what about greenhouse gas emissions and so on, but you know, the united states has virtually the cleanest, hold clean oil and gas. somewhat we've done, it's not like we are consuming less oil and gas. we are consuming the same amount. we need all of gas to fuel our cars and fuel our plants and equipment and construction companies and all the things we have. the difference is now we are actually importing more. so for example, one of the things we were really proud of at the end of the trump administration is the first time in your and my lifetime we were actually a knit exporter of oil and gas. that had never happened before.

so we were exporting on the gas, think of all the jobs that needs, we reduced our trade jeff is it, it had very positive impacts. and now we're in a situation, 15 months later, we are actually having to import oil from russia and saudi arabia and iran. somebody's got to explain to me how that makes any sense for economic standpoint when we could be getting there all from texas and oklahoma and north dakota. >> next up is david on the independent line. davis is from maryland. you're on with steve moore. >> hey, it's my phone call, i used to get weight about inflation and that's -- one of my biggest issues in the economy everything. and -- inflation only hurts you if your wages stay stagnant. but this inflation, it's crazy for the average person to try to outpace this with just a minimum wage. so i have started, you know, go side hustles on amazon and social media. and of trying to, like, you know, do what i can on my end, just keep my family, you know, supported through this.

and i'm curious, like, i have a lot of things running around my rank right now. but i used to watch a lot of peter schiff. i'm not sure if you know this guy. but he always talks about how it's so difficult for the government to really deal with this kind of policies and these issues with monetary, because they basically, it's a very unpopular among the politicians and the people. because what needs to happen involves a lot of pain, economically. and nobody wants to vote for that, nobody wants to be the person that, you know, causes, i, in a massive recession. so they just keep winning, they just keep printing money and that's, like they're boiling out our economy like that for a long time. i'm just curious your thoughts, is it even possible for, i don't know if it's, i don't know how to waited, but i think you understand, like, the problem is of the government and they don't want to, they don't want to do what they need to do, because it's just, it's

just not in their nature. and also lastly, why is the price of gold not going up? thanks. >> i didn't quite hear the -- >> last one was on the price of gold. why is it going up? >> i'll just take one minute if i may to explain because this gentleman mix of good points. i'll want to explain people why i think it is we have this raging inflation. so last year, we passed about three trillion dollars of a traditional spending because it was unnecessary because we actually had three trillion dollars in the pipeline for covid. we passed a big bill under trump, which we probably didn't even know that. so we already have three $20 of extra funding flowing into the economy. and biden came in in the first thing he did was pass what he called the american recovery act which was 1.9 trillion, which was mostly a bullet in. >> much of last year in. >> much of last year, right. so then after that, we passed this green bill back in the end, towards the end of 2021. and so you're talking about three trillion dollars of

massive spending. the federal reserve orders and that the question is, okay, what about? you know the operative? >> snow. >> who brought a lot of them. federal reserve board brought about. and so now, of course, the question is how does the federal reserve -- gets appointed by the bugs? well as this general set, they put it. they have control of the printed press. is that process that i just described, that's in economic parlance, not called monetizing the debt. in other words, you are putting money to pay for your government spending. now of, gotta tell you. i'm kind of an economic historian. that story usually doesn't have a happy ending. this is what bolivia and argentina and venezuela and zimbabwe to.

they -- are inflation. so we've got to stop this cycle or this story is going to have a real crash landing. and that's why i think the fed today has to start taking this tiger by the tail and getting the inflation under control. >> and do you have an answer for this, thoughts about the price of gold, white hasn't gone up? >> i'm puzzled by that as well. you know, i've been investing in gold because gold, you know, has traditionally been the ultimate hedge against inflation. look what happened in to the gold price in the 70s. way, way up. i don't have a good answer for that. i'm sort of puzzled by why that is that, you know, the gold price has gone up a little bit but not a whole lot. so that's, i don't have a great answer. >> when government spending, you talked about the covid spending. your most recent book, how the govzilla the rim relentless cost of government is trailing o'connor came out last year. turns -- transitory spending of the federal government, where, this

definitely, do you think the biggest cuts happen in the federal government? >> i think we all know the major retirement programs, social security or medicare, which are the big, you know because driver, because we have i think there's 80 per million of us who are baby boomers who are re-for retired are about to retire. 62. i was born in 1960. so i'm a late baby boomer. you know, that's a lot of people to be getting all these government benefits and then another thing, you know, i would recommend to congress is we dramatically increased welfare benefits and we provided massive food stamp benefits, enough unemployment benefits by the, way 150 billion dollars were stolen for the numbers plum benefit programs. a lot of these people don't live in the united states, and africa and so on. congress does nothing about that. $150 abroad. and then you've got the food stamps and all these programs. and so what we found in a study that we did at the committee to only's prosperity that people could making like 80 or hundred thousand dollars in benefits and not have to work a cynical our. so we've got to get back to the clinton era welfare reform

saying, yes, absolutely, we are going to have a safety lead. -- i don't what would people lose their jobs become homeless are angry. but we also have to insist that people either are in job training our get back to the workforce. this gentleman in job openings today. so there's no reason why an able-bodied person shouldn't be working and yet we giving them all of this government handouts. >> let's hear from jim who is in portland, oregon, democrats line. go ahead. make sure you mute your television television. coed with a question the office of national drug control all the policy has a principle plan within goal is to beat by 2025 including a 13% reduction in drug overdose deaths doubling treatment admissions for the populations most at risk of overdose death that 25% increase in the number of peer led recovery organizations,