american spending. americans and experiences. more people in the u.s. are satisfying wanderlust and spending big to do it. with daily covid-19 cases following, the strongest consumer finances and consumer history. they are eager to splurge on everything from travel to sports events. executive said. that is from the wall street journal. here's an opinion piece this morning from a biden administration official, stephen wagnon. we are asking you if you are optimistic or pessimistic about the economy. biden keeps blaming the supply chain for inflation that is dishonest. in an interview with lester holt from nbc, president biden stayed

closely to his talking points. the reason for the inflation is the supply chains were cut off, he insisted. that is simplistic and misleading. he says for starters, supply chain's have not been cut off, just stretched. supply issues are by no means the root cause of our inflation. that is like complaining about your sweater keeping you too warm. the bulk of the supply problems is over stimulating the economy. not because of it. shortages in factories with transportation workers, most of our supply problems have been homegrown. along the way americans have been creating shortages. akin to those in a shopping mall on black friday.

optimistic about the economy or pessimistic? (202) 748-8000 >> let's hear froe

pessimistic line. >> good morning. i feel with the job loss, you cannot find items when you go by them in the store, they are too expensive. groceries have gone up. drug abuse, our own people have been hurting and we are allowing millions of people to come into our country. so what do we expect we are going to get bad results? >> on to new jersey on the unsure line. >> i tend to be optimistic, but at this point i am a little unsure

because of three things that i see that the government could do. first of all, when the new administration came in my eye did not agree with turning off the pipeline because we were energy independent. now we are back to buying from overseas. that is just a burger nonbusiness. -- a burden on business. in new jersey, we are the number one state people are moving out of. i am a realtor. there is also demand for the property, but moving out primarily because of the taxes and spending of the government, it keeps burdening. people don't benefit. they benefit directly some with the roads, but they are overtaxed. the biggest problem that causes

my pessimism is not enough people that need capital are being allowed to access it. when the loans were given out during the pandemic in the building, they were given only 20% of the people who really needed it. the large corporations that had a lot of employees got the money. there is a lot of small businesses that just need a boost, and there is no help to them. >> he said people were moving out of new jersey. do you know how many per month that is? >> no, but that is data that is

factual. at the same time we have people from other areas that are moving here from new york that can't work there because of the out-of-control crime and elected officials like cuomo and the new woman they have in the legislature, and the mayor is trying, but he keeps going along with the administration. the number one thing is public safety. when people don't feel safe, they can go on some boys. new york needs to come back. that helps new jersey. >> we will go to the optimistic line in orange beach, alabama. >> i'm 100% optimistic that the current person in office will sound like his old boss willing to spend $1 trillion on infrastructure and nothing

happened. it is all a scam. if you trust anything coming out of this government, you are not old enough to realize they are always lying. i am optimistic that things will stay the same. just a bunch of criminals. >> the council of economic advisers to the president testified yesterday on capitol hill, some reporting on their deliberations on inflation. white house economists split on inflation caused. when the prepared congressional testimony of an official was circulated in the white house in recent weeks, it included a passage tying inflation to corporate consolidation and monopoly power. that language was eventually taken out of the remarks before they were delivered. members of the white house council of economic advisers raised objection to the idea that a spike in prices was due to corporate power, according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

the post writes the alteration of testimony highlights the tensions within the administration over whether the white house should blame corporate consolidation or price hikes. some officials in the white house national economic council believe the administration could more aggressively advance the argument. democratic pollsters told the white house a populist economic message on corporate greed and prices broadly resonates with voters. senator pat toomey yesterday asked the chair of the council of economic advisers about the effect of inflation on the job market. >> most low and middle income workers have experienced a bigger rise in the cost of the things they need to buy than in their incomes. >> well, i appreciate the

concern very much, senator, and we are all concerned about inflation and it is important that we have a full slate of governors. i would like to point out the chart. >> we all know the number of governors is adequate to do whatever they need to do about inflation, so let's not go there. >> let's look at this chart on the far -- >> can you confirm the simple fact that for most workers razors -- workers wages are not rising as fast? >> if we look at the bottom 50% of workers, their income before taxes and benefits is greater than q4 2019.

>> so we saw the number of 7.5% as the most recent annual rate of inflation. low and middle income people pay a disproportionate amount of income for things that are rising more rapidly like gasoline, like groceries. are you telling me you think the average worker in america is more than keeping up with inflation? >> inflation -- we do not want to see this level of inflation going forward. that is why the president is focused on doing what he can. the federal reserve will likely adjust its posture toward inflation. because of the efforts, of the federal government the federal reserve, rates have been

contained during this pandemic. >> this is front-page and online for the washington times this morning. rising gas prices and tax holiday proposal put biden and democrats in a bind. they write record high inflation, geopolitical tensions and warnings about the price of gasoline rising have democrats scrambling to adjust costs. one response from the small group of senate democrats would suspend the federal gas tax at 18.4 cents per gallon. democrats have been acknowledging the need to combat inflation, which reached a 40 year high in an election year. the idea has become a political lightning rod on capitol hill. lawmakers say a gas tax holiday would leave a hole in the highway trust fund which pays

for transportation infrastructure projects. some comments on social media about our morning topic. thomistic -- optimistic or is a mistake. how much are you paying for gasoline since joe biden entered the white house? >> i am optimistic that trump is going to jail. jersey girl says pessimistic, particularly if the republicans take over in 2023 because they have a habit of destroying the economy. another says the economy is the most rigged it has ever been. the dollar is backed by nothing so this is a greed based economy. shelby is optimistic in albany, georgia. good morning. >> thank you for all the wonderful programming, the daily

learning we get to have. i am very optimistic. i have a property in new jersey from the first caller who is a realtor. my neighbors and i -- i'm in georgia with an elder, with a retired husband and academic, taking care of a 90-year-old since march of 2020 because we have been in a pandemic. this 100 year pandemic, the hearing there was trying to make the factual point. we have several homes. those people who are in that range have optimism because they have capacity and access to

society. we have others, young people at the colleges where we teach, people who come to make our lives better, home health workers, this is not private insurance that pays these bills. >> has that wage going up since 2020? >> no, that is what the build back better plan is for. it is for human infrastructure. you talk about roads and bridges and oil consumption, but we are human. we are people with needs. the people who are helping us with those needs are not taking income. >> we kind of lost you there. we appreciate your input. maine next up.

bob on the pessimistic line. >> i want to talk about the testimony because i don't believe there is enough discussion about the lack of workforce in america right now. we have 71 million baby boomers boone between 1946 and 1964 who are either slid into retirement or going to be sliding into but are meant. the modern birth rate being 7.1 children per couple, the couple is not replacing even themselves in the workforce. since we had this covid pandemic, it exacerbated the exit of people out of the workforce. inflation in my opinion is basically driven by the lack of workforce. a publicly traded company was only able to make 80% of their products due to a lack of workforce and transportation,

yet they are publicly traded and their shareholders are expecting 100% of the projected profit margins. the ceo's have no choice but to raise the prices on their products. i think the workforce is probably our biggest issue when it comes to inflation. if we want to disentangle ourselves from being dependent on china's products, we need to bring in millions of people into this country and watch the economy flourish. thank you. >> dennis on the pessimistic line from north carolina. good morning. >> my thing is since the president shutdown all the oil drilling and stuff or most of it in the states, it needs to start backup. oil is the heartbeat of this country. we would not be able to have

anything if we didn't have oil. you still there ? >> yes sir, i'm listening. >> even those electric cars, oil is used to make the stuff on those electric cars. the nice suit you are wearing, you have got to have oil. until they get back to pumping, and that will help the economy and they can work on the other things. i appreciate your time. >> this is another survey on the topic we are doing this morning about optimism or pessimism in the economy. their headline, stock market slides. the americans have grown more pessimistic about the u.s. economy with the end of monthly child care tax credits and the stock market pullback. a poll finds the economic

optimism index slipped seven tens of 1% to 44. that makes seven straight months below the neutral 50 level. they say the silverlining is the economic outlook index is higher. that is from investors business daily. are you optimistic or pessimistic about the economy? the lines for your optimists -- if you are pessimistic about the economy -- >> i am not feeling good about our economy. oil was used for everything and so was silver.

i believe we should work back on the gold standard a little bit and start getting people to work here. there is no reason with covid going on that we can't be making money. that is how i feel about it. >> frederick, maryland is next. gwen is on the optimistic line. go ahead. >> i am optimistic about the things happening with rising jobs. however, in frederick, maryland there are no jobs for people because they have retail, warehouse. i am not too optimistic. >> you are getting a little confused. mute your volume and go ahead with your comment.

we will let you go. the vice president kamala harris, a live look in munich at the munich security conference, meeting with the north atlantic treaty general. these discussions are happening in munich with other world leaders. we will look and listen in for a moment. >> i am here to ensure that through our discussions and with others that we continue -- [indiscernible] the work we are doing to strengthen the relationship is critically important.

i thank you again for all that you do and all that you have done. we remain open to diplomacy as a relates to the discussions we had with russia, but we are also committed if russia takes aggressive action. there will be severe consequences and of economic -- >> we are looking live in mu nich. kamala harris at the munich security conference. we will show that to you later in our program schedule on the c-span networks. on the crisis in ukraine, the russia-ukraine conflict, a headline this morning, expert, hybrid war underway. the u.s. and its nato allies have been warning about an imminent russian invasion of

ukraine, raising the specter of casualties and suffering. the estimated 150,000 mast on ukraine -- amassed on ukraine's border are not the only ones russia has at the ready. that is from usatoday.com. we are focusing on the economy this hour. are you optimistic or pessimistic? >> i am 71 years old. i lived as a young man during the vietnam era. came through the racial conflicts and all sorts of economic problems, but america

to me is still the best country in the world. we have problems that are serious, but we have to stop and consider how we will deal with our problems. we need to stop being aikins teach other -- being against each other by race, politics, and become patriotic. learn to get along the best you can with people you are in different with. this is the best country in the world. i traveled the world in the early 1970's. i met some great people, but this again is a beautiful country. we have all the resources. no matter which way we decide to go we are ok because we have god on our side. >> next up is ed in long beach, florida on the pessimistic side.

ed, mute your volume on your television and go ahead with your comment. >> this whole thing is republicans don't want americans to enjoy life, period. build back better is being denied because it makes americans suffer and they can say hey, see what the democrats did? on the inflation, they won't vote against him, trump is their god, and the united states

constitution is what they use to clean themselves with. >> bill is optimistic on the economy. >> yes. hello? >> you are on the air. >> i agree with a few other callers calling in. they need to open up the oil fields. the oil field in north dakota, it makes 500,000 barrels a day, and he's got it shut down. biden shut the oil fields down. he shut them down in pennsylvania, in texas. now, that is what causes the gas prices to rise. as soon as he did that, when he took office, the gas cost $1.80. now it's $3.05.

and we are texas. california is getting hit a lot worse than that. open up the oil fields. he's got them shut down because he is a puppet of the people on the left. they talk about this climate thing. then he goes over and talks about china getting opec to pump more oil. we have oil right here. it is our oil, especially here in midland, texas, there is a pool of oil you could run off of 30 years or more. >> the senate banking committee yesterday heard from the council of economic advisers, who provide economic advice to president biden. the chair of the committee asked the chair of the council of economic advisers, a member, if

the economic recovery was occurring for all americans. >> the stock market always seems to bounce back first while the lowest paid workers who experienced the biggest job losses are the slowest to reap the benefits of economic growth that they essentially created. how do we ensure economic recovery reaches to all workers and not just those at the top? >> that is a great question. the president has been very clear on this issue. in his address to congress last year, he said his economic agenda focuses on building an economy from the bottom up and middle out and making sure we see strong and stable economic growth. that is why it was important to getting our economy, addressing the pandemic and getting us back to full employment.

that is why the american rescue plan was important. there are charts that show some of the successes, getting 6.7 million workers into jobs. many of the gains in wages have been felt by workers at the bottom of the wage spectrum. when you get folks back to work, it has this pulling effect. that hasn't solved all the issues around inequities. one thing the administration focused on was making sure the payroll protection program actually went to those who needed it the most. there is now research showing that once the administration came into office, more business owners of color and women were able to access that program. that is one way. pres. biden: