Staff Reports
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett spent his Sunday on Fox News pointing at a poll and warning that sympathy for socialism is climbing — and that should make anyone who cares about growth sit up. He used the moment to defend the administration’s economic spin, leaning on one “underlying” inflation measure and selected wage claims to argue everything’s basically on track.
Hassett’s warning: socialism is trending — and it matters
Hassett told Fox News Sunday that the Fox News poll — which found a record 38% of registered voters saying a move away from capitalism toward socialism “would be a good thing” — is “obvious” evidence of an ideological shift inside parts of the Democratic coalition. He tied that shift to real economic risk: more talk of big government, more promises that cost money, and a slower, heavier economy as a result. That’s the conservative case in a nutshell: labels matter because policy follows them.
But polls that ask about high-level labels are slippery. The topline jump is driven by demographic skews — younger voters and certain progressive segments — and the question doesn’t test appetite for specific tax hikes or spending programs. Still, the headline number is good political oxygen; it makes for a useful talking point on Sunday shows and campaign ads alike.
The data Hassett leaned on — and the data he didn’t
When anchors pushed Hassett with Bureau of Labor Statistics headline numbers showing consumer prices rising faster than wages, he countered with the Dallas Fed’s trimmed-mean PCE — an “underlying” inflation measure running near the Fed’s target at roughly the low 2 percent range. That’s a valid statistic, but it’s a selective one. The BLS headline CPI in the spring ran materially higher, and average hourly earnings — roughly 3.4% year‑over‑year in the month Hassett cited — didn’t keep pace with that headline CPI, meaning many workers actually lost purchasing power that month.
Put plainly: you can build a reassuring storyline with trimmed averages and chosen windows, or you can read the monthly groceries-and-gas reality that hits wallets. Both are data; one covers the bumps, the other looks through them. Voters notice which version affects their next trip to the store.
Real people, real strain
Ask any single mom balancing a mortgage, childcare and a car payment what matters — and she won’t care which inflation gauge academics prefer. If the price of food and fuel jumps faster than take-home pay, her budget shrinks. That’s what the BLS numbers show for the month Hassett defended: nominal wages rose, but not enough to clear headline inflation, leaving real wages slightly down.
Hassett has also pointed to larger-sounding real‑wage gains — figures like “about $3,000” per worker — but independent reviewers say those totals depend on selective timeframes and measures. You can make the economy look better or worse depending on which yardstick you choose; for people paying the rent, the yardstick that matters is the one they use at checkout.
Politics, polling and the choice ahead
The Fox News poll’s 38% number will get stamped on cable graphics and campaign mailers because it’s neat and scary in the same breath. Conservatives should care because a leftward tilt in public sentiment makes big-government proposals easier to sell, and those proposals have costs — higher taxes, slower growth, more red tape. The administration’s defenders will keep waving trimmed means and selective aggregates to reassure voters; critics will point to headline CPI and falling real wages to argue the opposite.
So what do voters do? They can trust the gloss from economists inside the Beltway, or they can judge policy by the price of eggs and the size of their paycheck. Which measure do you want shaping the next batch of economic policy — the one that comforts politicians, or the one that reflects your wallet?
