Jim Cramer, Image via Screengrab.
Longtime financial pundit Jim Cramer is worried. While President Donald Trump and his allies applaud Friday’s positive jobs report, Cramer thinks they’re not paying enough attention to the economic needs of “struggling Americans.”
While the news that job numbers have increased by 172,000 is theoretically good, Cramer posted that he is “concerned that the administration is not sensitive to the huge number of people who are struggling because of gasoline and higher rates.”
He specifically called out National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, who had appeared on Cramer’s CNBC show Friday morning, where the official seemed to suggest that the positive jobs report means the Fed should increase interest rates. Cramer did not like what he heard.
“Kevin, I’m a little surprised at you,” Cramer replied. “You sound like you’re part of that group which says we have to have rate hikes, and that’s a little disappointing. And I say it’s disappointing because if you’re listening to the Dollar General Call […] you’re going to hear things that are quite different from what you say, which is there’s a group of people in this country, if you listen to the people who make homes and try to sell them, a group of people in this country that are very disenfranchised.”
Hassett then tried to backpedal on his rate hike suggestion, but Cramer wasn’t having it, taking issue with the official’s assertion that “everybody’s doing well.”
“What you’re saying is that everybody’s doing well,” argued Cramer. “There’s a considerable part of the people who are not doing well in this country, and they need the help of the Fed, and I’m surprised that you’re not addressing those people — the people who make less than forty thousand dollars in this country who need help, have seen SNAP benefits decline, who have the higher gasoline prices because of the war with Iran. What about them?”
While much of their debate spotlighted interest rates, as Cramer noted, focusing on what positive economic indicators there are also ignores gas prices, which have skyrocketed due to Trump’s decision to launch war with Iran. While gas prices have come down slightly from the peak in mid-May, they’re still up by over 40 percent versus February.
What’s more, on Thursday, oil industry leaders warned Trump that prices are likely to increase significantly over the coming weeks. In the U.S., the worst of the oil cost climbs have been staved off by digging into reserves, but those stockpiles are “at dangerously low levels already” and about to run dry. Complicating matters further, even if Trump were to secure a deal to end the war and open the Hormuz Strait tomorrow, it would still take months for production to ramp back up and bring costs back down.
When Cramer pressed Hassett on these everyday issues hitting American pocketbooks, the latter could do little but resort to bluster.
“Well, obviously, we care about everybody,” Hassett claimed.
“Oh?” Cramer replied skeptically.