Scott Bessent: This has been a BLOW OUT

[0:00] Mr. Secretary, it's great to see you tonight. [0:02] So you look at the investment in the United States, you look at our energy exploration, [0:07] the GDP, the job growth, one of the biggest IPOs in history, but the left, it seems to be invested [0:15] in one thing, doom and gloom. Completely, Laura. I'm here in Texas, which is just booming. [0:26] It's a role model for the rest of America. And I was at the Reagan Library in California, [0:31] which is a role model in how to tank one of the greatest places in the United States. [0:38] So Texas now has more Fortune 500 companies. It's part of the energy dominance. [0:44] As you said, the U.S. now is an energy superpower. We've surpassed Saudi Arabia and Russia. [0:53] Down here in Texas, Wall Street, a lot of people didn't like what was going on in New York. [0:59] Capital comes where it's treated well, and they've got Y'all Street, and businesses are booming here. [1:05] I mean, these are really Americans. [1:09] California is just bleeding Fortune 500 companies, executives, job creators. [1:15] They're going to states that are more hospitable. At the same time, Mr. Secretary, inflation and the cost of living is weighing on Americans. [1:23] What can you tell the American people tonight about the light that is there at the end of the tunnel for them on the cost of everyday living? [1:36] So, Laura, we understand this is a challenging time, and the president and the cabinet was with him. [1:44] We believe that he had to take this opportunity to keep Iran from having a nuclear weapon. [1:51] We will see, maybe as soon as this weekend or Monday, we will get on the other side of this. [1:57] Energy prices will come back down. The energy markets are very well supplied. [2:02] Oil is already about 25 or 30 percent off the top. Gasoline has come down more than 10 percent. [2:10] So, I am very confident that the challenging time with gasoline will pass by. [2:16] Core inflation, which is real underlying inflation, surprised on the downside, it was only 0.2 percent. [2:23] So, again, once we get on the other side of this energy pinch, and as you said, Laura, the important thing is that underneath all that, [2:32] the economy is doing very well. We've created 900,000 private sector jobs since President Trump came to office. [2:39] Those aren't government jobs. These are good-paying, private sector jobs. [2:44] We're having a manufacturing rebirth because of a combination of the tariffs and our tax policy. [2:52] And, you know, this was an incredible acting IRS commissioner. [2:57] This was an incredible filing season. Refunds were up 11 percent. [3:01] The average refund was $3,300. And the working families' tax cut, you know, that, the 96 percent of the filers for one of the four president's four signature policies, [3:14] no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, lower taxes for great seniors and social security, [3:19] and deductibility of interest on auto cars, on American-made cars, the 44 percent of Americans took one of those. [3:29] So, my message is the underlying fundamentals are excellent, and we will be on the other side of this soon. [3:36] So, the cost of energy driven largely by the war with Iran, the conflict as it's emerged, [3:44] once that is resolved, how quickly do you think that will trickle down to the cost of groceries, [3:51] car repairs, all the things that have remained stubbornly high over these last especially few months? [3:56] Well, what we've seen is because of the headline inflation, we had had real wage increases every month under President Trump except for April. [4:09] But because of the spike in energy prices, April wiped out a lot of that. [4:13] So, you know, when the energy comes back down, then I think we will be back to real wage growth. [4:19] And the food, actually, since President Trump came back in, what's called food at home is up 2.5 percent. [4:29] So, you know, much of that is transportation costs. [4:33] There's some very idiosyncratic things like beef and tomatoes. [4:36] But, you know, other things in the basket are down. [4:40] And the important thing is that we are creating jobs. [4:45] The past three months in terms of jobs have just been a blowout. [4:48] You know, 170, 180,000 jobs a month, well over the estimates. [4:55] And someone said to me, after the jobs number came out, because there was a big pickup in the catering, hospitality, restaurant services, [5:05] they said, well, that's the World Cup. [5:07] And I said, great, it's the World Cup. [5:09] Thank you, President Trump, for bringing the World Cup here. [5:11] I had the CEO of American Airlines in, and he said that business and recreational travel is doing great. [5:20] And they're seeing a huge boost from the World Cup. [5:24] So, thank you, President Trump, for the World Cup. [5:26] We're going to have the 200th. [5:27] We're going to have the 250th. [5:29] Then we'll go to the Olympics. [5:31] Yeah, I think once this conflict is settled, I mean, we're on the sky's the limit analogy with Elon today and SpaceX. [5:41] To me, you get this thing settled, settled the right way, sky's the limit for the U.S. economy. [5:47] Everybody wants to be here. [5:48] Mr. Secretary, we really appreciate you joining us on a Friday night. [5:51] Be sure to like and subscribe for all the Fox News latest on YouTube, and catch full shows streaming now on Fox 1.