Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on How to Reduce Inflation

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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appeared on NBC News' Meet the Press on Sunday and had some advice on how to reduce inflation.

Move from a blue state to a red state.

NBC host Kristen Welker said, “We have seen prices increasing on staples like coffee, bananas, and bacon. Inflation has gone up. It's at 3 percent now, up from 2 percent in April when the tariffs were imposed.” 

Secretary Bessent replied: “No, no, no, no, no. They weren't. So inflation hasn't gone up. And Kristen, the one thing that we're not going to do is do what the Biden administration did and tell the American people they don't know how they feel. They are traumatized and – over the Biden inflation."

"We have slowed inflation," Bessent said. "And we are working very hard to bring it down."

Bessent then cited, "Kristen, I can tell you that the Council of Economic Advisers has a study."

"You know the best way to bring your inflation rate down?" Bessent said. "Move from a blue state to a red state."

"Blue state inflation is half a percent higher," he noted. "And that is because they don't deregulate. They keep prices up. Energy is higher.”

Bessent detailed what the administration is doing to lower inflation.

“In March of 2024 I wrote a piece, and I talked about the three I’s that were killing Americans: immigration, interest rates, and inflation," he said. "President Trump's closed the border and the mass immigration is gone, and that was putting, a lot of the immigration was putting, upward pressure on housing, downward pressure on wages.”

“Interest rates are down and now we are starting to see the affordability. The prices get better," Bessent continued, "We had a very big October for home sales. Energy prices: gasoline is down. We saw — we believe health care is gonna come down: we will see an announcement this coming week on that."

Bessent had a special note for the Thanksgiving holiday.

"And so, across the board, prices are starting to come down. We’re having Thanksgiving week. This will be the lowest cost for a Thanksgiving dinner in four years. Turkey prices are down 16%.”

Hopefully he's right. Americans need a break, financially.

That is something we could all be thankful for.