by Jasmyn Jordan
Breitbart.com
Speaking with Breitbart News, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent broke down how official inflation numbers understate the economic pain felt by working-class Americans, pointing to steep price hikes in essentials like rent, used cars, and insurance under Biden and laying out how the Trump administration plans to reverse the damage.
Bessent called Donald Trump “the most transformative political figure of the century” and said in a policy event with Breitbart News that Trump’s first term delivered real wage gains for working Americans.
“The reason he won is because the bottom 50 percent of working Americans got crushed,” Bessent remarked. “If you go by the standard inflation numbers—PCE, CPI—during the Biden years, inflation was about 18 to 21 percent. Reported wages were about 3 percent below that.”