Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren ended up giving President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the White House Council of Economic Advisers a lesson in basic math after noting that 4.2% inflation outpaces 3.4% wage growth, eroding Americans' purchasing power.
Warren noted that the Council of Economic Advisers is tasked with "giving the president objective economic advice" and opted to give Dr. Christopher Phelan, an economist with the University of Minnesota, some hard economic facts.
She highlighted that many Americans cannot afford groceries, "prices are outpacing paychecks," and Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" "rips aways healthcare coverage from 15 million people in order to pay for tax cuts for billionaires and giant corporations," actions that have added $4.7 trillion to the national debt.
Warren used these facts as a springboard to ask Phelan whether "headline inflation is higher today than it was in February 2025," but when Phelan replied that "headline inflation is lower today than it was during the Biden administration," Warren cut him off:
"I'm sorry, let's not play this game. You heard my question. President Trump was sworn in January 2025 under the promise he would lower costs on Day 1."
"The question I'm asking is whether headline inflation today is higher than it was in February 2025. It's a fact question."
Phelan replied that "there's a reason economists tend to center on core inflation" before Warren cut him off again:
"Can you give me the answer on headline inflation? I don't want to know how fast you can dance. I just want to know if you can answer simple factual questions. That's all I'm looking for here."
Warren had to press Phelan again when he said he didn't know what headline inflation was back then, Warren told him: 2.8 percent.
He then said "Headline inflation now... the last one, year over year, is 4.2 percent," which is indeed a higher number, and Warren replied:
"Was that so hard? Just the facts. So let me try another one: is annual inflation higher than wage growth?"
Phelan said:
"There has been since President Trump took office... weekly adjusted earnings are higher now than when President Trump took office."
Warren was unsatisfied with that response just as she was when Phelan could not directly answer her questions about whether families today are "getting ahead or being left behind." She then tried a different approach when Phelan said his response to these people "would be [to] act."
She said:
“You’ve already told me inflation is 4.2 percent, right? What’s the annual wage growth right now?”
"I do not have that in front of me right now," Phelan said, to which Warren replied:
"It's 3.4 percent. So let's put this one together. Is 4.2 higher than 3.4?"
Instead of answering, Phelan returned to his previous claim that "real wage growth in this administration is positive," dodging Warren's point that inflation was rising faster than wages and reducing Americans' purchasing power.
That was enough to convince Warren:
“Right now families are falling behind. These are facts that come out of the Trump administration, they’re there for anybody to see. And you can’t bring yourself, as the person who sits there and says, ‘I want to be the head of the Council of Economic Advisers,’ to give objective economic advice."
"You can’t even say, ‘Yeah, inflation is running higher than wages right now.’ I think this person has disqualified himself."
You can watch their exchange in the video below.
Phelan was quickly called out.
At least Phelan wasted no time in showing us all that he'd simply be another spin doctor for the Trump administration.
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