Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick offered a baffling take on the current state of the economy and its impact on household incomes during a Tuesday appearance on Fox News.
Speaking to former Trump top aide Kellyanne Conway on Hannity, Lutnick insinuated that the 4.3 percent GDP growth seen in the U.S. economy during Q3 corresponds directly to a 4.3 percent increase in people’s incomes.
“What that means is that Americans overall—the all of us—are going to earn 4.3 percent more money,” Lutnick claimed. “We’re making a raise. It’s a simple way to do it. We’ve got more jobs, lower energy costs, and lower interest rates coming.”
“This is the golden age coming,“ he continued. “4.3 percent this quarter means Americans, on average, are making more money, more money in their pocketbooks. That makes for a great Christmas.”
While an increase in GDP can mean a healthier economy, including more opportunities for employment and higher salaries, the number has no direct bearing on an individual’s bank account.
According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, that 4.3 percent economic bump for the year’s third quarter—the results of which were delayed due to the government shutdown—was largely the result of increased household spending. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate ticked up slightly more than expected to 4.6 percent in November, the highest since September 2021.
Despite some signs of economic growth, recent polling indicates that almost half of all Americans are heading into 2026 with a negative economic outlook, with 47 percent feeling that current economic conditions are poor.
Lutnick, a billionaire who worked on Wall Street before joining President Donald Trump’s cabinet in February, is no stranger to impossible math.
On Dec. 18, Fox News anchor John Roberts confronted Lutnick about the Trump administration’s claim that it has lowered drug prices by as much as “600 percent,” which Roberts pointed out was “mathematically impossible.”
“If you cut something by 100 percent, the cost goes down to zero,” Roberts explained. “If you cut it by four, five, or six hundred percent, the drug companies are actually paying you to take their products.”
Lutnick’s response to being cornered made little sense. “What he’s saying is if a drug was $100 and you bring the drug down to $13, right? If you’re looking at it from $13, it’s down seven times,” he argued, ignoring how percentages are measured. In the same example, paying $13 versus $100 would mean an 87 percent price cut.
“$13 would have to go up 700 percent to get back to the old one. So it all depends on how you look at it,” Lutnick continued, digging himself further into a hole of mathematical confusion. “You could say it’s down 87 percent, or you could say it would have to go up 700 percent to be the same.”
He went on to claim that, exact numbers aside, “we all know” what the president is saying.
“We are hammering the price of drugs down. That’s what’s happening, and he’s announcing it all the time. He’s got more announcements even between now and the end of the year,” Lutnick told Roberts.
Lutnick previously faced criticism for dismissing Americans’ cost-of-living concerns after appearing on CNBC earlier this month and insisting that “nothing bad is happening,” even though 67 percent of Americans say they’re living paycheck-to-paycheck.
