‘Give Me Just a Ballpark’: Martha McCallum Spars with WH Economic Advisor on Inflation as Repeated Question Goes Unanswered

Fox News’ Martha MacCallum sparred with White House economic advisor Brian Deese over inflation and when exactly the administration expects it to level out.

Deese could not provide any timetable for inflation and when Americans can expect to see their gas and grocery bills go down, though he was asked multiple times.

“So when do you expect us to see a meaningful change in inflation or in growth? Give us a rough idea. How many months? How many years?” MacCallum asked during the Wednesday interview on The Story with Martha MacCallum.

Deese touted President Joe Biden’s work on the economy, despite inflation, and called for more production within the U.S. to avoid some of the global “brittle” supply chain issues that have become yet another crisis for Americans in recent months.

MacCallum later circled back to her question, again asking for a specific timetable for what the White House predicts for inflation in the coming months and years.

“So you say you have a plan and you believe it’s going to work. Give us a time frame. We’re at 8.6 [percent] in inflation right now. Growth is projected to be .9 percent in the next quarter. When do you expect to see inflation that is in the two percent range based on everything that you’re doing in your plan? When will that happen?” the Fox News host asked.

“Look, there’s a lot of predictions out there. Most independent projections you’ve seen and we analyze as well,” Deese said, sidestepping any timeframe talk, but said the administration is working to “lower costs families are facing and lower the federal deficit.”

MacCallum did not let the timeframe question go this time, asking Deese, “what are your projections telling you?”

“What I’d say is we’re focused on the policies that will accelerate that process,” Deese said on inflation, though he did not say how “accelerated” the process to bring numbers down would be. The economic advisor pointed to “global uncertainty” and the conflict between Ukraine and Russia as making such predictions difficult.

“We know the price of oil and the price at the pump are being affected by [Vladimir] Putin’s brutal war in Ukraine, but what we also know is if we take the kind of steps that we’re talking about, we’ll get to that process more quickly,” he said.

“What is quickly? Give me just a ballpark,” MacCallum frustratedly asked.

“There’s a lot of people who out there who are in the predicting business,” Deese replied. “We are in the building business. We are in the business of putting policies in place that will accelerate that outcome. That’s what we have done and what we can now do.”

Watch above via Fox News.