‘God Forbid!’ Fox Host Sounds the Alarm On Debt Hitting $40 Trillion Amid Economic Uncertainty

Fox Business host Dagen McDowell sounded the alarm on the national debt nearing $40 trillion in a heated debate about rising inflation in the U.S. with her Big Money Show co-panelist Kenny Polcari on Thursday.

“The deficit so far this fiscal year is $1.8 trillion. It’s gonna top $2 trillion this year, which makes zero sense in an environment where the economy is supposed to be growing on its own. And we’re in the middle of this transformational AI investment boom. And we are near the point of not being able to ever roll that back, purely because of the interest we’re paying on the debt,” McDowell began, adding:

I want to point to — and this is financial and political, it’s the core of our function and economy — and that’s the affordability, and are Americans getting ahead or falling behind. Baird strategist Jason Turner, every month, puts together what they call the “common man CPI.” It consists of only elements or components that people must buy: food, energy, shelter, insurance, and children’s clothing.

So it is the true core, not in the way that an economist would look at it. And the growth in it did slow to 3.5% year over year in July, down two percentage points from June — down big time, 4.6 percentage points from May. However, if you look at, like, the take-home pay — so compared to average hourly earnings — our common man take-home pay fell by four-tenths of a percent year over year in July, versus three-tenths of a percent in June. People are still — it is the issue.

That is kind of the biggest thing in the midterm elections, but also even in the economy — that people are not catching up. And the most astonishing thing that Jason mentions is that since the middle of 2020, the basket of goods — these, you know, common man, must-buy items — is up 32%, compared to a 28% increase in wages. So consumers are 4% poorer.

“Over what period?” questioned Polcari, a wealth manager strategist.

“Since 2020. Since 2020,” McDowell repeated, as Polcari said, “Right, since 2020.”

“But still — but still poorer. I said falling four-tenths of a percent year over year,” McDowell insisted.

“Agreed, but you’ve got to look back and see what the policies were during 2020, who was in charge, and what they were doing. You can’t turn around and say there’s a Trump problem. It’s not a Trump prob—” Polcari argued as McDowell cut in:

I just said that take-home pay fell by four-tenths of a percent year over year in July. He was president last year.

“I hear you, but the inflation problem started in 2020, right? That’s really when the inflation problems started,” Polcari said.

“It’s still a problem,” McDowell argued.

“I agree — not as bad as it was — but we had a massive increase in inflation, and those prices never came down. The only way they’re going to come down is if we go into a recession, and we haven’t gone into a recession, which is why those prices aren’t coming down,” Polcari continued.

“We can’t go into a recession, God forbid, because we’ve got $40 trillion in debt. You want to talk about an explosion in the debt,” McDowell warned.

“Listen, I hear you, but I’m saying this is the problem. This is why prices have not come down — because we have not gone into a recession. So they’re not going to come down. They may stop going up,” Polcari replied.

“They may stop going up. Well, that begs the question — at some point things will have to normalize. And when we look at consumers, and when we look at wages, and we think about what’s happening with this market, it’s hard to picture a recession happening with all of this AI spend, Jerry. But it’s going to have to come at some point,” added co-host Jackie DeAngelis.

Watch the clip above via Fox Business.

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