Scott Bessent tells House the US economy is strong as oil tops $100 and national debt crosses $40 trillion

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent sat before the House Financial Services Committee on September 15 and delivered a message that could be summarized in four words: everything is under control. The hearing, focused on the international financial system and IMF oversight, quickly became a stress test for the administration’s economic narrative as lawmakers zeroed in on the tension between strong headline numbers and the daily reality of $4.32-per-gallon gasoline. Bessent’s core argument rested on a handful of genuinely impressive data points. The S&P 500 has climbed roughly 27% since President Trump’s inauguration. Unemployment sits at 4.1%, a level most economists would consider healthy. And over 64 million tax returns have claimed benefits from recent tax cuts, a figure the Treasury Secretary wielded as evidence that fiscal policy is reaching American households. The numbers behind the optimism, and the ones that complicate it Oil prices have pushed past $100 per barrel, driven in large part by the administration’s aggressive economic isolation campaign against Iran. That campaign, which Bessent framed as a strategic success, has contributed to energy costs that are squeezing co...