Appearing on Chicago’s Morning Answer, economist Stephen Moore joined host Dan Proft to react to former President Donald Trump’s remarks at a recent McDonald’s summit, where Trump argued that “affordability” should be a Republican brand. Moore agreed that Republicans should aggressively claim the issue—but he said the data already show households are better off today than they were two years ago, even if voters don’t feel it.
Moore noted that real median household income—adjusted for inflation—has risen by roughly $1,200 during Trump’s first 10 months back in office. That increase offsets part of what Moore described as “a $3,000 hit to purchasing power” under Biden’s inflation surge. “Eighty-seven percent of the price increases people are angry about happened under Biden,” Moore said. “We’re digging out of a mountain created before Trump returned to office.”
Despite that progress, Moore said Republicans face a messaging challenge. Many voters assume America operates under pure capitalism, so when they encounter high healthcare costs, expensive housing, or increased living expenses, they blame “capitalism”—not the layers of regulation, subsidies, and government intervention that distort these markets. “Healthcare is the least capitalist system in America,” Moore said. “It’s practically socialism already, with exploding costs and declining service.”
Moore also highlighted what he called “real-world experiments” in progressive economics. States with the highest cost of living—Illinois, California, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut—are uniformly run by Democrats. High taxes, restrictive zoning, and heavy regulation inflate prices, while Republican-led states remain more affordable. “If you want more affordability,” he said, “move to a red state.”
The conversation turned to policy fights ahead, including the extension of Biden’s temporary Obamacare subsidies. Moore predicted that congressional Republicans may ultimately extend them “out of fear” of being accused of kicking people off insurance—but warned they are fueling higher premiums and greater dependence on government programs. He argued instead for reforms that would lower costs structurally: expanded health savings accounts, full price transparency in medicine and hospital services, streamlined drug approval, and eliminating insurance mandates that divorce consumers from real costs.
Moore warned that the alternative—a single-payer system championed by Bernie Sanders—would mirror Canada’s long wait times and rationed care. “Healthcare might be free,” he said, “but you’re never going to get it.”
Moore closed with a blunt summary of the stakes: affordability is worsening in places with the most government intervention, improving where markets function more freely, and being misunderstood by voters who rarely hear those distinctions. “Republicans have the better product,” he said. “But they have to explain why it works—and why the socialist experiments in blue states are failing the very people who live there.”