Fox Anchor Confronts Trump Spox On ‘Historically High’ 401k Cash-Outs and Hardship Withdrawals Amid Stock Chaos

Fox News anchor Dana Perino confronted White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett over “historic” cash-outs and hardship withdrawals from 401k accounts amid stock market chaos from President Donald Trump’s tariff policies.

According to a new report from Bloomberg, hardship withdrawals are “running about 15% to 20% above the historical norm,” a potential sign of financial stress that coincides with a Trump-fueled stock market plunge that has wiped out trillions from stock portfolios.

On Tuesday’s edition of Fox News Channel’s America’s Newsroom, Perino confronted Hassett over the report and asked, “Does that give you concern about the bigger picture of an economic slowdown when what we need is economic growth?” Their exchange is below:

PERINO: Wall Street does affect at some point Main Street and this from Bloomberg today that there are a historic high number of people who are cashing in their 401(k)s right now. And that means that, you know, that also comes with a penalty. Empower sees hardship withdrawals run in 15 percent to 20 percent above the historic norm. So, that’s not good timing for them in the last few days anyway. Does that give you concern about the bigger picture of an economic slowdown when what we need is economic growth?

HASSETT: Well, first of all, I’d have to look at the base of those numbers. Because a 15 or 20 percent increase off of a really low number would be less concerning. The fact is that markets move up. Markets move down. And one of the things that we’ve seen historically in terms of behavioral economics is that people tend to get anxious when there’s a downturn and then sell and then miss when it comes back up.

And because of that, the people who try to time the stock market tend to accrue far less wealth of the people who just put their money in and hold it.

PERINO: All right.

HASSETT: And I’m a buy and hold person. The stuff I’ve been buying for my whole life, I’ve been holding for my whole life. And I think that’s the best strategy for business (ph).

PERINO: Yes. I mean, I hear you on that and, unfortunately, I’m in a similar position, but a lot of people aren’t.

Watch above via Fox News Channel’s America’s Newsroom.