Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was ridiculed for suggesting typical middle-class investors owned as many as a dozen homes.
Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo asked Bessent during a forum Tuesday at the 2026 World Economic Forum about President Donald Trump's threat to ban “large institutional investors” from buying up single-family homes, and Bessent expressed support for his "good idea" but said further clarification was needed.
“We are going to give guidance at some point to see what a mom and pop is,” Bessent said. “Someone, maybe your parents for their retirement, have bought five, 10, 12 homes.”
“So we don’t want to push the mom and pops out," Bessent added. "We just want to push everybody else out."
Bessent's comments were broadly assailed as out of touch.
"Just your everyday soybean farmer, Scott Bessent explaining that mom and pop save for retirement by buying 12 homes," commented Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ). "This man is so out of touch it hurts."
"Whose parents have bought 12 homes?" wondered NFL writer Aaron Schatz.
"Even King Charles doesn't have 12 homes," noted author and journalist Otto English.
"10 or 12 homes? This guy is just a true man of the people," observed animator Craig Roblewsky.
"He's completely out of touch with reality," observed Bluesky user Sloan Ashton. "Who among us hasn't bought an extra dozen homes? This cabinet is filled with billionaires who are incapable of understanding the working poor and middle class."
"Whether it's John Kerry talking about provolone on his cheese steak or Scott Bessent talking about middle-class people owning 12 homes, leaders from both parties seem out of touch with the way that regular Americans live," posted the New York Times Pitchbot account.
"WHOSE parents have 5-12 homes?" asked writer Chantal James. "My parents, who are doing way better than I ever will, have ONE home."