CNN Anchors: Heavy Traffic Means the Economy Is Improving

Although sitting in traffic means burning through a ridiculous amount of expensive gas, the fact that there's a traffic jam could mean that the economy is improving, says CNN’s Ashleigh Banfield.

“If you’re out there and you're thinking that all the gas that you’re buying is expensive -- yeah, it is. And it turns out that you’re wasting a ton of it in traffic,” she said, discussing the amount of cash U.S. drivers waste idling in congestion.

The average driver blows through an estimated $818 a year sitting in traffic, she explained.

“[A]re you ready for this?” she asked. “The traffic that you’re sitting in is a sign that the economy is improving. So, you can be happy about that.”

Banfield and CNN colleague Christine Romans explain this happy phenomenon.

“It’s one of those good news/bad news stories,” Banfield told Romans.

“It is a sign of a strengthening economy because it means you’re driving to work, more people are driving to work, it means more deliveries are being taken by truck on the roads, and it also means that those bridges are being fixed -- some of those delays are because, you know, there’s infrastructure work being done,” Romans explains.

So, do you agree?

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(H/T: Mediaite).

Featured image courtesy Getty Images.