{"id":1367436,"date":"2022-03-09T16:46:10","date_gmt":"2022-03-09T21:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1367436"},"modified":"2022-03-09T16:46:13","modified_gmt":"2022-03-09T21:46:13","slug":"fact-check-rep-cindy-axne-claims-inflation-is-not-linked-to-massive-democrat-spending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fact-check-rep-cindy-axne-claims-inflation-is-not-linked-to-massive-democrat-spending\/","title":{"rendered":"FACT CHECK: Rep. Cindy Axne Claims Inflation is Not Linked to Massive Democrat Spending"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffact-check-rep-cindy-axne-claims-inflation-is-not-linked-to-massive-democrat-spending%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1367436&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">CLAIM: Vulnerable Democrat Rep. Cindy Axne (IA) claimed inflation is not caused by the increase in government spending mainly advanced by Democrats during and after the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Verdict: Mostly False.<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>Axne, Iowa\u2019s\u00a0lone congressional Democrat, during a recent radio interview <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kniakrls.com\/2022\/03\/04\/in-depth-congresswoman-cindy-axne-3\/\">dismissed<\/a> the narrative that the increase in government spending during and after the coronavirus pandemic caused the rise in inflation as a \u201ctalking point.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe facts are that although there is inflation, it isn\u2019t just because of \u2014 you can\u2019t ever just \u2014 listen, I wouldn\u2019t blame inflation on President Trump, and I\u2019m not going to blame it on President Biden,\u201d Axne said to the radio host. \u201cTo do so is so shortsighted, and doesn\u2019t look at the reality of things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, the congresswoman, trying to shift the blame from the Democrats\u2019 massive spending bills, claimed that inflation happened because of the \u201cdecades of moving products out of our country\u201d and \u201cdecades of putting tax policy in place that hurt working-class families,\u201d in addition to the pandemic.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>However, last year, the Democrats, including Axne, happily promoted and voted for the\u00a0Democrats\u2019\u00a0$1.2 trillion, 2,702-page so-called infrastructure bill and the\u00a0$1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, which\u00a0helped <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/11\/16\/opinion\/biden-inflation-spending-manchin.html\">fuel<\/a> inflation.<\/p>\n<p>Over the past year, prominent economists such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/economy\/2021\/02\/08\/blanchard-vs-biden\/\">Olivier Blanchard<\/a> and\u00a0Larry Summers\u00a0have called out Democrats in an effort to raise awareness about inflation, which has hit a\u00a040-year high. Consumer prices were up 7.5\u00a0percent compared with a year ago in January,\u00a0jumping the most in nearly four decades as the new year started, and are expected to be up 7.9 percent in February when the Department of Labor releases the latest figures on Thursday. As a result, inflation is zapping the savings accounts of American families, pushing up the prices of everything from groceries to cars, causing real wages to fall, and putting pressure on the\u00a0Federal Reserve to hike the interest rates in March.<\/p>\n<p>Asset manager Steve Rattner, who served as counselor to the Treasury Secretary in the Obama administration, <a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/media\/former-obama-aide-i-warned-dems-about-inflation?cmpid=fb_fnc&#038;fbclid=IwAR0mEEL1HxToRQQRCEwlDN4VJxDoFMHp_Sh0dX-ZFuUd9x0E6IJjhTlfaxY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">wrote<\/a> last November in an opinion piece at the <em>New York Times<\/em>\u00a0that\u00a0Biden\u2019s American Rescue Plan was the \u201coriginal sin\u201d that caused inflation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe bill \u2014 almost completely unfunded \u2014 sought to counter the effects of the COVID pandemic by focusing on demand-side stimulus rather than on investment. That has contributed materially to today\u2019s inflation levels,\u201d\u00a0Rattner wrote, noting at the time that inflation is the\u00a0Biden administration\u2019s \u201cbiggest challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Summers \u2014 the\u00a0Treasury Secretary under Bill Clinton, director of the National Economic Council under Barack Obama, former president of Harvard University, and chief economist of the World Bank \u2014 had warned the country in many interviews over the past year about\u00a0the increase in government spending.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>During an interview with CNN, Summers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/economy\/2021\/07\/19\/fact-check-biden-claims-no-serious-economist-is-worried-about-inflation\/\">argued<\/a> that\u00a0Biden\u2019s American Rescue Plan\u00a0pumped up demand too much without taking steps to increase supply, which resulted in inflation.\u00a0\u201cI do think that, unfortunately, some of the predictions that I made about the consequences of stimulus do seem to have come true.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople underestimated how much demand was going to be created by all the fiscal stimulus in the Recovery Act and all the expansionary monetary policy, and at the same time, they overestimated the economy\u2019s supply potential,\u201d Summers additionally <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/clips\/2021\/11\/16\/summers-inflation-threatening-to-become-a-spiral-we-need-to-be-moving-quickly\/\">said<\/a> when interviewed by\u00a0<em>PBS NewsHour<\/em>. \u201cBecause they didn\u2019t recognize the damage that was going to be done over the medium term by COVID.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Breitbart News\u2019s Economics Editor John Carney <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/economy\/2022\/02\/10\/january-cpi\/\">wrote<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Although many economists and anti-Trump journalists claimed President Donald Trump\u2019s tariffs would raise prices, consumer prices remained low throughout his administration. Trump\u2019s tariffs turned out not to be taxes on consumers. Instead, they were absorbed by Chinese producers and exporters and the profit margins of most large U.S. companies.<\/p>\n<p>Inflation only began to accelerate last March after years of coming in below the Fed\u2019s two percent target. The Fed had decided to keep interest rates low although the economy was recovering at a faster than expected rate. What\u2019s more, the Biden administration pushed through billions of dollars of deficit spending in the American Rescue Plan. These combined to fuel demand for goods and services faster than supplies could expand, pushing up prices.<\/p>\n<p>Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell, following the advice of many of the economists on the central bank\u2019s staff, initially claimed that inflation was due to transitory factors. Fed officials forecast that inflation would fall in the latter half of 2021, predicting that supply chains would swiftly unsnarl and a rebalancing of consumer demand from goods to services would relieve pricing pressure. The Biden administration, under the tutelage of former Fed chair and now Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, largely followed suit and continued to press for even more spending.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Nonetheless, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/economy\/2022\/02\/25\/bidenflation-pushes-durable-goods-prices-up-most-in-47-years\/\">data<\/a> from the Commerce Department had recently shown that the price of \u201cbig-ticket consumer goods\u201d such as\u00a0durable goods, which are items made to last three or more years,\u00a0rose\u00a0over the past twelve months by\u00a011.6 percent, which is the most significant annual increase since 1975. Furthermore,\u00a0nondurable goods prices rose by\u00a07.2 percent, and\u00a0services prices rose by 4.6 percent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe inflation in the price of durable goods has been even more jarring to consumers because it follows a quarter of a century in which prices consistently fell year after year,\u201d Carney\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/economy\/2022\/02\/25\/bidenflation-pushes-durable-goods-prices-up-most-in-47-years\/\">wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, the <em>Wall Street Journal<\/em> recently <a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/inflation-threatens-to-erode-impact-of-1-trillion-infrastructure-law-11645698601?mod=hp_lead_pos1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">published<\/a> a piece acknowledging that the rise in prices and the\u00a0supply chain crisis caused by the Democrats will also impact their behemoth spending bill, since the costs of services are rising. The Biden-backed bill may not be able to afford the cost of\u00a0roads, bridges, railways, and fiber optic lines that were supposed to be fully funded from the bill:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Elevated costs for materials and labor are already pushing contractors to charge more for construction projects, government data show, increases that economists and industry officials say could reduce the number of infrastructure projects the new federal money can finance. State and local officials facing higher prices may give priority to easier, less ambitious projects, and some worry that a rush of government spending could <a class=\"icon none x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/inflation-definition-cause-what-is-it-11644353564?mod=series_inflation&#038;mod=article_inline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">exacerbate <\/a>inflation in the industry.<\/p>\n<p>The cost of construction projects for government rose 13% in January compared with a year earlier, according to supplier price information released by the Labor Department last week. The <a class=\"icon none x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/producer-prices-inflation-january-2022-11644876284?mod=article_inline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">producer-price index<\/a> also showed input prices for construction of highways and streets was up 20% from a year earlier, with steel mill products and plastic construction products up 113% and 35%, respectively, over a year. The price of gasoline and diesel fuel are each up more than 50%. Those cost increases well outpace consumer inflation, which advanced 7.5% in the past year, the <a class=\"icon none x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/us-inflation-consumer-price-index-january-2022-11644452274?mod=article_inline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">fastest rate in four decades<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Some in the industry hope technological advancements, as well as new employment opportunities generated by the federal infrastructure spending, could mitigate the labor shortage. But Ken Simonson, the chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America, said greater flexibility and rising wages at other jobs may limit the draw of new workers into the construction jobs, where workers need to be on site.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Last year, Breitbart News also fact-checked Axne on her claim that Biden\u2019s Build Back Better agenda would cost Iowans \u201cliterally nothing.\u201d Breitbart News found that claim was false, since Biden\u2019s BBB agenda would burden Americans with trillions more in debt.<\/p>\n<p><i>Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow him on <\/i><a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jacobmbliss\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\"><i>Twitter<\/i><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CLAIM: Vulnerable Democrat Rep. Cindy Axne (IA) claimed inflation is not caused by the increase in government spending mainly advanced by Democrats during and after the coronavirus pandemic. Verdict: Mostly<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1367436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1367436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1367436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1367436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1367436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1367436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1367436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}