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CNBC anchors Rick Santelli and Joe Kernen quickly criticized Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren for her gloomy economic predictions as the stock market continues to defy odds and reach all-time highs under President Donald Trump.
During an interview on “Squawk Box,” Kernen detailed numbers that showed a strong gross domestic product reading for the second and third quarters and said that Democrats were being partisan when it came to economic statistics.
He said that people on the left and those who don’t like President Trump won’t admit that the economy is getting better.
“Senator Elizabeth Warren will come on and say ‘Inflation is out of control, and the economy is getting killed by what’s happening by these tariffs,’” Kernen said.
Kernen said that inflation has been below 2-3% and the stock market has been hitting new highs, which goes against Warren’s claim that the economy is in trouble.
Santelli said that Kernen’s argument taught him “an important lesson” and joked that you shouldn’t hire a member of Congress to manage your money.
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In the second quarter, the US economy started to grow again and has been growing “like a fire” through quarter three.
The Commerce Department says that the US GDP, which is the value of all the goods and services made in the economy, grew at a rate of 3% per year.
Santelli, who is CNBC’s US editor, said that members of Congress often have other reasons for using certain measurements to show economic growth.
“The Democrats don’t want to see the current administration have some success, but there’s no doubt that this is some success,” Santelli said, arguing that inflation has stayed steady over the past year and citing recent rising equities.
People are worried that Trump’s aggressive tariff policy will raise prices, hurt inflation, and shock the market.
But that hasn’t happened.
Warren said that big companies could use Trump’s global trade war as an excuse to raise prices and rip off customers.
The senator stood by her prediction, saying that her biggest worry about Trump’s tariffs was what they would do in the long run.
“The impact of 12 months of Donald Trump will be felt for two generations, as more nations blink hard at what’s happening in the US and conclude that we are simply not a reliable trading partner,” Warren told the publication. “That hurts us now and it will hurt our children and our grandchildren.”
Kernen dismissed price gouging legislation as “flawed” to which Warren replied, “Where have you been for the last 30 years as three dozen states have price gouging laws and they use them effectively?”
“This is why you never lose an argument – because no one can ever say anything back to you, senator, and it’s frustrating,” Kernen shot back.
“They are not random one-offs,” Warren said. “It is part of the problem when you’ve got companies that are gouging consumers on prices, consumers need to know they’ve got somebody on their side.”
Warren and Kernen spoke over each other before the CNBC host attacked Warren’s argument.
“That’s sophistry,” Kernen countered. “Kraft, you say, was 440% profit increase.”
“The example you used, the prior quarter from the year before, they had a charge of $1.3 billion dollars, an accounting change which wiped out profits. Then they earned what they – let me finish now,” Kernen said, before being interrupted by Warren.
“You didn’t let me finish,” Warren said. “Look at the data. We have economic study now after economic study.”
Kernen, visibly frustrated, said, “This is the way it always goes. Senator, 40 million eggs because of avian flu.”
Warren was not open to listening to Kernen when he made several attempts to show the data on how productive Trump has been in office.
