Well, howdy there, Internet people, it's Bell again.

So today, we're going to talk about Trump's amazing new inflation rhetoric.

Sometimes a new talking point comes out that surprises even the most cynical observer.

Many talking points, most talking points, are not totally grounded in reality.

But every once in a while, one surfaces that is so untethered from actual events that it

becomes the stuff of legend.

Trump is dealing with the fallout of promising to cut inflation on day one, which by itself was an amazing piece of political

rhetoric, because as people are finding out, that's not how any of this works. But people

believed him, so here we are. Now they're mad that he can't cut inflation like magic. Well, he's introduced a new piece of rhetoric.

Quote, if Joe Biden had simply held federal spending at the pre-pandemic levels we had in 2019,

we, right now, we would have virtually no inflation.

First, the whole government spending causes inflation thing is kind of a gross oversimplification. There's a lot more that goes into it,

and it's not even government spending that does it directly. Government spending can trigger a

specific type of demand increase that can increase

inflation. But hey, that part is at least connected to reality. There's an argument there.

Trump's assertion here, though, boils down to if funding levels stayed at 2019 levels, we'd have no inflation.

So, what were the funding levels in 2019? According to the graph over at the Fed, expenditures in 2019,

were $4.7 trillion. So, what were Biden's expenditures by year?

Well, in 2021, it was 7.2 trillion.

In 2022, it was 6.1 trillion.

In 2023, was 6.5.

2024, 6.9. Hey, wait a second. Where's 2020? Since inflation started ballooning at the

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