• Summers argued that Republicans dismissing the severity of Jan. 6 risked worsening inflation.
  • "If you can't trust the country's government, why should you trust its money?" he said on CNN.
  • Inflation stems from a mismatch between consumer demand and the available supply of food and fuel.

Former US Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers argued that Republicans who reject the severity of the Jan. 6 attack risk worsening inflation.

"If I can step out of my area for one second, I think the banana Republicans who are saying that what happened on Jan. 6 was nothing, or OK, are undermining the basic credibility of our country's institutions — and that in turn feeds through for inflation,"  the prominent Democratic economist said in a CNN interview on Sunday.

Democrats are spearheading a House select committee investigation into the Jan. 6 insurrection, holding the second hearing on Monday. The committee is attempting to make the case that former President Donald Trump played a big role in a coordinated effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. 

 

Summers went on: "If you can't trust the country's government, why should you trust its money?"

Inflation in the US has reached its highest level in over 4o years with gas prices overpowering efforts from the Fed to restrain price growth, Insider's Ben Winck reported. Prices have surged due to the COVID-19 pandemic disrupting global supply chains  — and not from Republicans downplaying the Jan. 6 insurrection at the US Capitol.

The ongoing war in Ukraine has also unsettled supplies of food and fuel, contributing to price increases within the US for those goods as well.

Summers argued the importance of giving the Federal Reserve space to combat inflation without interference, and called for renewed efforts to cut prescription drug costs as well as reduce the federal budget deficit. The latter two measures are top priorities for Democrats trying to revive their stalled economic agenda.

He warned that the current mix of high inflation and low unemployment has "almost always" been followed with a recession within two years. For now, Biden administration officials are trying to quell the recession fears raised by some economists as well as business leaders.

"I know people are very upset and rightly so about inflation, but there's nothing to suggest that a recession is in the works," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said last week.

Read the original article on Business Insider