Seven Democratic presidential candidates are sparring in a debate just days before the New Hampshire primary and The Associated Press is examining their claims. The AP Fact Check finds that tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang didn’t quite get his facts right
WASHINGTON —
Seven Democratic presidential candidates sparred Friday night in a wide-ranging debate held in the pivotal days before the New Hampshire primary.
A look at how some of their claims from Manchester, New Hampshire, compare with the facts:
ANDREW YANG, tech entrepreneur: “We have record high corporate profits in this country right now.”
THE FACTS: Corporate profits are high, but they’re not at record levels.
Companies earned $1.84 trillion in profits in 2018, slightly below the $1.86 trillion earned in 2014, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. But as a share of national income, corporate profits were 6.6% in 2018. That’s down from 7.6% in 2012 and significantly below the peak of 8.9% in 1929.
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Associated Press writer Josh Boak contributed to this report.
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EDITOR’S NOTE — A look at the veracity of claims by political figures.
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