Who was it that said…
My bad, it was me.
What’s worse, losing faith in the numbers that are reported, or completely stopping the reporting of numbers?
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Here is an excellent discussion (never mind the graphic hysteria) by knowledgable people and one platinum expert as to what firing the head BLS likely leads to, why it stinks for people like the data hungry denizens of this board, and the nasty historical precedents over ages of good and bad governance.
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No. I don’t know the qualification of these characters.
The Captain
I have always considered the possibility that the “employment” mission of the Fed was nothing but a sop for the pols. The Fed’s clear mission is the care and feeding of the banks….period. Saying the Fed is responsible for employment gives the pols someone to blame, when the headlines go south.
I think we can count on any favorable data to be touted at the highest levels. Not publishing official data on a schedule, gives the (L&Ses) the flexibility to ignore things they don’t want to see or hear, while making airy claims that everything is the best it’s ever been in the history of the world.
Steve
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So, you can’t know if it’s the “usual procedure”, or not. Thanks for clarifying.
We’ll all need to be flexible as we’re bent over a barrel and shown the 50 states.
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That’s what my DM at RS always demanded: bend over and take it up the rear, again, for his benefit.
Steve
If anyone still has any doubts about the accuracy of any data from the government, or any statements of “fact” by the government, or any “reporting” by any media entity, that the government has a control lever over, like the FCC, for broadcasters, these two tidbits should clear things up.
…administration has significantly changed a key US government report on human rights worldwide, dramatically softening criticism of some countries that have been strong partners of the Republican president, such as El Salvador and Israel, which rights groups say have well-established histories of abuses.
Instead, the US state department sounded an alarm about what it said was the erosion of freedom of speech in Europe and ramped up criticism of Brazil and South Africa – both of which Washington has clashed with over a host of issues.
How history is presented in the Smithsonian is also being changed.
…Administration sent a letter to The Smithsonian Institution on Tuesday requesting a “comprehensive internal review” of eight of its museums with the aim of bringing the organization in line with President Trump’s cultural directives ahead of the country’s 250th anniversary celebrations.
“This initiative aims to ensure alignment with the President’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions,” states the letter,
https://www.npr.org/2025/08/12/nx-s1-5500550/smithsonian-trump-review
Looks like the Ministry of Truth is going to be busy for the next several years. Anyone who worked for the sort of “JCs” I did, would be very familiar with this directive to toe the company line, in word, deed, and thought, or suffer consequences.
Steve
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Ripped from the headlines
Regime told Goldman to get an economist that toes the regime line.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday said Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon should either replace the bank’s economist or “just focus on being a DJ,” days after Goldman’s chief economist warned that American consumers will pay for an increasing share of new tariffs.
Steve
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Trump tells Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon to replace bank’s economist over tariff predictions
Translation: It is not sufficient to blindside our government decisions by having our leaders being surrounded by Yaysayers loyal to our course, same of course goes for our agencies publishing economic data.
We now demand our private companies to do the same.
SB
(US descending into darkness # 723)
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This assertion totally stumped me. What’s the relation of my knowing an individual’s qualification with knowing how people, in various social positions or environments, act?
For example, people go to church, mosque, or synagog on specific days even when I know nothing about them.
Puzzled in Vila Nova de Gaia. 
The Captain
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Thanks for the reply. I think most reasonable people would expect political appointees to tow the line. In the past, most were still very qualified for their role. That’s not what’s happening in the current administration. The red flags are being raised by those on the left, the middle, and the right. When clearly unqualified people are put in institution-destroying roles, we should all be concerned. This isn’t political.
All of us typically prefer service providers who are qualified. We typically don’t know, or care what their politics are. This concept has been flipped around in this administration, should we accept people who are unqualified, solely because of their politics?
Maybe you didn’t mean to imply that what we’re seeing is totally normal, but that’s how I understood it.
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Utterly unqualified": Trump BLS pick gets panned by fellow conservative economists
Why it matters: The growing negative consensus among conservative economists is unusual given Antoni’s own conservative pedigree.
… [edit background]
What they’re saying: Antoni’s fellow conservatives criticized his record as chief economist at the right-wing Heritage Foundation’s Hermann Center for the Federal Budget.
Antoni’s “work at Heritage has frequently included elementary errors or nonsensical choices that all bias his findings in the same partisan direction,” Stan Veuger, a senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, told Axios’ Courtenay Brown and Emily Peck.
Dave Hebert, an economist at the conservative American Institute for Economic Research, wrote in a post on X that he’s worked with Antoni before and implored the Senate to block the nomination.
"I’ve been on several programs with him at this point and have been impressed by two things: his inability to understand basic economics and the speed with which he’s gone M AGA," Hebert said.
Conservative economists have cited examples of Antoni “appearing to misunderstand” the data he would be responsible for as BLS head.
Daniel Di Martino, a fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute, showed an instance of Antoni citing the rising number of Americans who aren’t in the labor force without accounting for the role of the aging population.
“This is one of the many elementary errors that show me Mr Antoni is unqualified for the labor market data collection and analysis role he was nominated to,” Di Martino wrote on X.
Jessica Riedl, a senior Manhattan Institute fellow, shared another example from X, in which Antoni appeared not to know that the BLS’ measure of import prices did not account for the impact of tariffs.
“The articles and tweets I’ve seen him publish are probably the most error-filled of any think tank economist right now,” she wrote. “I hope we see better at BLS.”
Economists who lean left also criticized the nomination.
More:
Note: The Apple News link originates at Axios. “Ad Fontes Media, which rates news sources based on bias and reliability, places Axios in the “Middle” category for bias and as “Reliable, Analysis/Fact Reporting” in terms of reliability. This suggests that while Axios presents analysis, it is generally considered factual and doesn’t lean strongly to either the left or right side of the political spectrum.”
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krugman covers it pretty well:
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I’m not optimistic that him being utterly unqualified will be enough to derail his confirmation. I heard he’s a secret Furry, pass it along!
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The appointment is par for the course which does not say, good, bad, or any other qualifier. Based on my decade long experience as a management consultant and my study of history, the appointment is not unexpected. Appointments are not solely based on the candidates qualifications for the job, they depend heavily on the appointer’s needs, wants, biases, and insecurities, which is a good reason to have a second opinion, the confirmation process.
The “current administration” does not exist in a vacuum. It has its roots in the president’s first term which has consequences, one of them being that the president was reelected.
The question you should ask why did the president get elected when the second time around he was a well known quantity.
None of the above is a political opinion or endorsement, it’s a reality check.
The Captain
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People from every political stripe disagree with you. Even the Wall Street Journal editorial page is worried.
President Trump did himself no favors by firing the Bureau of Labor Statistics head because he didn’t like last month’s jobs report. He also did no favors for his nominated BLS replacement, Heritage Foundation chief economist E.J. Antoni, who will now have to overcome public skepticism to show the data can be trusted.
This is the lead editorial today:
Mr. Antoni’s commentary at Heritage has been highly partisan, but the BLS job demands nonpartisan professionalism. Last week he cited BLS survey data—yes, despite previously criticizing it as unreliable—to argue that Mr. Trump’s immigration policies have caused a surge of employment of native-born Americans as “artificially cheap labor is removed” from the economy.The data he cited is questionable because it also shows that the native-born population over age 16 grew by 4.5 million since last December. That’s unlikely in half a year. It increased by about 1.5 million annually on average last decade and flatlined in 2023 and 2024. See the nearby chart.
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/all-e-j-antonis-labor-statistics-ebbf088f?mod=opinion_lead_pos1
I had a post titled “UtterlyUnqualified” which has been removed, even though it’s highly Macroeconomic, and a direct quote from conservative economists . Here’s a direct link, although I know you don’t like “news stories”.
Note: The Apple News link originates at Axios. “Ad Fontes Media, which rates news sources based on bias and reliability, places Axios in the “Middle” category for bias and as “Reliable, Analysis/Fact Reporting” in terms of reliability. This suggests that while Axios presents analysis, it is generally considered factual and doesn’t lean strongly to either the left or right side of the political spectrum.”
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Partisanship can be blinding.
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Hannah Arendt:
Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.
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That’s simple. Many TFG supporters thought his second administration would look like his first. It doesn’t. In the first administration, most of the nominations were highly qualified, with a few exceptions. Take Powell as an example. He was confirmed (80-19) in the first administration, but now is being pressured out because he isn’t a bootlicker. Qualifications, or lack thereof, no longer matter. This should be very concerning to all of us! Even those of us living in other countries.
I’m not making a political argument either. The shift away from having qualified people in very important government positions will have disastrous effects on many things, including our economy.
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