By now, all of this lying, corruption and sleaze is just normal business operations under morally rotted Trump and morally rotted MAGA elites in power. Trump voters asked for this, and now they are getting it good and hard. Too bad the rest of us are getting it too -- we didn't ask for it.
Pragmatic politics focused on the public interest for those uncomfortable with America's two-party system and its way of doing politics. Considering the interface of politics with psychology, cognitive biology, social behavior, morality and history.
Etiquette
DP Etiquette
First rule: Don't be a jackass. Most people are good.
Other rules: Do not attack or insult people you disagree with. Engage with facts, logic and beliefs. Out of respect for others, please provide some sources for the facts and truths you rely on if you are asked for that. If emotion is getting out of hand, get it back in hand. To limit dehumanizing people, don't call people or whole groups of people disrespectful names, e.g., stupid, dumb or liar. Insulting people is counterproductive to rational discussion. Insult makes people angry and defensive. All points of view are welcome, right, center, left and elsewhere. Just disagree, but don't be belligerent or reject inconvenient facts, truths or defensible reasoning.
Friday, December 12, 2025
Federal jobs data and the rational basis for distrust
The WSJ reports that Federal Reserva chairman Jerome Powell suspects that federal jobs data is underestimating job losses. By now things like that should be no surprise to most people who pay attention and are not staunch Trump supporters. For months Trump and MAGA elites have been targeting federal data collection and analysis functions to get rid of inconvenient facts and truths.
Powell said Fed staff economists estimate that federal payroll statistics may be overstating job creation by up to 60,000 jobs per month. Since published data show average gains of roughly 40,000 jobs a month since April. If those estimates are right, the true underlying reality would be a loss of about 20,000 jobs per month.
In view of recent history, it is not unreasonable or irrational to distrust data coming from the Trump administration. Given the evidence, recent unprecedented actions against federal statistical agencies make skepticism reasonable and rational. While historical safeguards at agencies like the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) were designed to be robust against political interference, MAGA actions indicate that these firewalls have been dismantled. The current reality is plain to see -- Trump has moved well beyond rhetoric. He has in fact purged officials who produce inconvenient data.
One example is from August 2025. In that situation, Trump fired BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer because she was responsible for release of inconvenient jobs data. Without evidence (as usual), Trump lied and falsely claimed that the numbers were "RIGGED" to make him look bad. In firing her, he cynically breached public trust. The BLS Commissioner is a fixed-term technical role, not a standard political appointee. The Commissioner's job is specifically to protect economic data from political interference by a president or congress. By firing the head of the agency for producing inconvenient data, Trump signaled to remaining BLS staff that their job security depends on producing convenient data, not accurate data.
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