In Front of Our Noses: Firing the Messenger

“To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.”-George Orwell.

For previous entries, click here.

I know this was mentioned in the comments, but it is worth noting as a main post (and yes, it also feels a bit like it belongs in a “Meanwhile in North Korea” post).

Via the NYT: Trump, Claiming Weak Jobs Numbers Were ‘Rigged,’ Fires Labor Official.

The president fired Dr. McEntarfer after the bureau released monthly jobs data showing surprisingly weak hiring in July and large downward revisions to job growth in the previous two months. Economists widely interpreted the report as evidence that Mr. Trump’s policies were beginning to take a toll on the economy, though the president insisted in a subsequent post that the country was “doing GREAT!”

Side note: it is my recollection that the NYT’s editorial policy is to only call M.D.’s “Dr.”, so I wonder if this is a conscious choice (or a change I am unaware of). I approve, in any event.

Axios‘ headline hits the nail on the head: Trump’s authoritarian streak (although “streak” downplays it a bit).  

Krugman is on point with both headline and subtitle, Caracas on the Potomac: Goodbye, reliable economic data.

The BLS isn’t always right, nor should you expect it to be. It’s trying to track a complex economy, and sometimes it revises its past estimates — as it did this morning. But it is extremely professional, rigorously nonpartisan, and everyone in the business considers it the gold standard for economic data.

Or maybe I should say “it was” rather than “it is”. I have to admit that I expected Trump’s corruption of economic data to be insidious and take place gradually. Instead he just fired the head of the BLS because he didn’t like the numbers it reported — a clear signal to the remaining staff not to report bad news.

And just like that, we can no longer treat BLS data as the gold standard. (Maybe Trump will use the gold on the walls of his new ballroom.) Maybe, just maybe, the staff at the BLS will hold to their principles and continue to report honestly. But how can we trust what they report — especially if Trump flunkies are put in charge, filtering what gets released?

From here on, I’m going to be paying a lot more attention to private surveys. And when they tell a different story from the official numbers, there will no longer be a reason to take the official data more seriously.

It’s one more step on our rapid descent into banana republic status.

Emphasis mine.

This is on point. Authoritarians, especially of the tin-pot variety, play these kinds of games. Don’t like the message? Serious leaders take that information and adjust their thinking accordingly. But unserious dictators just get rid of the bad news without any attempt to cope with it.

It is, yet again, an example of the preference for unreality by this president and the administration he wants.

It is often said that every accusation is a confession. Well, here we have a guy who has argued for years that the “Deep State” is a “swamp” that is politically motivated. But, here we have clear evidence that what he wants it is his own politically motivated bureuacrats who will tell daddy what he wants to hear (see, also, the DoJ).

This move is bad for America and our long-term ability to govern effectively. It is another chip, indeed a gouge, out of the strong foundation of the American state.

More on this.

• Via NBC News: Republican senators raise concerns about Trump’s firing of Labor Dept. official. We need more than “concern.”
• Via the AP: Who is Erika McEntarfer, the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner fired by Trump?

McEntarfer, whose research focuses on job loss, retirement, worker mobility, and wage rigidity, had previously worked at the Census Bureau’s Center for Economic Studies, the Treasury Department’s Office of Tax Policy and the White House Council of Economic Advisers in a nonpolitical role.

She has a bachelor’s degree in Social Science from Bard College and a doctoral degree in economics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.