The fallout continues after President Trump fired the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics following a dismal jobs report. Joining us right now is White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hasset. Uh Kevin, want to thank you for joining us.Um let's just start with with a very basic question. Um the president said on Friday that he believed that these numbers were rigged, that they were politically motivated. Do you believe that to be true.You know, as an economist, I like to go for what ...

Let's bring in Jeremy Seagull, professor emmeritus of finance uh at University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business and chief economist at Wisdom Wisdom Tree. I think you're Jeremy Professor, your ship's coming in. Uh the economy has been weaker than than people thought, I think.Yeah. Yeah. And first of all, I'm not going to let the BLS off the hook.I mean, you know, you talk about how to fix it. you know, make these questionnaires mandatory and give them a time limit to fill it out. Um, you know, I ...

the president prepared to fire anyone who reports data that he disagrees with. >> No, absolutely not. The president wants his own people there so that when we see the numbers, uh, they're more transparent and more reliable.And if there are big changes and big revisions, uh, we expect more big revisions for the jobs data in September, for example, that we want to know why. We want people to explain it to us. >> All right.But bottom line, were the numbers wrong. Do you have any hard evidence that you can pres ...

Data Integrity & Political Influence - The central argument revolves around the integrity of government data, specifically jobs numbers, and the potential for political manipulation [2][3] - The speaker strongly refutes the idea that the jobs numbers have been politically revised or underreported, stating there's no statistical evidence to support such claims [3] - The speaker expresses concern that the President's actions could undermine the reliability of government data, potentially turning the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) into a politically aligned entity [4][9] - It would require a massive conspiracy within the BLS to successfully politicize the data, highlighting the difficulty of manipulating these numbers [9][10] Data Revision & Accuracy - Jobs numbers are routinely revised due to the availability of more complete data, a standard practice for improving accuracy [2][5] - Revisions occur monthly, then again, and finally annually, reflecting the ongoing refinement of estimates with actual data [5] - The response rate to surveys has decreased since the pandemic, impacting the reliability of initial data [4] Historical Context & Ethical Concerns - The situation is compared to the McCarthy hearings, emphasizing the outrage caused by unfounded accusations of politicization [2][8] - The speaker cannot recall a similar instance of a political firing of a government data official at this level, underscoring the unprecedented nature of the situation [7][8]

Donald Trump accused Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer of inflating jobs data before the 2024 election to aid Kamala Harris and called for her removal. He also urged Fed Chair Jerome Powell to step down, criticizing pre-election rate cuts as politically driven. https://t.co/sM7BJZ7kDt ...