Trump fires PhD who can't count
Of course the flying monkeys in the press back her
So, what were the flying monkeys of the fourth estate up to this weekend?
CNBC’s headline was “Trump fires commissioner of labor statistics after weaker-than-expected jobs figures slam markets.”
The story said:
The stunning move came the same day that the BLS reported a gain of just 73,000 nonfarm jobs in July, below market expectations. In addition, the bureau revised the two previous months down sharply, cutting a combined 258,000 from the prior counts, putting the three-month growth rate at a paltry 35,000. It was the biggest two-month downward revision since April 2020, the early days of the Covid crisis.
The Orange Man tweeted on Truth Social:
I was just informed that our Country’s ‘Jobs Numbers’ are being produced by a Biden Appointee, Dr. Erika McEntarfer, the Commissioner of Labor Statistics, who faked the Jobs Numbers before the Election to try and boost Kamala’s chances of Victory.
We need accurate Jobs Numbers. I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY. She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified.
He called her Dr. Entarfer because she has a PhD in economics, burying her incompetence.
Trump was echoing what the Biden administration said about Erika McEntarfer just seven months ago.
On December 10, Bloomberg reported:
BLS Needs Culture Revamp After Botched US Releases, Review Finds
Statistics agency ‘not sufficiently focused’ on data protocols
Review made suggestions to improve processes, communications
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is “not sufficiently focused” on how it disseminates key economic data and a revamp of the agency’s culture is required, according to a report commissioned after a series of botched releases.
The Labor Department, which oversees the BLS, ordered the independent review to examine “procedures and practices for the equitable and timely provision of data to the public.” The findings of the 60-day external review were published Tuesday and included a number of recommendations to improve processes and communications.
This was after only one year on the job for Erika McEntarfer.
But once Trump fired her, the press made her out to be the Joan of Arc of the bureaucracy. Paragraph 8 of the CNBC story said:
Trump and congressional Republicans have repeatedly criticized the BLS over the years for its data collection. In particular, the large revisions have been a target. Trump noted that the BLS last year also announced major revisions, taking down the 12-month payrolls gain preceding March 2024 by 818,000.
She was the Joe Biden of counting how many people have jobs. She fit right in an administration who had a general who ended a war in Afghanistan by surrendering $8 billion in military equipment to the enemy.
The New York Times report read like a parody of a New York Times report.
President Trump unleashed his fury about weakness in the labor market on Friday, saying without evidence that the data were “rigged” and that he was firing the Senate-confirmed Department of Labor official responsible for pulling together the numbers each month.
Without evidence is the flying monkey version of a bratty child saying you can’t prove it when he breaks the rules.
ABC flat-out called the president a liar: “Trump fires BLS commissioner after weak jobs report and baseless claim of ‘faked’ stats.”
I trust Disney has $16 million left to cover settling another defamation lawsuit.
The agency having to reduce fluffy job growth numbers under Biden by 818,000 in a single year’s time seems like a base for Trump’s claims.
Paragraph 19 of the ABC report said:
In May, the U.S. added 19,000 jobs, much lower than a previously estimated total of 139,000 jobs, the BLS said. While in June, the economy added just 14,000 jobs, revising downward a previous estimate of 147,000 jobs.
Being off 253,000 jobs in two months is unacceptable.
NBC’s report quoted Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming:
If the president is firing the statistician because he doesn’t like the numbers but they are accurate, then that’s a problem. It’s not the statistician’s fault if the numbers are accurate and that they’re not what the president had hoped for.
The numbers are not accurate, which is the problem. Calling a 33,000 job gain in two months a 286,000 gain is damning. Such small job growth should have triggered the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates.
That is why President Trump is upset. He wanted a rate cut, he didn’t get one despite sluggish job growth.
While the bulk of the media is shouting doom, the New York Post reported:
Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman admitted that his party had gotten it wrong about President Donald Trump’s tariffs, saying that, so far, the U.S. trade war is “going well.”
The saying once was a conservative is a liberal who got mugged. Now a conservative is a liberal who had a stroke.
AP provided PR for the incompetent commissioner under the headline, “Who is Erika McEntarfer, the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner fired by Trump?”
AP’s talking points were:
McEntarfer has a strong background on economics.
She was confirmed as BLS head on a bipartisan vote.
Her former associates and co-workers decry her firing.
AP failed to mention the report that called for a cultural change in her bureau following botched statistics.
McEntarfer is as terrible at statistics as Angel Reese is terrible at basketball. In fact, the whole WNBA is so terrible that fans are now throwing neon green dildos onto the court.
That wasn’t sexist. Buffalo fans used to throw dildos at Tom Brady. Of course in his case, the Bills Mafia was sore because he was so good.
Baseball has its ball night and its bat days. Here’s your opening, WNBA.
Just what was the jobs situation in July? I dunno.
McEntarfer said we gained 73,000 jobs. The private sector, which is paid based on accuracy and not seniority and level of college degrees, disagreed.
Private sector employment increased by 104,000 jobs in July and pay was up 4.4% year-over-year according to the July ADP National Employment Report® produced by ADP Research in collaboration with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab.
According to ADP, job growth is up along with wages.
Nela Richardson, chief economist of ADP, said, “Our hiring and pay data are broadly indicative of a healthy economy. Employers have grown more optimistic that consumers, the backbone of the economy, will remain resilient.”
That’s the opposite of what the government and hence the flying monkeys are saying it too.
A month earlier, ADP said, “Private sector employment shed 33,000 jobs in June and annual pay was up 4.4% percent year-over-year, according to the June ADP National Employment Report® produced by ADP Research in collaboration with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab.”
That 33,000 job loss was the opposite of McEntarfer’s false claim of gaining 139,000 jobs.
Two oddities are at play here. The number of people getting jobs is way down, but wages are way up.
That’s because the supply and demand situation changed. As the pool of illegal aliens shrinks demand for AMERICAN workers grows, raising wages. Companies also are automating more work to replace illegals, which leads to a decline in jobs.
One thing has not changed. Anything Trump does is immediately attacked by the flying monkeys whether it makes sense ir not. This weekend showed that.
This is disrespectful to hard working flying monkeys
Gonna have to start calling Don’s substack “The Dismal Blog.” Just kidding, just kidding! Great column Big D. But if I read one more column about economics I’m going to start leaving for the office early and read the dismal scientists’ (wrong) projections there. BLS bullshit has been a problem for as long as I can remember. Hey, how about the October 2012 Monthly Employment Report? The last one before the election between Obummer and Mittens? It was unexpectedly a blowout number, and widely seen - by the few thousand people that were capable of paying attention- as a campaign contribution to B. Hussein by some loyal BLS employees. You know, the ones who vote 90%+ Democratic? Just an extreme example, but the poor quality and sometimes bias of the results are not an occasional lapse.