Personalized Financial Consulting for Your Business Growth Small Business Commercial Real Estate Government Fiscal Analysis & Legislative Advocacy Interested in working together? Visit www.ponderosaeconomics.com or call (505) 699-1841. Financial & Management Consulting Firm BLS Commissioner Erica McEntarfer, falsely accusing her of manipulating economic data to hurt him politically by releasing an accurate jobs report showing weak employment growth. Trump proceeded to nominate EJ Antoni, described by various media outlets as a “partisan bomb thrower,” to replace McEntarfer. Antoni suggested eliminating federal monthly jobs reports, stunning economists. Under pressure, his nomination was later withdrawn. Additionally, the current administration has fired numerous independent agency leaders, required every federal agency to have a White House liaison and required supposedly independent agencies to submit draft regulations to the Office of Management and Budget — headed by administration official Russell Vought — for review before publication. They have made a farce of economic data from the federal government, leading independent organizations and think tanks, armed with far less resources, to pick up the slack and attempt to publish accurate economic figures. Again, this raises the question: What is there to be gained from obscuring economic data from the public? Particularly when people are acutely aware of their monthly financial plights. Deceiving the public certainly isn’t a viable long-term strategy. The current administration doesn’t seem to have any long-term strategy when it comes to hiding economic data, but they are more or less hoping that they can create an alternate reality consisting of only positive economic news. The problem is that the economy is a tangible, lived experience for people. Unlike other political issues, it is impossible to abstract your economic plight. Also, the current economic reality for the vast majority of Americans is extremely difficult, so there is further incentive for the Trump administration to obscure the actual data. However, on an issue like the economy, telling people that what they’re experiencing isn’t actually real is a recipe for severe backlash. Another emerging economic trend that is being largely ignored by both the media and political classes is the complete 15
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTg3NDExNQ==