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Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics at BLS
American Thinker ^ | 14 Aug, 2025 | John F. Di Leo

Posted on 08/14/2025 4:24:20 AM PDT by MtnClimber

President Trump has appointed E.J. Antoni, an economist from the Heritage Foundation, to head up the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is an extremely challenging job because the traditional approach -- not going back months, but decades -- has always been terribly partisan. It is, almost by definition, based more on a ton of subjective opinions than on any actual objective facts.

The press -- even the allegedly business-minded publications, which ought to know better -- is slamming President Trump for firing the last BLS chief, claiming that she was fired only “because last month's numbers weren't to his liking.”

It's a lie.

In fact, the BLS has been producing objectively bad reports for decades, routinely exaggerating the good news during Democrat administrations and exaggerating the bad news during Republican administrations. They're always quietly adjusting the numbers weeks or months after the fact -- and it's funny, isn't it, how the adjustments always seem to favor the Democrats and hurt the GOP?

E.J. Antoni is a great numbers guy. To the extent that this job can be done well, in a nation this huge and an economy this diverse, he'll be fine.

But, just as we have learned to expect more creativity from this administration in areas of foreign policy and bureaucratic oversight, let’s hope too for more creativity in this statistics-gathering role.

The really important challenge is going to be in establishing rational expectations in defining the real meaning of these statistics.

When the BLS reports on job growth and unemployment changes, to be really helpful they need to provide more precise definitions so that we can better interpret the information.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Society
KEYWORDS: leftism

1 posted on 08/14/2025 4:24:20 AM PDT by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

Because everything with the left is built on a foundation of lies.


2 posted on 08/14/2025 4:25:06 AM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

The 2 stats I want to see reported: 1. The cost of government (including all spending, because deficits must be repaid), and 2. The cost of government regulation.


3 posted on 08/14/2025 4:42:16 AM PDT by motor_racer ("We're gonna reward our friends and we're gonna punish our enemies" - Barack Hussein Obama)
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To: MtnClimber

Democrats shouldn’t be trusted to do statistics when they believe that math is racist.


4 posted on 08/14/2025 4:43:04 AM PDT by Tell It Right (1 Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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To: Tell It Right

Great point, and math is hard😂


5 posted on 08/14/2025 4:54:52 AM PDT by blitz128
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To: MtnClimber

Yep. The truth is not in them.

Jeremiah 9:8
Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait.


6 posted on 08/14/2025 5:01:38 AM PDT by Bob434 (Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana)
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To: MtnClimber

All the government statistics on the economy are corrupt. The labor numbers, inflation, GDP - they are all horribly corrupt and not accurately measuring what they were intended to measure.


7 posted on 08/14/2025 5:32:09 AM PDT by rigelkentaurus
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To: MtnClimber

Only a government bozo would believe another government bozo gathering unemployment numbers. The irs reports would be pretty accurate. called a w2.


8 posted on 08/14/2025 6:38:58 AM PDT by kvanbrunt2
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