No. of Recommendations: 15
Trump’s firing of the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics reminded Claire Berlinski of Joseph Stalin’s “war on statistical reality” in the 1930s.
If the data suggested unwelcome news—famines, plummeting grain yields, industrial failures—Stalin blamed the statisticians for “wrecking,” “sabotage,” or “bourgeois pessimism.” Valerian Osinsky, for example, head of the Central Statistical Directorate, was fired for reporting low crop yields that contradicted the projections in the Five-Year Plan.
And, indeed, there was also a rather strong whiff of banana republicanism (think Argentina) in Trump’s purge of statisticians who might deliver unwelcome news.
His impulsive move underlined how far he’s willing to go to bend the entire federal bureaucracy — and reality — to his will. So yesterday marked the last time that we will see a non-Trumpified report on jobs. And this is where the stupidity comes in.
Despite his Sun King pretensions and Uber Mensch bravado, Trump’s reckless firing of the BLS head reeked of panic. And from panic, folly flows like a river.
National Review’s Philip Klein notes that Trump’s “baseless charges will help undermine public confidence in yet another American institution, which will also create less certainty for investors.”
But it’s also hard to see how this helps Trump.
If Trump installs somebody at BLS who produces great numbers, anybody who isn’t already one of his supporters will dismiss them and assume that the appointee was producing the positive data to keep the boss happy.
And they would not be wrong, would they?
Charlie Sykes
No. of Recommendations: 2
how far he’s willing to go to bend the entire federal bureaucracy — and reality — to his will.
Remember GWB and the blatant blackmail of the projected cost of his Medicare Plan? NO ????
The analysis was the cost was more than $500B. If under $500B, it would pass. If OVER $500B, it would fail. The person who was to testify before Congress was told he would be FIRED if he told Congress the cost was over $500B. He was told to tell Congress the cost was some figure a bit LESS than $500B. The bill then passed.
AFTER THE FACT, the lie was exposed as the cost was KNOWN to be in excess of $500B. So, there is "nothing new under the sun" with Spankee. Anybody who believes ANYTHING he says is stupid to do so--their choice.
