Donald Trump’s contentious decision to fire the U.S. statistics chief has done little to stem an economic slump, with the latest jobs report showing only 22,000 jobs were added in August - well below expectations. One month after Trump sacked the Bureau of Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer in response to weak job numbers, the unemployment rate rose to 4.3 per cent, the highest since 2021.
And that 2200 number got announced after being already cooked by the new replacement management. Imagine what the actual number was.
Everyone in the department has been pretty clear that the director has no real way to influence the numbers. I suppose they could just release a fake document, but that wouldn’t be very tenable in the long term.
Why else would the director be replaced? No other reason seems feasible – he didn’t like the true answer.
Shooting the messenger has a long, sordid history.
Because he’s an idiot and assumed the next director can make the change.
They can push for things like altered definitions and thresholds, etc, even if they’re not authorized to pick their own numbers directly, etc.
What does this really mean though?
The same could be said of any democratic institution, of course the director doesn’t have any way to influence the reporting they produce because it’s all supposed to be transparent and reliable.
In reality though, in the Trump admin, they can absolutely manipulate the numbers in a myriad of ways.
That’s certainly not going to stop them from trying.
5 blow jobs!
That’s right, last month we gained 5 blow jobs!
“We apologise again for the fault in the data. Those responsible for sacking the people who have just been sacked, have been sacked.”
The firings will continue until the numbers look good.
Well, those interdental tooth brushes can be quite sharp…
Since he’s installing loyalists, the integrity of the data will now always be in question.
If the numbers aren’t great, and that’s even with a thumb on the scale?
They are much worse than this. Inflation is worse than they show. The dollar has lost 11% of its value since January. We are in freefall because of MAGA Republicans and Donald Trump.
Trump doesn’t care, he has most of his money in crypto. He wants the dollar to tank, because then his shitcoins are worth more dollars.
That’s the point. That’s why AI is being pushed so hard on top of it. Information integrity is dead… I have the numbers to prove it.
What’s really annoying is people keep acting like this hasn’t been a thing already for nearly a decade.
And these jobs that were created are mostly ICE hires ಠ_ಠ
Wow, it has been a while since I have seen the good ol’ Reddit glare ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Population growth in August should have been around 162,000. 22,000 jobs created means a deficit of around 140,000 jobs. Or rather 100,000 people without jobs probably.
Not a good look for him.
They’re gonna spin it into AIs great success.
Yeah the only way I feel automation/AI is a success story is if we started a tally and said 50,000 jobs were replaced by robots because they are more efficient. So every person in the U.S. will be sent a check for $7. (Median wage x jobs replaced / population). So every job replaced built a universal base income.
Basically making it, if it is more productive for our society as a whole to automate this position, then the whole of society benefits as well as the company. Eventually when 100, 200, 300 million jobs have been replaced people would be getting a base income of $13,500/$27,000/$40,000 a year.
Sets the stage for the fact that if automation is more productive, then workers should only need to work less hours.
For example farm work has decreased from 40% of the work force to 1.3% of the workforce in the U.S. from 1900 to now. Assuming they got paid less the median farm worker is around $36,000 a year right now (it’s really higher, but I’m cutting out management positions and such). So if we just looked at farms alone. Every person in the U.S. should get an annual check for $13,932 every year to offset jobs lost.
Would we “advance” slower, maybe… maybe not. Someone having 30% of their time freed up may make some invent things faster, but really there isn’t anything we need to be making to advance right now. Slowing everything down and sending people outside to enjoy the world around them would likely make people care more about preserving the world around them. Want less plastic in the Ocean, preserve more Ocean bottoms/species even if it is so they can have more diverse food to eat later on.
One thing is for sure, stress would go down, happiness should go up as life wouldn’t be go go go. Vacations would be more common. More wanting to be able to walk/bike/hike/swim and places to hang out. More wants of entertainment really… Sorry for rambling
Shh they like to say “only 22k jobs” like we’re still growing just not as fast
The media today was a case study in “ok don’t panic everyone”
Trump suffers…
Don’t get my hopes up like that
“It’s the past administration’s fault I fired that staff! You liberal media always pushing propaganda!”
“Biden job slump time bomb!?”
I can see the headlines already.
Sleepy Joe gets long range hit on Trump administration.
The fact that their mind even goes to " it was deliberate long-term planning on my opponent’s part to make me look bad" suggests that is shit they do… instead of ‘governing in the best interest of the people they represent’ which is what their job is supposed to be, and what their opponents actually do.
Just eye already
I can recommend a good dye: color code 8647
The ironic thing is, a lower employment rate increases the chances the Fed will reduce interest rates, which is exactly what Trump wants. He is working against himself trying to rig the numbers, and creating a situation where rates can get significantly out of sync with the real economy.
real economy
Because the dude has no concept of what reality/truth is. We just all have to live in his fucked up head canon of how the world works.
To be fair that’s pretty much always been the case throughout history, we’re just seeing one far edge case where perceived vs actual reality differ more than they usually do for the guy in charge.
Wait wait wait… are you telling me that ignoring and hiding a problem does not FIX that problem!!!
What if we increase the cost of everything for no reason? I mean if everyone can buy less things, and everything costs more to manufacture, everyone will need more jobs.
The numbers released on Friday mark the first such release since a dismal jobs report last month prompted Trump to fire McEntarfer, the bureaucrat in charge of them, and claim the data was politically manipulated.
He then nominated Heritage Foundation economist E.J. Antoni, a Project 2025 architect and fan of Nazi battleships, as her potential replacement.
It would be pretty funny if he keeps firing them everytime a report comes out…
It will be lucky for them if all he does is fire them
Antoni hasn’t been confirmed yet so has no part in this latest report. He’s also come out and said he won’t release monthly jobs numbers anymore once installed.
And that would all be enough to prevent a logical person from firing that Nazi for reasons other than just being a Nazi…
But we’re talking about the American government here.
It wouldn’t be that shocking if he just reflexively fires the guy anyways.
Government employee #41526: Sir, your wife called
Trump: GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE! YOU’RE FUCKING FIRED! DEPORT THIS LYING LIB!!!
GE#41527: Ahem. She wanted to confirm that 7 o’clock is good for dinner reservations.
Trump: Oh goodie! I’m so excited! She might touch my pp tonight. I’m so happy that you’re fired!
GE#41528: -Hides and accidentally group chats a reporter how he wishes the Main Stream Media would have warned him about how awful Trump is-
he wishes the Main Stream Media would have warned him about how awful Trump is-
I’m really not looking forward to when maga starts to ask:
Why didn’t anyone stop this if you knew it was gonna be so bad?
Once the shit really hits the fan. They’ve removed all the guardrails and are gonna act shocked when a bus really goes off the cliff.
The bus went off the cliff a while ago. We’re just waiting for the impact.
I wish you were right.
But we’re still accelerating, we got all four wheels on the pavement and the pedal to the floor
Shits gonna get fucking nuts bro
I bet 11000 of those new jobs are just loyalists replacing “DEI hires” (aka competent people).
I would count each of those as a -1 to job stats. Anti-woke jackasses are worse than nothing, I expect.
Depends how you measure it…They are at least as good as two men on holiday.
I guess the economy is complicated huh, just like health care? Sure seems like Biden had the right tactic for four years, so what’s his problem? Too stupid? What good was that ivy league business education of his?
Just got to remind myself. As long as I can make it to the next housing crash, I will be ok. And if I’m ok, I can keep helping others.
But damn do they make it hard.
surprised the new hire could even count that high.
To the surprise of literally no one, the American economy is doing bad.
Hey but GDP, a completely useless metric for describing how the real economy for the 99% is doing, is pretty healthy!
You mean 5he stock market…?
No?
