James Pethokoukis on Economic Data Integrity and BLS Independence

Extraordinary Claims and Evidence

• 💡 Making extraordinary claims about economic data being rigged requires extraordinary evidence, which is currently lacking.
• 🎯 The primary concern is not the quality of the data itself, but the undermining of confidence in government economic statistics.

Trusting Economic Data Going Forward

• ⚠️ The president's claim that economic numbers have been rigged casts a cloud over government data.
• 🔑 To rebuild confidence, the president must appoint an unimpeachable person to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
• 📈 It's difficult to walk back the claim that the data has been politicized.

Rebuilding Confidence in the BLS

• 🚀 If the White House is serious about data integrity, they should appoint a gold-standard leader for the BLS.
• 💰 Additionally, devoting more resources to the BLS, both in personnel and data collection, would be a confidence-building measure.
• 📊 Markets and the Federal Reserve do not want to suddenly rely on big data and machine learning to discern real economic numbers.
• 💬 The White House should invest in the BLS rather than focusing on unsubstantiated claims of rigged numbers.