More on the BLS debacle
(Or the perils of shooting off at the mouth before considering the facts)
The President’s pick of A. J. Antoni to head the Bureau of Labor Statistics to jimmy the data to make him always look good is running into criticisms from economists at conservative organizations. An economist at the American Enterprise Institute said Antoni’s “work at Heritage has frequently included elementary errors or nonsensical choices that all bias his findings in the same partisan direction.” Oops. Another economist, this one at the American Institute for Economic Research said I’ve been on several programs with him at this point and have been impressed by two things: his inability to understand basic economics and the speed with which he’s gone MAGA.” Double oops. An economist at the Manhattan Institute said in part “Mr. Antoni is unqualified for the labor market data collection and analysis role he was nominated to.” Another Manhattan Institute economist said that Antoni “appeared not to know that the BLS’ measure of import prices did not account for the impact of tariffs.” You can read the article in Axios at https://www.axios.com/2025/08/12/trump-bls-ej-antoni-economists
There were the expected criticisms from the left but those from the right are particularly damning. Who is going to believe anything now coming out of the BLS? Maybe they should just eliminate the “L”.
Now Antoni whose PhD is not from Harvard but is from Northern Illinois University is probably a fine economist. But the question is whether he is a fine statistician with special knowledge of those series reported by the BLS. Apparently not. Let’s hope he is a fast learner. It will be interesting to see how he is treated by both republicans (who are scared of Trump) and by democrats (who all hate Trump) at his senate confirmation hearings. His predecessor Dr McEntarfer was confirmed with only nine “no” votes. If Collins, Murkowski, Tillis, McConnell, Paul and Curtis vote “no” then Antoni will not be confirmed – because of course every democrat will vote against him.
The job numbers are lousy and getting worse. The monthly revisions have lowered the job numbers dramatically each month. May’s went from 144,000 to 19,000. June’s went from 147,000 to 14,000, meaning the average gain over the past three months is now only 35,000. Trump fired the BLS director for reporting the July jobs number at 73,000. Note that he fired her for the numbers reported looking so dismal. Wait until he sees the revision. What is the real number? We will have another Trump hissy fit? Also recall that most all of the growth has been in state and local government jobs. Note: My cousin who was fired as a probationary employee at Oak Ridge landed a job with a county government in Georgia. He is in the July statistics. I said at the time of the BLS firing that Trump did a really dumb thing. From the looks of the critiques of Antoni, that dumb thing may have just gotten dumber.
I asked an attorney friend if an illegal were entitled to legal representation and subject to due process. He referred me to his legal assistant, Grok AI who says “A person in the U.S. illegally and detained for deportation is entitled to due process under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, which ensure fair treatment and protection against arbitrary government action.” Well I guess that settles that! Thanks Mike. BTW, I thought Grok was a retired NFL tight end.
haroldblackphd.com 
it almost doesn’t make sense that an illegal is entitled to due process. And then there is this.In immigration court, there is no guaranteed right to a government-paid attorney (because it’s considered a civil matter). However, individuals still have the right to hire their own lawyer at their own expense. Therefore deportation is a civil matter.
LikeLike
That sounds right to me. But again I am not a lawyer.
LikeLike
Illegals: due process is a legal process that determines if someone is illegal. Right now skin color is a determining factor..
Your link: that graph in the illustration was interesting. I would visualize bars going bottom to top; for denoting the ‘Biden deception’, the bars go top to bottom. Visually, it looks like the world ended. I will expect Trump’s Econ charts to go top to bottom, to create the highest visual fake accomplishments..
Laying off Fed workers must affect job numbers. And private sector must not be taking up the slack. But if stats are the only things that matter, I would blame Trump supporters- who artificially affect the numbers:
FROM THE GUARDIAN( son kills father):
..’Among the most damning pieces of evidence in the case was a 15-minute video published on YouTube after the slaying of Michael Mohn, 68, who had long worked for the US army corps of engineers. In it, Justin Mohn, his son, spouted rightwing conspiracy theories, lobbied for militias to torture and execute his father’s fellow federal government colleagues, and denounced immigration, LGBTQ+ people, the Black Lives Matter movement and antifascist activists..’
LikeLike
If Trump sends back the Afghans and the Ukrainians then he is an equal oppotunity deporter. You know that if a kid who spouted left wing wokeness killed his father, we would never hear about it. I have always said that if there isn’t a story out there then the media will make one up.
LikeLike
To tell you the truth, you wouldnt hear about a leftwing idealist acting out. Unless you listen to Bright Spot Hour or Breaking Point. Christian nationalists who will always look for the worst in people, as long as it’s the Left..
Sending Ukrainians home? That does give me pause. And of course Afghans.
Both groups we can assume to be pro- US, aiding with or assisted by government, here legally.
LikeLike
Wait a minute! In one of your lists on the truths of life, you said the rightwing will control America- because they have guns. I agree on that! You know this crowd well!
LikeLike