From Mandate for Leadership, aka Project 2025, page 664:
The Bureau of Economic Analysis and Census Bureau, as well as the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, should be consolidated into a more manageable, focused, and efficient statistical agency;
While these seem like anodyne prescriptions, I think we know from earlier experience with Trumpian statistical analysis what the subtext is.
Examples:
“GOP Economist Concerned Data Quality May Be Hurt Under Trump”
and, as suggested by reader Moses Herzog (not quite economic stats, but rather economic analysis):
I’m sorry but the press is being dumber than even Bruce Hall with its coverage of the Harris plan to reduce food prices:
Kamala Harris’ plan to lower food prices ripped to shreds by Republicans, economists: ‘Economic lunacy’
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/kamala-harris-plan-to-lower-food-prices-ripped-to-shreds-by-republicans-economists-economic-lunacy/ar-AA1oSJAv?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=83e888b9d0c644188289d74c7a2f25f0&ei=7
Economists – a bunch of political hacks saying the usual BS such as:
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who hopes to succeed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) as the top Republican in the upper chamber next year, argued that if the plan seeks to tackle inflation, it completely misses the mark. “Tomorrow, VP Harris, a person who has never built a business, doesn’t understand profit and loss, has never met payrolls, and who has never competed in a consumer market, is going to propose federal price controls. That should terrify every American,” he wrote on X.
Come on people – Rick Scott is not an economist and this statement is beyond pathetic. Oh wait:
“Jared Walczak, a researcher and vice president at the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, pointed out the slim profit margins companies selling groceries”
He is not an economist either and as I have noted, the issue is food processors not retail stores. Oh – this stupid story finally found an economist!
‘Samuel Gregg, the Friedrich Hayek Chair in Economics and Economic History at the American Institute for Economic Research, bluntly referred to the Harris plan as “economic lunacy.” “Price controls are a SERIOUSLY bad idea,” he wrote on X. “They lead to shortages, severe misallocations of capital, and distort the ability to prices to signal the information we all need to make choices.”
A Hayek dude writing something on Twitter than assumes perfect competition when the food processing sector is an oligopoly. Damn – can we be more stupid?
Bruce Bartlett – the last of honest conservatives – truly despise Newt Gingrich when the latter was Speaker of the House. Bruce’s main complaint was how Gingrich tried to eliminate government agencies that produced reliable data and studies. Why would Gingrich do this? Well he has agenda based on his own made up BS and did not want honest analysts contradicting him.
Trump is Gingrich on steroids.
Thanks to the BLS, I think I figured out where Trump got his claim that bacon prices have quadrupled. BLS reports these prices starting as of Jan. 1980 and over the past quarter of a century, the price of bacon has gone up to the point its nominal cost is 4.74 times what it was back in the day when Jimmy Carter was President.
Oh wait – the general price index now is over 4 times what it was back in early 1980. Never mind!
My good man Prof Chinn, pray tell me, you didn’t forget this little episode??
https://www.npr.org/2021/02/02/963207129/usda-research-agencies-decimated-by-forced-move-undoing-the-damage-wont-be-easy
As I believe you are the one who made me first aware of it.
You noted how Brian Deese is an economic advisor to Harris:
Recent Data Show Dominant Meat Processing Companies Are Taking Advantage of Market Power to Raise Prices and Grow Profit Margins
By: Brian Deese, Sameera Fazili, and Bharat Ramamurti, December 10, 2021
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/blog/2021/12/10/recent-data-show-dominant-meat-processing-companies-are-taking-advantage-of-market-power-to-raise-prices-and-grow-profit-margins/
It is a good paper on how those oligopolists in the meat processing sector were raising the cost of meat. Now Bruce Hall complains a lot about the cost of beef and Trump whines about bacon prices a lot. But how dare Team Harris take this issue on. Brucie seems to think Harris is being a Marxist when she wants competition. Yea Brucie complains about the price of meat but this MAGA moron cannot be bothered to read up on the economics of this sector!
Not only did Bruce Hall not read that Economic Report of the President chapter on housing, he offers this?
https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/harris-makes-a-big-mistake-by-embracing
Harris makes a big mistake by embracing price controls
Brucie does not know the difference between food and housing? Oh well Trump’s housing policy is to drill for more oil.
Noah’s entire tirade rests on this claim “The worst-case scenario is that they cause shortages of food and groceries”, which assumes the food processing sector is perfectly competitive. But it is not as I have noted in a comment earlier with a reference to an excellent paper on this topic. Yea Bruce Hall is too stupid to have read that either but Noah Smith decides to write on a topic where he is also as ignorant as it gets. Sad.
Vance defends Trump’s comparison of the Medal of Honor and Medal of Freedom
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/vance-defends-trump-s-comparison-of-the-medal-of-honor-and-medal-of-freedom/vi-AA1oVBVN?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=81b49c65fbc644f09ac962b7286c317d&ei=5
Vance would defend anything Trump did or said. Seriously – does this fake Marine wake Trump up every morning with his breakfast and shining hie shoes? Trump is a disgusting draft dodger and Vance is his butt boy.
Belittling war heroes is amazingly stupid. This was one huge mistake that has to be forgotten as soon as possible – but Vance keeps it in the news by defending it. Now Walz can hammer it – then they have to respond. Their own defense of the indefensible will drown out their attack on Harris economic policy speech.
I see that Trump is using Tulsi Gabbard to prepare for the debate. She attacked Harris from the left in the primaries for 2020. Would be great to see Trump attack Harris for being too much law and order. Then Harris can attack him for being a convicted felon who is not enough law and order.
Loosely related:
https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/09/politics/reagan-nominee-young-trump-immunity-supreme-court-footnote/index.html?iid=cnn_buildContentRecirc_end_recirc
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ncwd.99571/gov.uscourts.ncwd.99571.429.0.pdf
We already know these 6 members of SCOTUS have zero ethics. but it’s kinda cool to hear/see it confirmed by their own brethren.
Here’s a statement from Noah Smith that shows how utterly out of it he can be:
‘The FTC has the power to stop price fixing, but that’s something very different — price fixing means when multiple companies illegally collaborate to keep their prices high instead of competing. It’s dealt with under existing antitrust law, and the FTC has to sue companies in court to get them to stop it.’
Lina Khan gets this point but what little Noah omits is there is a lot of political pressure to get rid of her because she is trying to do her job. The CEO of LinkedIn comes to mind and even Larry Summers thinks she is going too far. When it comes to the food processing oligopoly (which I guess little Noah is also clueless about as well) the FTC should do more – not less.
Now that Bruce Hall has reemerged proving he knows nothing about the economics of housing or the economics of food (in fact Brucie does not know the difference between food and housing), let’s remind this Swift Boat traitor of an issue he tried to lie about earlier:
Walz attacked by Trump but military record shows honorable service
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/walz-attacked-by-trump-but-military-record-shows-honorable-service/ar-AA1oVEZj?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=d2893b56ff9b48699a6c5631f3cbedbe&ei=10
An honest account – something you will not get from Bonespurs Trump or his minnie me Vance.
As you noted in your previous post, “economics goes ‘boom’ under Trump”.
Or splat. Take your pick.
Let’s combine the cost of living and Christian worship here:
https://www.bibleanalysis.org/how-much-does-a-bible-cost/#:~:text=The%20price%20of%20a%20Bible%20can%20vary%20widely,translation%20can%20cost%20upwards%20of%20%2450%20or%20more.
How much does a Bible cost? The King James Version (KJV), which is one of the most popular translations, can range in price from around $5 to $30 or more, depending on the edition.
Of course one of those Trump bibles will run you $60. Now that is price gouging in the extreme. MAGA!
NKJV is my personal favorite version, Last time I looked it was $15–$20 at Wal Mart, I presume it was fake leather but it looked very nice with decent print size and would hold up pretty well to some “wear and tear”. I can’t swear to it, but a nice paperback version of “Dune” I think cost me $7.99. I remember feeling I got it for a steal. When I was in college there were profs and students who would stand outside volunteering in the hot summer sun and give you a New Testament Gideon’s Bible for FREE.
And I’m sure you do not hold your Bible upside down.
Listening to Harris talking about her economic ideas, which is a far cry from Trump’s long winded gas bagging and childish insults.
On food prices – another topic that neither Noah Smith nor Bruce Hall understand – she kept talking about increasing competition. How Marxist of her!
Any attempt to control predatory capitalism and make market forces work for consumers, is per definition Marxist. How are those billionaires supposed to make billions and billions if they can’t corner the markets and jack up prices? The poor little things may have to work!
Yea economists like Milton Friedman must have studied under Marx!
Am I so incredibly emotionally/socially stunted that getting slight mention by an academic like Menzie makes me smile broadly and pretty much makes my entire month??
Why, Yes…… Yes, I am.
https://images.app.goo.gl/ZQC9MpSGuh2BKowA9