Category: Series

Since his return to office, President Trump has waged something of a pressure campaign on economic data and the people in charge of delivering it. His firing of the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner following a weak jobs report now has some wondering: can we still trust the official numbers? Today on the show, we're resharing our conversation with former BLS commissioner, Erica Groshen on her current fears for the integrity of government data. The original version of this story aired March 7, 2025.

Related:
What really goes on at the Bureau of Labor Statistics? (Update) (Apple / Spotify)
Would you trust an economist with your economy? (Apple / Spotify)

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Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

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A yacht—like any good exchanged on the free market—represents countless value-maximizing exchanges and represents an industry that employs thousands of people to provide goods and services to others.

Original article: https://mises.org/power-market/jeff-bezoss-yacht-driver-economic-activity

Understanding any era of history requires the ability to view complex things. However, people often employ simple narratives as their historical guides, which leads to wrong conclusions. The pre-war history of the American South is one that is much more complex than the narratives imply.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/complexity-historical-narratives

What use is the Fed's supposed devotion to being "data-driven" when the data itself is unreliable and the Fed is basing its policies on data that is thoroughly wrong?

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/fed-says-it-data-driven-data-isnt-any-good

Thanks for modern Keynesian economics, most people believe money gains its value from the government that issues it. Money's value, however, is historically tied to the value of the commodity from which money was derived.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/how-does-money-acquire-its-value

On Friday, we reported on the latest jobs numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which showed weaker than expected growth. On Friday afternoon, President Trump fired the person in charge of those numbers.

The monthly jobs report is a critical tool for the economy, used by businesses to make decisions and the Federal Reserve to set rates. So how exactly are those figures collected? Today, we're re-airing our behind-the-scenes look at how the BLS puts together the jobs report ... one call at a time.

This show originally aired June 6, 2022.

Related:
Can we trust the monthly jobs report?
Would you trust an economist with your economy?

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez and Corey Bridges. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

In an attempt to compete with the Soviet Union by bringing future elite political leaders from Africa to study in US universities, Sen. John Kennedy and the CIA inadvertently spread Marxism here and abroad. One product of this program was bringing Mamdani's Marxist father to the US.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/how-jfk-and-cia-gave-nyc-zohran-mamdani-and-obama-us

Oklahoma City will be building a new arena for the 2025 NBA Champions Thunder. Not surprisingly, the taxpayers will be the ones carrying most of the financial burden.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/thunderously-bad-deal-oklahoma-citys-crony-arena-tax