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As my RedState colleague Bonchie reported this morning, today’s jobs report brought with it some unexpected but very welcomed news concerning May’s job numbers:
Nonfarm payroll employment rises by 2.5 million in May; unemployment rate falls to 13.3% https://t.co/1Y9cSWJUIB #JobsReport #BLSdata
— BLS-Labor Statistics (@BLS_gov) June 5, 2020
Democrats and media outlets like the Washington Post were among the hardest hit by the news, with the WaPo having to rewrite their pre-canned headline once the news broke:
The Washington Post twitter feed is a real rollercoaster right now. pic.twitter.com/fQa7da3kQb
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) June 5, 2020
Among the even harder hit folks over this surprising news was liberal New York Times columnist and Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, who just couldn’t bring himself to admit that this was an encouraging sign for an economy that has been devastated by the lock downs put in place in various states two months ago to combat the Wuhan coronavirus.
Instead, Krugman, without evidence, floated some bizarre conspiracy theories about how President Trump may have “gotten to the BLS”:
Well, the BLS reports a GAIN in jobs and a FALL in unemployment, which almost nobody saw coming. Maybe it’s true, and the BLS is definitely doing its best, but you do have to wonder what’s going on. 1/
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) June 5, 2020
I’ve been through a number of episodes over the years in which official numbers tell a story at odds with what more informal evidence suggests; often it turns out that there was something quirky (NOT fraudulent) about the official numbers. 2/
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) June 5, 2020
This being the Trump era, you can’t completely discount the possibility that they’ve gotten to the BLS, but it’s much more likely that the models used to produce these numbers — they aren’t really raw data — have gone haywire in a time of pandemic 3/
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) June 5, 2020
But whether or not Trump had allegedly strongarmed the BLS into reporting good numbers, Krugman says it’s still bad news or something because that means less people will have to be dependent on government assistance:
Whatever happened, these numbers should make you more, not less, pessimistic about the economic outlook. Why? Because they will reinforce the White House inclination to do nothing and let emergency aid expire 4/ https://t.co/yoo3F6TAo0
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) June 5, 2020
And then, in a moment completely devoid of any self-awareness whatsoever, Krugman called Trump economic adviser Stephen Moore a “hack” for his response to the jobs report:
And, right on cue, a disastrous response from the usual hacks 5/ https://t.co/ziy6yGBRDS
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) June 5, 2020
If that’s not the pot calling the kettle black, I don’t know what is.
There are two big problems with Krugman’s hot take. The first one being that not even former Obama officials are buying his conspiracy theory about Trump and the BLS:
You can 100% discount the possibility that Trump got to the BLS. Not 98% discount, not 99.9% discount, but 100% discount.
BLS has 2,400 career staff of enormous integrity and one political appointee with no scope to change this number. https://t.co/Cden6rQyN6
— Jason Furman (@jasonfurman) June 5, 2020
The second big problem with it is that, well, just a few years ago Krugman mocked people who would dare suggest manipulation of job numbers by a presidential administration:
— Watchdog (@LibWatchdog) June 5, 2020
What a complete and total buffoon. I’d suggest he delete his account, but it’s better that he doesn’t. It’s just too much fun watching him reveal himself for the clown he is.
Related –>> Howls of Laughter Erupt After Paul Krugman Points to Jen Rubin as an Authoritative Source on Republicans
