Rob Maxim

EXTREMELY BAD NEWS for economic research, per former BLS Commissioner @ericagroshen.bsky.social on LinkedIn.

BLS is suspending access to its restricted data "for the forseeable future." Applies to projects through the Federal Statistical Research Data Centers & onsite projects with BLS.
#EconSky

What to make of POTUS's attempt to fire the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)?

Let's run down what knowledgable people are saying...

screenshot of the linked post titled "Trump’s firing of BLS commissioner is undemocratic and economically dangerous" by Heidi Shierholz, which reads: Today, Trump directed his team to fire the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) because he didn’t like the jobs numbers they released. This is a move straight out of an autocratic playbook. BLS is one of the most respected statistical agencies in the world, known for its methodological rigor, independence, and transparency. The president’s belief that the BLS commissioner personally “produced” the jobs numbers is preposterous and shows a complete misunderstanding of how government statistical agencies operate. These data are the product of careful work by hundreds of expert economists, statisticians, and civil servants following transparent, well-established methodologies.

From @hshierholz.bsky.social: Trump's firing of BLS commissioner is undemocratic and economically dangerous. Between illegal firings, starving data agencies of resources, and now political intimidation, the US looks set to run into the next economic downturn flying blind

www.epi.org/press/trumps...

I know it’s a troll. I also know that this is an official government account sharing art that was designed to propagate Indigenous dispossession, cultural destruction, and conquest, and that whoever shared this surely knew it. It is right there in the painting.

A federal grant freeze could disrupt over $24 billion to Native American communities and undermine US obligations to Tribes | Brookings What's at stake for Native American Tribes and people when the federal government stymies grant funding.

For more on how the Trump Administration’s policies are affecting Native people, read my recent @brookings.edu piece with Glencora Haskins.

We find that if Trump’s proposed federal funding freeze were to go into full effect, it would cost Tribes over $24 billion.
www.brookings.edu/articles/a-f...

Can confirm that no Native people are clamoring for the Commanders to use their old name.

However, if you’re wondering what Native people actually want from the Trump Admin, you can listen to my recent podcast ep with Allison Neswood of @nativerights.bsky.social: www.brookings.edu/articles/rob...

DC voters keep voting to raise the minimum wage for tipped workers, and the DC Council keeps voting to overturn the will of the people.

Kind of kills their credibility when they call for voting rights for DC residents. If you want to support DC voting rights, try respecting DC voters.

Plaintiffs intend to file a petition for a writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court to resolve this circuit split on a question of exceptional importance. In light of the circuit split, there is a reasonable probability that at least four Justices will agree to grant Plaintiffs’ petition for certiorari. And for the reasons stated in the dissenting opinions of Chief Judge Colloton in this case and Judge Smith in Arkansas State Conference NAACP v. Arkansas Board of Apportionment, 86 F.4th 1204 (8th Cir. 2023) (“Arkansas NAACP”), and the uniform disagreement with this Court’s dispositions in these cases by every other circuit and three-judge district court to consider the issue, there is a fair prospect that the Supreme Court will reverse this Court’s judgment.

NEW: Two tribal nations are planning to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review a ruling that struck down a key tool for protecting minority voters under the federal Voting Rights Act in Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota
www.documentcloud.org/documents/25...

How federal funding cuts impact Tribal communities | Brookings In this episode of Metro Blueprint, experts examine the challenges Indian Country is facing due to the disruption in federal funding. Robert Maxim, fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Allison Nes...

Funding for Tribes has been under siege in Trump Administration.

In this week’s @brookings.edu Metro Blueprint podcast, I spoke with Allison Neswood at @nativerights.bsky.social about how funding cuts are affecting Native people and undermining Tribal sovereignty
www.brookings.edu/articles/rob...

Kutâputush Zoë!

Come work with me! I'm hiring for a fall intern to support my research on Indigenous economies.

Ideal candidate would have strong quantitative skills and an interest in Native American policy.

Full posting can be found below, DM me with any questions!
interns-brookings.icims.com/jobs/3684/fa...

However the problem outlined by another responder is a real one. Input costs for service providers may rise depending on what industry they’re in, and they could pass those increased costs onto consumers even if there’s no direct tariff on the specific product they produce.

I haven’t looked into this specific question but I believe it’s just physical ones. Digital products are generally hard to tariff, because they don’t physically cross a border in the way goods do. The analogue to a tariff for digital products is a digital services tax, which the U.S. doesn’t have.

it's disgusting that the administration is treating working for the IHS as some kind of penance

Trade War Retaliation Will Hit Trump Voters Hardest Nearly 8 million Americans work in industries targeted by the levies and the majority are Trump voters, a New York Times analysis shows

Spoke with @anaswanson.bsky.social at the Times about how foreign retaliatory tariffs will impact U.S. communities.

Great job by @lazarogamio.bsky.social building a fantastic visual of which places are most exposed to foreign tariffs, based on our @brookings.edu work
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

A trade war could hit these communities hardest Chinese and Canadian retaliatory tariffs are aimed at agricultural, manufacturing and energy sectors that employ millions of Americans.

Late to posting this, but spoke with Alyssa Fowers at the Post about which U.S. communities are most exposed to foreign tariff retaliation. Kudos to her excellent visualization incorporating data from our team, @markmuro1.bsky.social and @shriyared.bsky.social
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Read the whole thing. I’ll just flag that “Native American” and “Tribal” are on this list, which doesn’t bode well for the regime’s interactions with 575 federally recognized Native nations and their citizens

‘Life or Death Consequences’: Layoffs throw Indian Country into turmoil Thousands of workers are losing their jobs in health, education and other key tribal programs and agencies

Tribal Organizations Say Trump’s Mass Layoffs Have Life-or-Death Consequences.
Opposition mounts to the layoff of thousands of workers in health, education and other key tribal programs and agencies.
ictnews.org/news/life-or...

Haskell Indian Nations University lays off dozens of employees after federal orders Numerous employees of Haskell Indian Nations University lost their jobs Friday as part of sweeping nationwide cuts ordered by President Donald Trump's administration.

Presidents Trump and Musk laid off dozens tonight at Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas. “There will be students on campus whose classes have no instructors when school resumes...accreditation could also be at risk, as it cannot support all its students.”
lawrencekstimes.com/2025/02/14/h...

I was on this site (NCES) every single day during my masters program. It’s critical to understand the higher ed landscape.

​​​​​Federal data vastly undercount Native American college students. New federal standards could change that. The challenge of measuring Native American students’ educational access and success is made even more difficult by the poor quality of higher education data.

Amid news that DOGE is shutting down the agency that runs the National Center for Education Statistics, our team at @brookings.edu has a new report out that shows the importance of higher education data, and why it needs to be improved, not gutted:
www.brookings.edu/articles/fed...

China’s retaliatory tariffs will hurt Trump-voting counties most While the China clash will play out globally and strategically, its potential impacts will be localized and varied, since different regions have different local industry mixes and structures.

China’s retaliatory tariffs will hurt Trump-voting counties most, say @brookings.edu analysts Mark Muro and Rob Maxim www.brookings.edu/articles/chi...

Last year Elon Musk and SpaceX claimed the NLRB is unconstitutional after being accused of labor violations.

Now under Trump, the NLRB is dropping its opposition to this claim.

The labor board will no longer fight in court against the charges that it shouldn't exist.

China’s retaliatory tariffs will hurt Trump-voting counties most While the China clash will play out globally and strategically, its potential impacts will be localized and varied, since different regions have different local industry mixes and structures.

China’s retaliatory tariffs will hurt Trump-voting counties the most.

In our new piece, @markmuro1.bsky.social @shriyared.bsky.social and I look at which places in the U.S. have the most workers in industries likely to be affected by Chinese tariffs.
www.brookings.edu/articles/chi...

It’s critical that officials in the Trump Administration learn that federal obligations to Tribes and Native American people are not based on “need,” nor are they based on “DEI.” They are a payment in perpetuity for the land on which the U.S. now sits, based on a political relationship, not race.

American Indians and Alaska Natives - The Trust Responsibility

The federal government has trust and treaty obligations to support the health and welfare of Tribes and Native American people. NSF grants are federal funding that helps support health and welfare (including economic wellbeing) in Tribal communities.
www.acf.hhs.gov/ana/fact-she...

Included on the list of keywords that can now cause a grant to be pulled at the National Science Foundation is “Indigenous community.”

This shows the lack of knowledge that some in the Trump Administration have about the legal obligations owed to Tribes and Native people. They’re not based on DEI!

Tribes scramble to respond to Trump administration funding freeze All federal grants and loans are being temporarily paused, leaving tribes with unanswered questions about the impact of the order

Spoke with ICT about the on-again, off-again funding freeze, and what it would mean for Tribal communities if it happened

My take: in its attack on "DEI," the Trump Administration has targeted many programs core to the government's trust-and-treaty obligations to Tribes
ictnews.org/news/tribes-...

"Because the funding THPOs receive from the Historic Preservation Fund are grants, that funding was paused":Tribal Historic Preservation Officers can't access federal funds to protect tribal ancestors, cultural items & sacred sites, says National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers.

Senator Murkowski understands Indigenous issues better than many other senators. Most Greenland residents are Inuit people, who share a cultural and linguistic history with Iñupiat people in Alaska. It’s not surprising that she actually acknowledges the people of Greenland, not just its resources.