Pam Herd

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Excellent piece, including this quote from the head of Greece's statistical agency about why fights over data are also fights about whether a country can see itself clearly:

White House economist calls for 'fresh set of eyes at the BLS' after weak jobs report | Fox Business Video National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett discusses the latest jobs report, the firing of the labor statistics chief and the consumer impact of tariffs on 'Fox News Sunday.'

Hassett went on TV and claimed you can’t trust the economic data anymore because all the recent revisions are partisan.
A bald-faced lie.
Every serious economist still in this administration should resign. They are actively underminding the US economy by lending their credibility to this horse****

Have to hand it to them, this is one of the funniest subheads ever written. And the story itself just makes Mamdani sound very normal and relatable, which I’m assuming is the opposite of the intent.

Forget about the 13 women sexually harassed by Andrew Cuomo, THINK OF THE NIGHTMARE THIS ONE TABLE WENT THROUGH

More of this, please.

A fun reminder that a loss of 60,000 jobs in and around academia is ~50% more than all coal mining jobs in the entire country.

Mark Zandi @Markzandi · 8h The economy is on the precipice of recession. That’s the clear takeaway from last week’s economic data dump. Consumer spending has flatlined, construction and manufacturing are contracting, and employment is set to fall. And with inflation on the rise, it is tough for the Fed to come to the rescue. Unemployment remains low, but that’s only because labor force growth has gone sideways. The foreign-born workforce is shrinking, and labor force participation is declining. Telling is the economy-wide hiring freeze, particularly for recent graduates, and the decline in hours worked. Mark Zandi @Markzandi · 8h It’s no mystery why the economy is struggling; blame increasing U.S. tariffs and highly restrictive immigration policy. The tariffs are cutting increasingly deeply into the profits of American companies and the purchasing power of American households. Fewer immigrant workers means a smaller economy.

Moody's chief economist Mark Zandi says:
- We are headed for a recession
-The BLS data is totally reliable- for now
-The revisions are due to delayed reporting of DOGE govt layoffs
-Higher tariffs are dragging down the economy
1/

Did the Pandemic Really Age Our Brains? A closer look at the evidence.

Did the pandemic really age our brains? I've got some doubts, let me know if you agree... or not!

open.substack.com/pub/jenndowd...

#episky #medsky #demography #aging #neurosky

Harvard “is seriously considering resolving its dispute with the White House through the courts rather than a negotiated settlement.”

The university president said “the suggestion that Harvard was open to paying $500 million is ‘false’”

www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

"Don't be your child's first bully" is pretty good advice.

A domed building sits on a lot with trees and greenery beside a roadway with a car. A headline reads: "This City of Prisons Is Suing Over a Planned ICE Detention Center" Photo by David Robery Elliott for The New York Times

Leavenworth, Kansas, was forged by the corrections industry, but residents are now divided over plans for a privately operated immigration detention site in town. nyti.ms/3IW2Kh3

Loni Anderson, ‘WKRP in Cincinnati’ Star, Dies at 79 She received two Emmy noms for being "the smartest person in the room" on the CBS sitcom and tons of tabloid attention for her 1988-94 marriage to Burt Reynolds.

Jennifer Marlowe on ‘WKRP’ was one of the few really funny, whip-smart blondes on the great sitcoms of yore. a generation of us owe her a debt of gratitude. RIP, Loni.

Having a good time in New Orleans atm, but three different bartenders have told me that this is the worst non-COVID summer they've ever seen—one of whom has worked in the French Quarter for *forty years*.

A 3rd grade boy classmate of my daughter’s wrote a letter (I’m assuming w his parents’ help) to complain that the girls’ magazine my wife publishes—w girl readers in mind—is “racist to boys.” He gave the letter to my daughter in school & asked her to deliver home.

This week, the board met in person for the first time since the email vote. At the meeting, Dean gave an informational presentation about tenure at the university, including how the process typically works. The board wasn't entirely receptive. Trustees Marty Kotis and Jim Blaine both reiterated their opposition to tenure, while Perrin Jones and Rob Bryan raised skeptical questions. Much of the discussion centered around the net present cost of tenured faculty-the metric Clemens argued against using—and how the board can provide strategic and financial oversight of those decisions given the commitment of long-term resources. Preyer said he supported tenure in general but felt it had been given out "willy-nilly" in the past. He also inquired about ways to oust tenured faculty who "retire on the job." No one discussed the other side of the accounting ledger, as Clemens had. Roberts did not weigh in on the discussion.

Pretty grim kicker on an overall bleak outlook on the future of UNC

www.theassemblync.com/education/hi...

Devastating, and you can already feel the effects in university life, as administrations brace for this in ways that even a familiar term like “austerity” might understate.

This is trying to stop bleeding from amputated leg with a bandaid. Yes, I'm glad we are increasing #residency slots, but where do these members of Congress think the med students to staff those residency spots will come from?
1) You just killed the GRAD Plus program
2) You're killing #immigration

~6 years ago, when my wife Betty ran programming for adults at Vineyard Haven Public Library on Martha's Vineyard, she invited this guy to speak (actually he invited himself) — for the 2nd or 3rd time in 3 years. He expected that she would bump other scheduled speakers to meet his schedule. 1/2

Yup.

A BLS story from 9 days ago:

bsky.app/profile/torr...

Heckman sounds like himself I’d say

Why is the Trump administration detaining green card holders without cause, blocking legal counsel, and refusing to tell families where they are?

Will Kim has lived here since he was five. He’s getting his PhD, researching a Lyme disease vaccine at Texas A&M—and ICE disappeared him at SFO.

Inside the fight to save more than a dozen Independence Park exhibits from potential Trump administration removal in September Two Philadelphians are working to preserve or archive historic sites at Independence National Historical Park before items are removed or covered by the Trump administration in the fall.

In six weeks, more than a dozen exhibits about slavery at Philly’s Independence National Historical Park could be removed or covered up, per Trump EO to “ensure” that content which “inappropriately disparage” Americans past or living ceases to exist at National Parks www.inquirer.com/politics/nat...

Many of us have long been worried about the harm of the 50% multiyear funding (MYF) requirement.

When NCI published their payline at 4% AND cited MYF as the cause, I thought: “Someone in NCI is a hero. They took a huge risk to make the community aware.”

www.cancer.gov/grants-train...

well I have a personal experience pov on this which is that if you're going to do work on AI and you're remotely femme presenting you need to wear full body armor at all times, mentally speaking

one of the single best deals in streaming. i've been paying for PBS Passport for years. it rules

Who would d guessed that putting tariffs on industrial inputs, destroying government infrastructure, the clean energy industry, and millions of jobs, would lead to a terrible jobs report?

The initial estimate of job change for a month is based on the growth or loss of jobs at the businesses that have reported their data. Generally, BLS assumes that the employment situation at businesses that had reported is representative of the situation at those that had not yet reported. BLS continues to collect outstanding reports from the businesses in the sample as it prepares a second and then a third estimate for the month. With each subsequent estimate, more businesses have provided their information. In 2012, the average collection rate at the time of the third estimate for a month was 94.6 percent. (See chart 1.)

Why do the jobs numbers get revised?

our markets and policymakers want data NOW but employer data dribbles in over months

1st estimate is based on the 75% of employers who respond promptly

Updates occur as more data rolls in: 95% response rate by final revision 1/N

www.bls.gov/opub/btn/vol...

A professor had a $2.4m grant to study Black maternal health. Then Trump was elected Jaime Slaughter-Acey said it was ‘heartbreaking’ to discover her study on Black maternal health was cancelled after the Trump administration’s NIH cuts

*The NIH-grant cancellation in late March followed the release of data from the CDC revealing that Black women were the only race or ethnic group who didn’t experience a decline in deaths from pregnancy related causes in 2023."

August 1, 2025 AMERICAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION Committee on Economic Statistics and Committee on Government Relations Statement from the American Economic Association on the Dismissal of the BLS Commissioner Leaders of the American Economic Association express their grave concern over the dismissal of the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) earlier today. The independence of the federal statistical agencies is essential to the proper functioning of a modern economy. Accurate, timely, and impartial statistics are the foundation upon which households, businesses, and policymakers make critical decisions. Undermining the independence or credibility of these agencies threatens the integrity of the information that markets, institutions, and the public rely on every day. Measuring the vast and dynamic U.S. economy in real time is inherently challenging. It is standard practice for statistical estimates to be revised as more complete and higher-quality data become available. These revisions reflect the commitment of statistical agencies to accuracy, transparency, and methodological rigor-not failure or bias. The BLS has long had a well-deserved reputation for professional excellence and nonpartisan integrity. Safeguarding this tradition is vital for the continued health of the U.S. economy and public trust in our institutions. We call upon elected officials to respect and preserve the independence of the nation's statistical infrastructure. Lawrence Katz President, American Economic Association Katharine Abraham President-Elect, American Economic Association Karen Dynan Chair, American Economic Association Committee on Economic Statistics Kenneth Troske Chair, American Economic Association Committee on Government Relations

Statement from the largest economics association about the BLS firing

As context: AEA approximately never makes such public statements

This is a big deal