Shooting the Messenger Could Kill the Economy
Paul Krugman's warning.
Economist Paul Krugman didn’t hold back on MSNBC this week, warning that President Trump’s decision to fire the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics isn’t just political theater. He says it’s a step straight out of the authoritarian playbook.
Trump ousted the nation’s top labor stats analyst after a jobs report showed weaker-than-expected numbers. According to Krugman, that’s not just “shooting the messenger,” it’s tampering with the very tools we use to understand the economy. And if we can't trust those numbers, everything from interest rate decisions to inflation policy gets distorted.
Krugman explained that the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) may not be a household name, but it plays a vital role. It tells us how many people are working, how many jobs are being added, and how fast prices are rising. That information guides decisions at the highest levels, including by the Federal Reserve.
If the numbers start getting twisted to make the president look good instead of showing the truth, Krugman says we could be headed down the same path as countries like Venezuela and Argentina, where manipulated data hid the real problems until it was too late, and inflation spiraled out of control.
Krugman added that Trump’s attacks on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell are another red flag. Trump appointed Powell but is now pressuring him to cut interest rates, even though his tariffs are making inflation worse. It's a dangerous mix, Krugman said: economic pressure, political interference, and the silencing of honest voices.
“This is the playbook,” Krugman warned. “We’ve seen it many times before. And now, faster than I expected, it’s come to America.”
Here’s the interview in full:
New York Times:
There is the case of Greece, where the government faked deficit numbers for years, contributing to a debilitating debt crisis that required multiple rounds of bailouts. The country then criminally prosecuted the head of the statistical agency when he insisted on reporting the true figures, further eroding the country’s international standing.
There is the case of China, where earlier this century the local authorities manipulated data to hit growth targets mandated by Beijing, forcing analysts and policymakers to turn to alternative measures to gauge the state of the country’s economy.
Perhaps most famously, there is the case of Argentina, which in the 2000s and 2010s systematically understated inflation figures to such a degree that the international community eventually stopped relying on the government’s data. That loss of faith drove up the country’s borrowing costs, worsening a debt crisis that ultimately led to it defaulting on its international obligations.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/03/business/trump-bls-firing-economic-reports.html?unlocked_article_code=1.bU8.pfHN.jgnCpee4NWPA&smid=url-share