Lessons from the rest of the world on politicizing economic data
Lessons from the rest of the world on politicizing economic data  
Podcast: Make Me Smart
Published On: Mon Aug 04 2025
Description: President Trump’s firing of the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner is not without international precedent. Other countries have gone down the path of meddling with economic data for political gain. We’ll get into lessons we can take from the rest of the world. And, can the U.S. continue to be a bastion of scientific research in the wake of deep federal funding cuts? Plus, we’ll celebrate one listener’s feat of digitizing years of her great grandmother’s diaries.Here’s everything we talked about today:"Every Scientific Empire Comes to an End" from The Atlantic "Trump to Name New Fed Governor, Jobs Data Head in Coming Days" from Bloomberg"Trump Fired America’s Economic Data Collector. History Shows the Perils." from The New York TimesThread on X from Lulu Garcia NavarroWe love hearing from you. Leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART or email makemesmart@marketplace.org.