donald Trump tells us that prices are
going down when they're going up he
claims gas is $1.98 a gallon but in
reality it's 4 to six bucks this is the
playbook of the propagandist this is
what authoritarians do you have gasoline
hit 98 yesterday in a couple of states
you have gasoline's way down the price
of oil has dropped substantially
but those claims are mostly false
according to AAA the two states with the
lowest gas prices in the country are
Tennessee and Mississippi which are both
averaging 269 a gallon and the national
average today is 316 a gallon which is
way down from a year ago but slightly
higher than when the president took
office concerns are growing among
economists and statisticians that the
Trump regime's cynical view of factual
data might transcend fiction and take
root in real world policymaking with
Donald Trump's wellocumented antagonism
toward unfavorable economic data and
trade analysis many fear that the
administration could begin targeting
government employees tasked with
producing unbiased statistics a proposed
rule change is at the center of this
worry if implemented it would make it
easier to dismiss federal workers deemed
to be obstructing presidential
directives experts warn that this could
potentially open the door to firing
economic statisticians whose data
contradicts political narratives
federal agencies like the Bureau of
Labor Statistics the BLS and the Bureau
of Economic Analysis the BEA provide
critical information used by the Federal
Reserve to manage interest rates and
inflation the data is also fundamental
to business strategy and investment
the United States has long been trusted
as a reliable source of accurate
economic statistics a trust built over
generations since the BLS was
1884 undermining this credibility could
severely damage the country's global
economic standing the Trump regime
facing shrinking GDP figures and
criticism over its tariff policies may
now be tempted to exert pressure on
civil servants to adjust the narrative
potentially compromising statistical
integrity there's deep concern about the
implications of the proposed personnel
policy and whilst there's no current
evidence of manipulation the policy
could pave the way for politically
motivated firings under the guise of
misconduct under an executive order
signed on Trump's inauguration day
approximately 50,000 federal jobs could
be reclassified as policy or career
roles making them easier to terminate
while specific positions have yet to be
identified there's fears that
statisticians could be among the targets
bls officials might be dismissed for
publishing job or inflation data seen as
politically damaging this could foster a
culture where political loyalty
objectivity trump has previously
dismissed unfavorable statistics as fake
while touting the same metrics when they
aligned with his narrative following
disappointing GDP numbers early in
Biden's term particularly linked to the
lingering effects of trade policy Trump
deflected blame and praised his own
economic record instead commerce
Secretary Howard Lutnik who oversees
many of the federal data agencies has
floated the idea of revising how GDP is
calculated a shift that could paint a
more favorable economic picture that
would diverge from long-standing
international standards critics argue
that tampering with statistical
impartiality could erode trust in US
data aligning the country with nations
like Argentina and Greece whose
governments faced international scrutiny
for manipulating economic figures in
Argentina's case the IMF labeled its
inflation data as unreliable delaying
loans and undermining its financial
stability greece's data distortion
contributed to a devastating financial
crisis and political upheaval despite
these cautionary tales the Trump
regime's reported discomfort with
economic indicators that reflect poorly
on its policies raises the risk of
similar interference replacing or
defunding key agencies like the BEA or
BLS could lead to politically engineered
data accurate economic data is essential
for the Federal Reserve to implement
sound policy and without it Trump could
increase pressure on the Fed than its
chair Jerome Pal whom he has previously
accused of political bias for resisting
interest rate cuts the erosion of data
integrity is linked to broader attacks
on public institutions including
journalism undermining data collection
is part of a strategy to blur public
understanding and obstruct
accountability even short-term
disruptions to federal data efforts
could have irreversible consequences a
break in long-running data series
permanently severs continuity and
impairs the ability to analyze
historical trends access to factual
information is vital for informed
democratic decision-making manipulating
statistics to fit political agendas is a
hallmark of efforts to weaken democracy
itself in George Orwell's dystopian
novel 1984 there's a ministry of truth
which is responsible for propaganda
historical revisionism culture and
entertainment its main role is to help
control the population through that
misinformation and outright lies and
lack of information so that the state
can maintain total power over the people
trump didn't invent this stuff but he
sure has adopted it as his cruelty and
dictatorial leanings get stronger with
day i'm Anthony Davis you can find me on
the 5minute News YouTube channel and
podcast on Wednesdays co-hosting
Uncovered and on Sunday on the weekend
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