After Weak Jobs Report, BLS Commissioner Gets the Ax

The Breakdown

Blockworks

Investing, Business

4.8 • 786 Ratings

🗓️ 5 August 2025

⏱️ 15 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today NLW unpacks a stunning escalation as President Trump fires the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics after a weak jobs report. The move has shaken confidence in the independence of US economic institutions, with critics across the spectrum warning of authoritarian overreach. We look at what this means for the Fed, interest rate policy, and the future of economic data in America. From market reactions to historical comparisons with Venezuela and Argentina, this episode explores whether the blow up around this is TDS or if we’ve crossed a line that can't be uncrossed—and why some are calling Bitcoin the new insurance policy. Enjoying this content? SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast: https://pod.link/1438693620 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBreakdownBW Subscribe to the newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thebreakdown⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join the discussion: https://discord.gg/VrKRrfKCz8 Follow on Twitter: NLW: https://twitter.com/nlw Breakdown: https://twitter.com/BreakdownBW

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to The Breakdown with me, NLW.
0:09.3	It's a daily podcast on Macro, Bitcoin, and the Big Picture Power Shifts remaking our world.
0:18.2	What's going on, guys? It is Monday, August 4th, and today we are talking macro with an emphasis
0:23.7	on what numbers we can even trust anymore. Before we get into that, however, if you are enjoying
0:28.7	the breakdown, please go subscribe to it, give it a rating, give it a review, or if you want to dive
0:32.5	deeper into the conversation, come join us on the Breakers Discord. You can find a link in the show
0:36.7	notes or go to bit.ly slash
0:38.2	breakdown pod. All right, friends, welcome back. There is a lot of intrigue happening in Washington
0:45.1	right now, and it's a huge point of discussion with some wondering if we have potentially just
0:50.0	crossed the Rubicon. TLDR, in case somehow you missed it, President Trump shot the messenger on Friday.
0:56.1	He fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics hours after they reported a dramatic slowdown
1:00.8	in the labor market. Trump accused the bureaucrat of political bias posting, I was just informed
1:05.7	that our country's jobs numbers are being produced by a Biden appointee, who faked the jobs numbers
1:10.2	before the election to try and boost Kamala's chance of victory, we need accurate jobs numbers.
1:15.2	I have directed my team to fire this Biden political appointee immediately. She will be replaced by someone much more competent and qualified.
1:22.2	Now, on the one hand, nothing out of the ordinary for this president, claiming political bias within the bureaucracy and calling for firings.
1:30.6	The difference here was that Trump actually acted on those impulses and followed through with the threat. Unlike federal reserve officials or heads of regulatory agencies like the
1:35.1	SEC, the BLS commissioner isn't generally thought of as a partisan figure. They serve four-year terms
1:40.7	which overlap administrations, and there's basically no precedent for an early firing.
1:45.1	For many financial professionals, this is a concerning escalation.
1:48.5	Peter Malook, the CEO of wealth management firm, Creative Planning, said,
1:51.8	I can't believe what I just saw.
	...

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