Ben Casselman

Just received this statement from Lisa Cook: "President Trump purported to fire me 'for cause' when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so. I will not resign. I will continue to carry out my duties to help the American economy as I have been doing since 2022."

CBO is out with its final cost estimate of the tax-and-spending bill passed by the House. - Revenue ⬇️ by $3.7 trillion over 10 years - Spending ⬇️ by $1.3 trillion - Debt ⬆️ by $2.4 trillion over 10 years - Uninsured pop. ⬆️ by 10.9 million in 2034 Full analysis: www.cbo.gov/publication/...

For months, people have been asking me whether I still trusted gov’t data. My answer was always the same: The stats agencies faced longstanding challenges, some of which Trump was making worse. But there was no sign of political meddling. I can’t say that anymore. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/01/b...

Between the decline in employment in February and the downward revision to December, job growth has now effectively slowed to zero. #numbersday

U.S. payroll employment FELL by 92,000 jobs in February and the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4 percent. Data: www.bls.gov/news.release... Live coverage: www.nytimes.com/live/2026/03... #NumberDay

I get a lot of questions these days about data from BLS and other agencies. Some of this is about fears of political interference. Some of it is about the reliability of the data, especially in light of recent big revisions. In a story today, I tried to tackle both. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/06/b...

Really looking forward to this event, in which we'll try to tackle one of the most important questions in the economy right now: What does A.I. mean for the labor market, both now and in the near future? Join us next week! www.hamiltonproject.org/event/unders... #EconSky

Signs BlueSky is coming into its own: I have my first impersonator on here. No, @casselmanbe44.bsky.social is not me. This, here, is me. (Thank you to an eagle-eyed observer, whom I won't drag into this, for flagging!)

The folks at @gothamist.com capture it perfectly: "It's Monday in New York City, where we're doing this again."

Stakes in private companies. Handshake deals with CEOs. President Trump's economic policies are a long way from the principles that once defined the Republican Party. I grappled with how we should understand his policies -- and what will come after him. 🎁🔗 www.nytimes.com/2026/02/22/b... #EconSky

Overall consumer prices were up 2.4 percent in January from a year earlier, the slowest year-on-year rate of inflation since last May. Core inflation was the slowest it's been since 2021.

U.S. consumer prices rose 0.2 percent in January and were up 2.4 percent from a year earlier. "Core" prices, excluding food and fuel, were up 0.3 percent month-over-month and 2.5 percent year-over-year. Data: www.bls.gov/news.release... #NumbersDay

Good, explicitly preliminary thread.