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Shark tank Investor Kevin O’Leary has torn President Donald Trump about his dismissal from the Commissioner of the Office of American Labor Statistics (BLS), Dr. Erika Mcentarfer, Friday after a disappointing report.
Nowsweek contacted one economic analyst by email for additional comments.
Why it matters
Trump’s decision to oust Mcentarfer aroused a general concern among economists, business leaders and former government representatives concerning the independence of American economic data reports.
The abrupt dismissal followed the publication of Terne employment numbers and marked a rare direct intervention by a president in the work of a non -partisan federal agency responsible for compiling critical economic statistics.
The number of new jobs for July has dropped well below expectations, even modest, with only 73,000 posts added, compared to the estimate of Dow Jones of 100,000.
This decision has now fueled the debate on the politicization of federal agencies, the integrity of government data and the potential impact on the market and public confidence in official economic indicators.
What to know
Trump announced the dismissal of MCentarfer on Truth Social Friday, also accusing him of manipulating data for the benefit of former vice-president Kamala Harris around the 2024 presidential election “to try to stimulate the chances of victory of Kamala”.
While speaking on CNN after Trump’s announcement, O’Leary was asked about Trump’s economic policies that affected him as an investor.
“I do not watch the trading of a day and I decide that I will change my strategy,” said O’Leary. “I want the markets to correct. I want them to go up and go down. We are used to volatility. We had a bad impression on the work. I do not agree on the commissioner. I don’t like it.”
O’Leary continued: “The strike statisticians have no meaning. You do not shoot the messenger. They did it in ancient Rome. Bad news. They would kill a horse guy. You don’t need to do it now. It doesn’t matter. This is a job where you will print data. So, I didn’t like this story.”
“I think that the market is a little concerned that the main business partners do not get meaningful yet. It is not a good idea to have 35% prices in Canada, we know that this is being set up at midnight at the moment, unless something magic happens,” added O’Leary.
Friday, the dismissal of MCENTARFER coincided with a significant drop in American stock markets. The industrial average of Dow Jones lost 542 points (1.2%), the S&P 500 dropped by 1.6%and the NASDAQ composite dropped by 2.2%. This downward movement was allocated both to low -employment figures and a new series of American rates announced by Trump.
What people say
JB Pritzker, Illinois Democrat governor, posted on X Friday: “Donald Trump has just drawn the head of the work statistics office because she declared the facts. And the facts show that his policies are a disaster for the American economy. Trump said that he would be a dictator on the first day and that is exactly what he acts.”
Trump, in an interview with Rob Finnerty from Newsmax on Friday: “We had difficulties with her, and there had been many questions and we dismissed her because we did not believe the figures today.”
What happens next
He remains uncertain who will be appointed the next Permanent BLS commissioner. Trump has announced on Truth Social that Mcentarfer “will be replaced by someone much more competent and qualified.”
The former BLS chief, William Beach and other BLS friends, the co -chairs called for an investigation into the dismissal by Trump of Mcentarfer.
