Economists flee Agriculture Dept. after feeling punished under Trump

[riversedge]

Source: Politico








Reports showing farmers hurt by the president’s policies have drawn the ire of top officials.

By RYAN MCCRIMMON

05/07/2019 05:03 AM EDT

Economists in the Agriculture Department's research branch say the Trump administration is retaliating against them for publishing reports that shed negative light on White House policies, spurring an exodus that included six of them quitting the department on a single day in late April.

The Economic Research Service — a source of closely read reports on farm income and other topics that can shape federal policy, planting decisions and commodity markets — has run afoul of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue with its findings on how farmers have been financially harmed by President Donald Trump's trade feuds, the Republican tax code rewrite and other sensitive issues, according to current and former agency employees.

The reports highlight the continued decline under Trump’s watch in farm income, which has dropped about 50 percent since 2013. Rural voters were a crucial source of support for Trump in 2016, and analysts say even a small retreat in 2020 could jeopardize the president’s standing in several battleground states.

“The administration didn’t appreciate some of our findings, so this is retaliation to harm the agency and send a message,” said one current ERS employee, who asked not to be named to avoid retribution.

......................................................

Then, in August, Perdue stunned members.........................................

Members of the agency were also caught off-guard last summer when Perdue’s office issued an internal memo directing ERS and other research branches to include disclaimers in their peer-reviewed publications stating that the findings were “preliminary” and “should not be construed to represent any agency determination or policy” — seen as a way of watering down any unflattering data from the department’s own experts................................

Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/05/07/agriculture-economists-leave-trump-1307146

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Link to tweet

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue's moves to limit his agency's research arm have led to a string of departures from the Economic Research Service, whose reports detail how farmers have been hurt by President Donald Trump's trade feuds. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo

[Lucky Luciano]

1. Holy Crap.

This is extremely bad.

I remember when Jack Welch was absurd in his criticism of the "fake" unemployment numbers (implying some "Chicago" style corruption) when Obama was president. It was crazy because there were lifelong nonpartisan professionals who do the work in making those assessments.

Now, the nonpartisan members of another department (and quite possibly the Labor department as well) are being shown to most likely boost/cook the books a little bit.

If cooking the books for the Labor department number (weekly claims/unemployment numbers/non-farm payrolls etc) becomes a possibility - that scandal would send shock waves pretty much everywhere.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. Note that the Bureau of Labor Statistics measures only "nonfarm payroll employment."

Payroll employment increases by 263,000 in April; unemployment rate declines to 3.6%

Economic News Release USDL-19-0731

Employment Situation Summary
Transmission of material in this news release is embargoed until 8:30 a.m. (EDT) Friday, May 3, 2019

Technical information:
Household data: [phone] * [e-mail] * www.bls.gov/cps
Establishment data: [phone] * [e-mail] * www.bls.gov/ces

Media contact: [phone] * [e-mail]


THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION -- APRIL 2019


Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 263,000 in April, and the unemployment rate declined to 3.6 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Notable job gains occurred in professional and business services, construction, health care, and social assistance.
....

From The mind-numbing rant, based on a version posted on the first Friday in September 2016:

or

It shows up every month here at DU, on (usually) the first Friday of the month.

[center]What About Employment on Farms?[/center]

[font color="red"]New material, added May 4, 2018:[/font]

Note that the BLS measures only "nonfarm payroll employment."

Nonfarm payrolls

I'm hoping the following link goes to an impartial site:

What is 'Nonfarm Payroll'

So who measures employment on farms? Hmmmmmm....

United States Department of Agriculture
Economic Research Service

Farm Labor

ERS provides information on a range of farm labor issues, including:

• Size and composition of the U.S. agricultural workforce (self-employed versus hired)

• Recent trends in the employment of hired farmworkers

• Demographic characteristics of hired farmworkers, including age, sex, and nativity

• Geographic distribution of hired farmworkers (all occupations)

• Wages of hired farmworkers

• Labor cost share of total gross revenues

• H-2A temporary agricultural visa program

• Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR)

• Legal status and migration practices of hired crop farmworkers

Finally, we provide links to key data sources with summaries.

[riversedge]

6. Thanks very much for these informative links

[not fooled]

3. Hey, at this rate

pretty soon the only "reports" emanating from red don's USDA will be Soviet-style propaganda pieces touting the greatness of the regime's policies and how they have led to the greatest harvests ever!

[trev]

4. Trump has a five-year plan.

[Honeycombe8]

5. Six quit in one day. Then Trumpers say "Don't let the door hit ya on the way out!"....

Telling them, "You either support our leader Jim Jones...I mean Trump...or you leave. We don't need no turncoats here!"

[not fooled]

7. And anyone they hire from now on

will be carefully screened to ensure they are on board with reporting things just the way the dumpsters want them reported. We don't need no stinkin' facts if they show up red don's agenda as being bad for his deluded supporters.

It's likely at some point if it's not already happening that the Federal hiring process will be corrupted by screening applicants using something like the 666kook666's i360 database, which includes e.g. social media presence, internet usage, political party affiliation, + there is publicly available info on donation history. Donate to a Democratic candidate? Post anti-GOPee stuff on DU? You're no longer eligible for Federal employment.

[stillcool]

8. I don't think there are...

any agencies left, that are not in control of GOP business interests. Information coming from the U.S. Government is worthless.

[PSPS]

9. True. Even the FAA is now certifying self-crashing airliners.

[Strelnikov_]

10. Dems need to launch hearings immediately . . . publicize this issue

Dem candidates should be talking about this in Iowa/Midwest stops. Red Don's politicization of the Ag Dept and hiding of data that shows policies have hurt rural America.

[BumRushDaShow]

13. A hearing that is already scheduled that might bring this subject up

will be live-streaming tomorrow (Thursday 5/9/19 @ 10 am EDT) from one of the House Ag Committees -

[denverbill]

11. I don't get it. I thought Federal workers had protections against this crap.

I understand Trump can fire his appointees at any time for any reason, but career civil service employees are supposed to be protected from this.

[BumRushDaShow]

12. The OP article excerpt says

an exodus that included six of them quitting the department on a single day in late April.

So they weren't "fired" but resigned. It's entirely possible that they could reapply somewhere else in the federal government having a similar position if one is open. Unfortunately civil servants (I was one myself now retired) have to deal with the wild gyrations of whoever is President. During my career, I went through 6 of them.