Particle.news
Download on the App Store
13 ARTICLES
·
3d ago

Antoni’s BLS Nomination Faces New Scrutiny After Report Links Deleted Account to Conspiracy Posts

Senators must now decide whether his leadership would safeguard the BLS’s credibility.

Image
The US Department of Labor headquarters in Washington, DC on Monday, August 11. The $2 trillion market for securities linked to US inflation data could be the first area of Treasuries to crack if the Bureau of Labor Statistics is politicized, according to bond investors.
Protesters clash with riot police during a demonstration in the center of Athens on February 24, 2010. Greece ground to a halt on February 24 as unions staged a one-day general strike and thousands of demonstrators took to the streets to protest austerity measures designed to tame a public debt crisis. Schools, government offices and courthouses were all closed while there was also major disruption to public transport, banks, hospitals and state-owned companies.
Image

Overview

  • President Trump fired Commissioner Erika McEntarfer after a weak July jobs report and nominated Heritage Foundation economist E.J. Antoni to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with the pick awaiting a Senate HELP Committee hearing.
  • A new Independent report, citing WIRED, says a now‑deleted X account tied to Antoni posted far‑right conspiracy theories about Epstein, Covid origins, and the 2020 election; the White House confirms he was a Jan. 6 bystander and Antoni declined comment to WIRED.
  • Economists and former BLS leaders question Antoni’s qualifications and warn against politicizing data, noting a University of Wisconsin analysis that could not replicate one of his papers and urging a thorough confirmation process and greater BLS funding.
  • Antoni has floated shifting monthly jobs releases to quarterly and has promoted modernizing price collection via public‑private data partnerships, proposals supporters call overdue and critics say would reduce timeliness and risk political narratives.
  • Tax analysts Daniel Bunn and Kyle Pomerleau warn that any move that understates inflation could raise Americans’ tax bills by skewing IRS inflation indexing, underscoring broader concerns about preserving consistent and defensible CPI measures.