00:00So just tell us, tell our viewers in a straightforward way, this woman has been fired, presumably will be someone new.
00:08Will you believe the numbers coming out of the BLS after that?
00:12I will because I know the people who work there.
00:15They are some of the most loyal Americans you can imagine.
00:18They've worked in every kind of political circumstance.
00:21They are completely devoted to producing the very best gold standard data possible.
00:27And that's why BLS is the finest statistical agency in the entire world.
00:32Its numbers are trusted all over the world.
00:35So I will trust those numbers.
00:37I do believe, though, that the president's attack on the commissioner and on the bureau is undermining that infrastructure, could undermine that trust over the long term.
00:48So that's why I'm so kind of upset about this.
00:50And I want the president to back off on his rhetoric.
00:53Do you think that this post should not be a political appointment?
00:58Well, some of the statistical agencies are run by non-political people.
01:04But everybody serves at the pleasure of the president.
01:09I think that's the way.
01:11That's my own view.
01:12That's the way it should be.
01:13And here's why I think it should be a presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed position.
01:19Because you're able then, I was able, to sit in meetings with the Secretary of Labor or with the White House folks and get a sense of what were their priorities.
01:29Now, I would take that back to the bureau and I'd say, well, we need to produce more information about indigenous people.
01:36We need to produce more information about Pacific Islanders.
01:39Because, you know, President Biden was very interested in that sort of thing.
01:43And he was elected.
01:46The statistical system should reflect as much as it can.
01:50You know, that's what it's all about here in Washington.
