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>> Hello
and
welcome
to
another
episode
of


the
Odd
Thoughts
podcast. I'm
Tracy


Aloway

>> and
I'm
Joe
Wisenthal.

>> Joe,
I
kind
of
missed
this
on
Friday


because
I
was
not
feeling
very
well.
So


I
I
was
out
sick.
But
uh
what
was
Friday


morning
like
when
you
were
sat
in
front


of
your
Bloomberg
terminal?

>> Well,
the
jobs
report
was
pretty
uh


shocking.
Obvious
Friday
was
just
a


crazy
day.
I
mean
so
the
jobs
report


obviously
was
it
was
it
was
bad.
I
mean


the
last
two
months
massively
revised


down.
All
of
this
evidence
of
labor


market
momentum
perhaps
seems
to
be


stalling.
The
tariff
effect
maybe
we


really
are
and
it's
sort
of
some
sort
of


tariff
induced
slowdown.
The
only
job


creation
is
in
healthcare
and
social


service.
Not
great,

>> right?
Okay.
So,
I
saw
the
initial
jobs


report
headlines.
So,
we
had
non-farm


payrolls
coming
in
at
plus
73,000,
which


I
think
was
like
30%
lower
than
the


average
expectation.
We
had
the


unemployment
rate
ticking
up
to
like


4.3%

>> 4.2

>> 4
almost
4.3%.

>> Oh.
Oh,
let
me
let
me
Sorry.

>> I'm
rounding
up
here.

>> Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Although
maybe
I


shouldn't
do
that
on
a
podcast
all
about


labor
market
statistics.
But
the
big


thing
that
seemed
to
catch
everyone's


attention
was
we
also
had
these
massive


revisions
to
the
report
for
May
and


June.
So
we
had
a
combined
258,000


jobs
basically
lowered
from
the
initial


reports.
And
this
was
like
the
biggest


revision
since
the
depths
of
the


pandemic.
And
then
the
headline
that


really
caught
my
eye
while
I
was,
you


know,
laying
in
my
sick
bed
on
Friday


afternoon
was
Trump
firing
the
head
of


the
Bureau
of
Labor
Statistics.
So
the


agency
responsible
for
putting
out
the


non-farm
payroll
report
every
month.

>> Yeah,
this
is
um
I
would
say
the
key


thing
is
that
a
we've
been
used
to
these


uh
you
know
seeing
significant


revisions.
We've
been
talking,
you
in


particular
have
been
writing
a
lot
in


the
newsletter
about
deteriorating


quality
of
labor
statistics.
Response


rates
to
a
lot
of
surveys
have
gone
down


over
time.
Kind
of
like
we're
seeing
in


political
opinion
surveys
and
so
forth.


So
there's
already
been
this
sort
of


anxiety.
You
have
a
lot
of
people


online,
including
President
Trump


himself,
you
know,
been
like
stoking


sort
of
these
conspiracy
theories
about


these
revisions,
these
attempts
to


actually
be
transparent.
And
then
you


get
the
first
sort
of
like
genuinely


negative
report
under
this


administration.
It's
the
first
one
that


was
like,
"Okay,
this
was
bad."
And


boom,
Trump
fires
uh
the
person


responsible
for
it.
Now,
again,
this
is


one
of
those
things
where
sort
of
like


Doge
itself
where
it's
like,
I
like
the


idea
of
government
efficiency,
right?


Yeah,
sure.
Doge,
I
like
the
idea
of
the


BLS
sort
of
doing
a
better
job
in
some


way
or
addressing
these
responses,
but


like
Doge,
which
you
know,
we
all
have


seen
how
that's
turned
out.
I
think


there
are
a
lot
of
more
than
a
lot
of


questions
more
than
a
lot
of
questions


about
whether
firing
the
BLS
and


replacing
the
head
with
someone
who's
uh


you
know
a
Trump
appointee
will
uh
you


know
add
a
more
credible
transparent


data
quality.

>> Right.
One
thing
that
we
have
learned


from
all
our
episodes
on
data
collection


in
the
US
is
that
it
is
actually
a


really
really
insanely
laborintensive


thing
to
do.
you
have
to
actually
call


up
a
bunch
of
people,
um,
homeowners
for


instance,
or
you
have
to
call
up
a
bunch


of
businesses
and
ask
questions.
You


have
to
go
out
into
the
field
and
gather


individual
prices.
And
we
can
have
a


debate
over
whether
or
not
you
could


maybe
use
new
technology,
price
scanning


data
to
make
all
of
that
more
efficient.


But
for
the
time
being,
that's
how
it's


done.
And
so,
you
need
people
to
do
it.


And
if
Doge
comes
in
and
eliminates,
you


know,
a
big
chunk
of
the
budget,
then
it


becomes
harder
to
do.
or
if
it
just
gets


more
costly
and
the
budget's
gone
up.


And
then
the
one
thing
I
would
say
is


that
in
our
conversations
and
again
you


have
talked
to
the
BLS
many
times
they


are
really
good.
They
are
professionals


and
they
take
it
very
seriously.

>> They
are
very
responsive.
However,

>> very
transparent.

>> We
could
talk
about
this
a
little
bit


but
perhaps
less
responsive
than
they


used
to
be
in
recent
weeks.
So
anyway,


we
should
talk
about
all
of
this.
I


think
it's
really
important
and
as
you


said
there
are
big
questions
like
what


happens
if
a
president
ousts
a
BLS
chief


and
then
introduces
a
new
one.
We
have


the
perfect
guest
someone
we've
spoken


to
before
about
the
decline
of
America's


data
infrastructure.
We're
going
to
be


speaking
with
Bill
Beachch.
He
is
of


course
the
former
commissioner
of
labor


statistics,
former
head
of
the
BLS.
So


Bill,
thank
you
so
much
for
coming
back


on
All
Thoughts.

>> Yeah,
it's
just
just
really
a
pleasure


to
be
back
with
you.
I
wish
we
uh
were


talking
about
some
other
subject
besides


this
termination.
I
mean,
it's
just


really

>> shock.
Well,
on
that
note,
Friday
uh


Trump
tweets
or
posts
that
he
wants
to


fire
Erica
McNurfer,
the
commissioner
of


labor
statistics.
What
was
going
through


your
mind
when
you
saw
that
news?

>> I
was
dumbass.
I
just
finished
a
lunchon


meeting
at
a
very
nice
restaurant
and
I


was
sitting
in
my
pickup
truck
and
I


just
couldn't
believe
and
then
I
sat


there
for
probably
30
40
minutes
car


running
and
answering
emails
people
just


sorting
it
out.
It
isn't
that
he
didn't


have
the
authority
to
do
so.
He
does


have
the
authority
and
we
all,
you
know,


everyone
in
the
executive
branch
serves


at
the
pleasure
of
the
president
except


those
that
have
been
specifically


exempted
by
statute
and
and
where
that


statute's
been
signed
by
the
president.


I
think
what
was
shocking
about
this
is


not
that
she
was
dismissed.
That's


shocking
enough.
It
was
the
possibility


that
we
could
have
now
a
sustained


attack
on
official
economic
statistics


and
that
would
undermine
confidence
in


those
statistics
and
put
us
in
a
path


that
other
countries
have
followed.
I


mean
instantly
people
went
to
worst


case.
After
a
while
that
sort
of
settled


down
and
we
began
to
look
at
the
reasons


for
for
the
dismissal
which
I
then


subsequently
said
on
Twitter
or
X
that


were
they
were
they
were
unfounded
and
I


haven't
dropped
that
that
position


since.
So
happy
to
talk
about
it.

>> Well,
why
don't
we
just
back
up
for
a


second?
We
talked
to
you
before
cuz


you've
been
sounding
the
alarm
about
the


capacity
constraints
to
collect
good


data.
But
just
for
people
who
haven't


listened
to
or
haven't
followed
you,
you


were
a
Trump
appointee.
I
mean,
you


served
at
the
head
of
the
BLS
in
2017.


And
so
I
do,
you
know,
and
so
like,


okay,
your
credibility,
why
don't
you


just
give
us
a
little
bit
of
background


about
who
you
are,
your
position,
and


the
concerns
that
you've
been
raising


for
some
time
about
the
constraints
at


the
BLS?
So,
I
was
uh
I
was
really


honored
to
be
the
commissioner
of
labor


statistics
from
2019
until
2023.
So,
I


served
a
little
less
than
two
years


under
President
Trump.
He
nominated
me.


It
is
a
presidential
nomination,
Senate


confirmed
positions.
It
has
a
statutory


four-year
term.
And
then
I
served
the


rest
of
my
term
under
President
Biden.


So,
I
I
was
in
both
terms.
I
I
think


that's
kind
of
important
because
the
BLS


commissioner
has
been
exempt
from
the


normal
turning
over
of
the
presidency
by


party
and
that's
because
the
view
is


well
these
data
are
so
important
they


should
not
even
be
a
part
of
the


political
appointment
process
except


when
they
come
due
sort
of
like
u
you


know
the
Federal
Reserve
chair
or


something
of
that
nature.
It's
just
seen


as
we
want
to
keep
it
out
of
politics.


So
I
I
served
over
that
period
of
time.


You
know,
that
was
the
COVID
period.
So


there
were
all
kinds
of
real
challenges


from
that.
But
I
think
the
main
thing


that
I
drew
from
that
period
is
how


important
it
is
crucial
almost
at
a


crisis
level
to
modernize
the
way
we


collect
data.
The
response
rates
on
the


surveys
are
falling
dramatically.
I've


made
that
point
on
this
program.
and
our


costs
are
rising
dramatically
which


makes
it
really
difficult
to
conduct


those
surveys
in
the
future
in
the
way


we
have
in
the
past
and
then
the
future


is
a
kind
of
a
going
in
the
direction
of


the
employment
survey
and
I
just
said


surveys
are
are
are
following
but
the


employment
survey
is
a
little
different


it's
not
an
in-person
survey
it
is
an


electronic
survey
and
we
need
to
invest


more
in
the
electronic
side
of


statistical
creation
or
production


blended
data
etc
I
could
do
a
program
on


this,
but
your
your
point
was
well
made.


BLS
has
had
some
challenges
in
front
of


it,
as
has
the
entire
statistical


system.
Unfortunately,
for
this


particular
episode,
those
challenges


were
really
not
I
don't
say
relevant.


They
they're
relevant,
of
course,
but


they're
really
not
the
reason
why
we


should
have
had
a
a
change
at
the
top.
H
well
speaking
of
the
employment
report


talk
to
us
about
what
exactly
happens


when
the
BLS
is
publishing
the
initial


non-farm
payrolls
and
then
what
happens


you
know
in
the
couple
months
or
so


before
it
publishes
the
revision
and
why


does
it
seem
we
are
getting
these
large


gaps
at
least
in
recent
months
and
years

>> right
so
the
employment
survey
the
jobs


numbers
come
from
a
survey
of
businesses


uh
the
unemployment
rate
comes
from
a


survey
of
households.
So
there's
two


surveys
involved
in
every
first
Friday


report.
What
we're
talking
about
now
is


the
survey
that
goes
out
to
businesses


and
it
goes
out
to
hundreds
of
thousands


of
businesses.
Well,
of
course
there


still
a
probability
sample
since
there's


well
in
excess
of
12
million
businesses


in
our
census
of
business,
our
business


register.
Well,
those
businesses
are


supposed
to
turn
their
surveys
in
at
the


end
of
the
month
basically,
but
only


about
68%
usually
that's
the
average
do


so.
And
so
BLS
keeps
the
window
open
for


two
more
months.
So
68%
or
so
at
the
end


of
the
first
month
they
make
the
first


estimate.
Then
at
the
end
of
the
second


month,
we've
get
about
83%


completion
and
they
revise
that
number


of
the
first
month.
And
then
by
the


third
month
we're
into
the
90s.
Usually


end
up
around
93
94%
of
all
the
sent
out


returns
come
back
to
us
with


information.
So
it's
a
wonderful
survey.


The
revisions
are
done
because
we
get


more
information
from
businesses.
Often


times
big
businesses
answer
first.
They


have
the
capacity
to
do
so
and
then
we


get
smaller
entities,
state
and
local


governments.
Smaller
businesses
answer


in
those
next
two
months.
We
always
have


revisions.
There's
there's
I
can't
I


can't
imag
even
when
it
when
we
say
the


number
did
not
change
it
doesn't
mean
we


we
didn't
have
revisions
they
just


canceled
each
other
out.
There's
just


all
these
revisions
are
coming
in.
The


revisions
have
been
uh
high
recently
but


this
is
not
atypical
of
a
period
when


the
economy
is
either
going
back
to


growth
or
going
down
to
subsidance.
So


often
times
turning
points
in
the


economy
are
accompanied
by
changes


larger
changes
in
the
revisions


particularly
in
this
case
where
we


suspect
smaller
businesses
are
feeling


the
effects
of
the
supply
shock
coming


from
the
tariff
policy
and
from


immigration
and
that
these
supply
shocks


are
affecting
smaller
businesses
more


than
they
are
larger
businesses
and


state
and
local
governments
are
being


affected
by
yet
another
factor
and
that


is
the
expiration
of
the
co
era
money.
I


think
that's
was
actually
the
root
of
a


lot
of
the
changes
that
you
saw
on


Friday.
State
and
local
governments
are


not
able
to
to
hire
at
the
levels
they


were
going
to
hire
at
in
previous
years


or
did
hire
at
in
previous
years
because


they
did
not
have
the
subsidies
that


they
had
in
previous
years.
So,
these


are
important
revisions.
Actually,
the


research
shows,
and
this
may
shock
you,


that
BLS
is
getting
much
better
at
its


first
estimate
than
it
was
30
years
ago.


In
fact,
it's
really
kind
of
almost
a
a


steady
progress
towards
greater


accuracy.
So,
the
big
revisions
are


indicative
of
not
air,
they're


indicative
of
more
information.
And
the


bigger
the
revisions,
the
more
likely
we


are
in
a
turning
point.
There's
so
much


that
was
in
that
answer
that
I
found
to


be
very
helpful
and
clarifying.
So,


thank
you.
I
mean,
just
this
idea,
you


know,
a
that
actually
over
time,


contrary
to
what
people
on
Twitter
might


think,
that
the
quality
of
that
first


pass
has
actually
gone
up
is
uh
um
is


very
striking.
You
know,
let's
stipulate


that.
Okay,
the
BLS
could
use
some


upgrading
as
you
mentioned
that
there


are
these
capacity
constraints,


non-response,
the
cost
of
going
out,


maybe
it
needs
to
adopt
more
technology


in
some
way
to
solve
for
this.
Does
the


BLS
currently
have
that
capacity
either


budgetarywise
or
statutory
authority


such
that
a
commissioner
could
just
do


that
whatever
it
is
that
ideal
state
or


would
it
need
either
some
sort
of


budgetary
allocation
or
an
act
of


Congress
to
get
to
the
point
where
it's


you
know
getting
to
the
level
that
we


are
happy
with
again

>> it
has
the
authority
to
make
the
changes


it
doesn't
have
the
budget
to
do
so
and


it
isn't
that
BLS
just
needs
more
money


I
matter
of
fact
I
think
Congress
if
it


paid
more
attention
would
say
well
what


are
you
spending
your
money
on
now
and


let's
make
sure
that
the
low
priority
is


cancelled
so
that
we
can
support
the


high
priority
I
think
BLS
would
be
very


happy
with
that
but
we
do
need
more


money
and
why
well
if
you're
going
to


change
an
official
statistic
the


unemployment
rate
let's
just
take
that


you
want
to
be
really
careful
right
you


want
to
run
tests
you
want
to
test
out


your
new
idea
you
don't
want
to
have
a


you


count
the
number
of
geese
in
the
air
and


that's
the
unemployment
rate.
You
want


to
make
sure
that
that
is
a
particularly


good
indicator
of
the
employment
market


and
you
want
to
test
it
in
real
time
as


well
as
experimental
time
in
real
time.


So
run
it
parallel.
Well,
the
these


these
tests
expand
the
costs
of
your


unemployment
statistics
program
because


you're
running
essentially
two
systems


simultaneously.

We
think
that
to
modify
the
current


population
survey,
which
is
the
survey


of
households,
would
cost
around
15


million
to
20
million
in
experimental


costs
over
a
2-year
period.
It's
not


great.
The
program
itself
costs
about
45


million
a
year,

>> but
it
does
add
to
the
cost
for
those


two
years
or
so.
Congress
could
could


easily
do
that.
I
mean,
oh
my
gosh,


Congress
is
spending
a
lot
more
money


than
that
on
things
that
we
might


disagree
with,
but
they
need
to
allocate


a
little
bit
of
money
to
CPS
for
that.


Does
it
have
the
authority?
Here's
a


really
interesting
story.
During
COVID,


we
canled
all
travel,
all
conferences,


you
know,
was
and
I
was
surprised
at
how


many
millions
of
dollars
went
into


travel
and
conferences
and
meetings.
So,


this
became
for
me
couch
money
during


the
co
years.
And
I
was
able
to
spend


that
money
um
you
know
on
on
important


things
I
thought.
So
I
did
a
lot
of


things
like
I
built
a
new
data
center
to


get
us
out
of
the
basement
of
a
104
year


old
building

>> and
out
to
a
wonderful
above
ground


local
location
but
I
also
started
a


number
of
research
programs
and
I
made


31
big
modifications
to
the
to
the
CPI.


We
started
a
whole
new
approach
on
on


looking
at
consumer
expenditures
and
I


subsidized
some
experimentation
on
the


jobs
report.
Well,
as
soon
as
CO
was


over,
we
started
to
get
congressionally


mandated
programs
that
then
sucked
up


all
that
couch
money.
If
we
had
a
little


bit
of
extra,
we
I
mean
BLS,
a
little


bit
of
extra
to
do
these
these
things,


just
just
think
of
the
innovation
that


that
would
happen.
I
think
we
would


quickly
be
out
of
the
problems
that
we


are
facing
from
a
methodological


standpoint.
And
that
might
then
reduce


the
political
pressure
that
we
saw
that


was
so
evident
on
Friday.

>> So,
we
are
recording
this
August
4th,


9:25
a.m.
in
the
morning
and
33
seconds.


I
feel
like
I
need
to
be
that
specific


nowadays
with
the
news
flow.
Uh,
so
who


knows
what
happens
between
now
and
when


this
episode
actually
comes
out,
but
we


are
expecting
the
administration
to


announce
a
new
BLS
head
in
the
coming


days.
What
happens
now?
You
know,
if


there's
a
Trump
appointee
for
a
new


statistics
commissioner
after
the


president
has
specifically
stated
that


he
thinks
the
previous
commissioner
was


politically
motivated
in
some
way,
are


people
still
going
to
believe
the


numbers
that
are
coming
out?
And
how
do


you
think
that's
actually
going
to
play


internally
at
the
BLS
at
an
organization


whose
whole,
you
know,
raise
on
Dutch
is


to
find,
you
know,
factual
numbers
and


statistics
to
portray
the
American


economy?

>> Well,
I
think
there
has
been
damage
and


it
will
take
time
to
recover
from
that


damage.
The
last
time
there
was
a


serious
political
effort
on
BLS
was


during
the
Nixon
administration
and
um


it
took
some
time
for
BLS
to
recover


from
that
though
the
action
taken
by
the


president
at
that
time
visav
BLS
was
not


I
think
as
as
significant
as
this
one.


So
you
just
imagine
that
the
president


decides
to
no
appointment
St.
Peter
you


know
as
the
new
BLS
commissioner
and
of


course
St.
Peter
has
a
reputation
for


honesty
and
for
clarity
of
thought.


Still,
it'll
be
the
case
because
St.


Peter
won't
have
any
control
over
the


way
that
the
data
are
collected
or
the


data
are
assembled
or
the
estimates
that


are
done.
That's
all
done
outside
of
the


of
the
knowledge
of
the
commissioner.


Commissioner
has
no
control
over
that.


In
fact,
you're
locked
out
of
that
whole


process.
So,
it
will
be
the
case
that


St.
Peter
will
have
a
month
come
when


the
unemployment
rate
will
be


disappointingly
low,
could
even
be


negative.
But
I
think
given
what
has


just
happened,
people
will
say,
well,


St.
Peter
probably
influenced
that


number
and
it
s
not
as
bad
as
it
really


is.
So
for
a
while,
that
suspicion
that


the
estimate
that's
announced
is
really


not
the
real
estimate
will
be
in
the


minds
of
some
people.
Not
in
my
mind


because
I
know
that
these
people
who


work
there,
the
professionals,
the


full-time
staff,
the
patriots
that
that


work
there,
the
the
the
loyal
Americans


who
are
just
extremely
diligent
in
doing


an
absolutely
objective
job,
those


people
are
still
in
place.
But
if
you


don't
have
my
level
of
knowledge
or
a


reasonable
level
of
knowledge
of
how


internally
BLS
works,
you're
going
to
be


subject
to
these
falsehoods
and


accusations
and
that
will
be
damaging.


that
will
reduce
investment
that
will


reduce
economic
activity
that
will
make


at
at
least
that
will
create
greater


uncertainty
about
what's
happening


inside
the
US
economy
policy
makers
will


be
less
less
clear
in
the
direction
that


they
take
so
that
there
will
be
a
time


when
we
need
to
recover
no matter
who's


appointed
I
hope
that
it
will
be
a


short-lived
time
and
my
guess
is
given


the
reputation
of
BLS
if
someone
you


know
really
reputable
is
appointed
then


yeah
I
don't
I
think
the
period
of


transition
will
be
that
long.

>> All
right.
Well,
Bill
Beach,
really


appreciate
you
coming
back
on
the
show.


Uh,
thank
you
so
much
for
for
being
on.

>> Thanks,
Bill.
That
was
great.

>> Oh,
thank
you
very
much
for
asking
me.

[Music]

>> Joe,
so
good
to
get
Bill
back
on
to
talk


about
this.
Really
the
perfect
guest.


There
are
so
many
I
guess
ironies


involved
in
this
whole
conversation.
The


big
one
of
course
is
this
idea
that
like


well
if
Trump
wants
to
convince
everyone


that
the
US
economy
is
doing
fantastic


and
job
growth
is
great
then
firing
the


head
of
statistics
and
having
everyone


distrust
you
know
the
subsequent
numbers


because
the
subsequent
head
might
be
a


political
appointee
who's
you
know
a


loyalist
to
Trump.
It
seems
like
you're


sort
of
shooting
yourself
in
the
foot.

The
other
huge
contradiction


is
that
he
says
Powell
is
too
late.


Right?
This
is
the
other
huge


contradiction
which
is
every
day
he


slams
Powell.
He's
like,
"Oh,
you're
too


late.
You
need
to
cut
rates."

>> Well,
if
the
job
numbers
were
weak,
then


I
could
understand
this
argument
to
some


extent.
Oh,
the
job.
But
he's
also


casting
aspersions
on
the
negative
jobs


numbers.
So,
how
is
Powell
too
late?


There's
I
mean,
this
is
it's
an


irretrievable
contradiction
in
the
two


criticisms,
both
of
the
Fed
and
the
BLS.

It's
definitely
a
contradiction.
I
don't


think
however
that
Trump
necessarily


draws
a
direct
connection
between
the


unemployment
rate
and
uh
interest
rates


as
well.
You
know,
he
seems
to
just
like


low
interest
rates

>> and
he
seems
to
perceive
that
low


interest
rates
are
basically
a
reward


for
an
improving
economy.
But
yes,

>> but
I
mean
lots
of
other
contradictions.


You're
absolutely
right.
So
another
one


is
this
idea
that
okay,
a
lot
of
the


weakness
came
through
on
the
revision


side.
the
revisions
are
mostly
coming


from
small
businesses
who
reply
late.


And
if
you
think
about
the
Trump


administration,
you
know,
they
always


sort
of
portray
themselves
as
a
a
good


business
environment
for
smaller


businesses
and
it
might
be
that
that's


an
area
that's
seeing
some
weakness.
I


thought
your
question
about
sort
of


internal
morale
and
as
Bill
said,
you


know,
an
agency
staffed
with
patriots,
I


mean,
I
just,
you
know,
is
BLS
going
to


be
continue
to
be
a
destination
for


people
who
are
patriots,
right?
Or
take


their
jobs
seriously
in
the
future
is
a


really
interesting
question.
Also,
the


idea
that
like
maybe
we
could
like
get


high
data
quality
for
like
$20
million,


given
how
much
that's
worth,
it's
just


like
drives
you
crazy
if
that's
really


all
it
took.
But
also
I
really
like
this


idea
that
it
would
have
to
always
be


done
in
parallel
with
the
current
thing


such
that
the
new
data
is
sort
of


provably
backwards
compatible
with
the


old
data
right
so
if
you're
going
to


adopt
a
new
methodology
you
need
some


allocation
to
run
two
surveys
at
once


etc
anyway
even
in
a
very
short


conversation
learned
a
lot
from
Bill

>> absolutely
I
do
think
it's
worth


pointing
out
that
there
are
other


statistical
agencies
in
the
world
that


are
experimenting
with
new
technology


for
data
sources
the
UK's
statistics


agency
in
particular
they're
going
start


using,
you
know,
price
scanning
data
for


CPI.

>> Wait,
have
you
heard
about
the
whole


thing
though
with
how
they
moved
the
O


andS
to
Wales
and
no
one
wanted
to
go


out
there
and
have
you
heard
about
this?

>> I
have
Wales
that
distribute
the
the


large
of
the
government
across
everyone


loves
that
idea.
Let's
not
have
it
all


be
concentrated
in
London.
They're
like,


"Okay,
we're
going
to
make
everyone
move


to
Wales
and
now
it's
a
lot
harder
for


the
ONS
to
hire
anyone."
Anyway,
it's


just
a
little
interesting
story
out.


Maybe
we'll
cover
it
at
some
point.

>> Why
people
don't
want
to
move
to
Wales.

>> No,
I
just
think
it's
interesting,


right?
Like
there's
I
intuitively
I
love


this
idea
of
like
or
why
should
all
of


the
government
spending
on
public
sector


stuff
at
the
federal
level
be
in
the


richest
city
in
the
UK
or
why
should
it


all
be
in
DC
etc.
And
so
this
idea
of


diff
anyway
it's
a
separate
thing.
It's


actually
some
interesting
challenges


arise
from
it.

>> Okay.
Shall
we
leave
it
there?

>> Yeah,
let's
leave
it
there.

>> This
has
been
another
episode
of
the
Odd


Thoughts
podcast.
I'm
Tracy
Aloway.
You


can
follow
me
at
Tracy
Aloway

>> and
I'm
Joe
Wisenthal.
You
can
follow
me


at
the
stalwart.
Follow
our
guest


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Beach.
He's
at
beachw453.


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[Music]

Yeah.

[Music]

Yeah.

[Music]