White House economic adviser says Fed researchers should be punished

[Zorro]

Kevin Hassett, a top economic adviser to President Donald Trump, assailed a Federal Reserve study, calling it an “embarrassment.”

Kevin Hassett, a top economic adviser to President Donald Trump, on Wednesday assailed a study from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York finding that U.S. companies shoulder most of the costs of tariffs, calling for the central bank to punish the researchers behind the work, which he characterized as an “embarrassment.”

“What they’ve done is they put out a conclusion, which has created a lot of news, that’s highly partisan, based on analysis that wouldn’t be accepted in a first-semester econ class,” Hassett, who heads the White House’s National Economic Council, said Wednesday on CNBC.

The comments represent the latest attack on the Federal Reserve from an administration that has repeatedly sought to bully the central bank, with the president himself repeatedly attacking Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell for not slashing interest rates.

The Justice Department is separately examining whether Powell misled the Senate over the summer in testimony that touched on a $2.5 billion renovation of the Fed’s headquarters. Powell has forcefully pushed back against the probe, calling it a pretext to undermine the central bank’s independence on monetary policy.

https://wapo.st/4bXQSHX

[SunSeeker]

1. Killing the messenger, as usual. Hassett and Trump are ones who should be punished.

But there can be no justice by the current Department of Justice. It will be up to the voters.

[CousinIT]

2. That smirking shithead wants to punish Fed researchers for telling the truth.

Got it.

[Sailingdiver]

3. Myriad of studies show same result

Consumers are paying the tariffs.

I know that's not what the morons are telling their cult.

They are insane.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. Maddowblog-White House eyes punishments for economists who told the truth about tariffs, consumers

Donald Trump’s top economist didn’t just disagree with consensus economic research, he also suggested he wants to see researchers “disciplined.”

Link to tweet

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/white-house-eyes-punishments-for-economists-who-told-the-truth-about-tariffs-consumers

Unfortunately for the White House, almost a year after Trump advanced his tariffs agenda, experts have scrutinized the evidence and concluded that their predictions were correct. From the Congressional Budget Office to international scholars to the National Bureau of Economic Research, all of the available data points in the same direction: American consumers, not foreign companies, are paying more as a result of the Republican president’s policy.

Last week, still more evidence emerged. Research published by economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Columbia University found that, through last fall, 90% of the economic burden from Trump’s tariffs fell on Americans, not foreigners.....

The trouble is, Team Trump doesn’t want economists and researchers to make reality clear.

Hassett on new study from NY Fed showing 90% of tariff burden is being shouldered by US firms & consumers: "The paper is an embarrassment. It's I think the worst paper I've ever seen in the history of the Fed system. The people associated with this paper should presumably be disciplined."

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-02-18T14:18:16.156Z

....Justin Wolfers, an economist at the University of Michigan, mocked Hassett’s on-air comments, writing via Bluesky, “Happy Kevin wants economists to be disciplined by their bosses for contradicting the regime’s understanding of The Truth.”

Paul Krugman released a related video on the subject, making a compelling case that Hassett’s call to discipline economists was “thuggish.” Krugman added, “That’s incredible. That’s like saying, ‘If you carefully study the data and come up with results that we in the Trump administration don’t like, we will punish you personally — or we will try to.”

In all likelihood, if the White House were serious about targeting the researchers, those efforts would fail. But as Krugman concluded, the public threat is itself “horrible.”

The war on dissent is ongoing, and there’s every reason to believe it’s getting worse.