Doug Wissoker
@dwissoker.bsky.social
Economist. Nonresident Fellow in the Health Policy Division at the Urban Institute.
Reposted by Doug Wissoker
Statement from the largest economics association about the BLS firing
As context: AEA approximately never makes such public statements
This is a big deal
As context: AEA approximately never makes such public statements
This is a big deal
August 2, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Statement from the largest economics association about the BLS firing
As context: AEA approximately never makes such public statements
This is a big deal
As context: AEA approximately never makes such public statements
This is a big deal
Reposted by Doug Wissoker
"...escalates the President’s unprecedented attacks on the independence & integrity of the federal statistical system.
"The president seeks to blame someone for unwelcome economic news.
"...firing Dr. McEntarfer is without merit & undermines the credibility of federal economic statistics..."
"The president seeks to blame someone for unwelcome economic news.
"...firing Dr. McEntarfer is without merit & undermines the credibility of federal economic statistics..."
August 1, 2025 at 8:08 PM
"...escalates the President’s unprecedented attacks on the independence & integrity of the federal statistical system.
"The president seeks to blame someone for unwelcome economic news.
"...firing Dr. McEntarfer is without merit & undermines the credibility of federal economic statistics..."
"The president seeks to blame someone for unwelcome economic news.
"...firing Dr. McEntarfer is without merit & undermines the credibility of federal economic statistics..."
Reposted by Doug Wissoker
Obama on the starvation in Gaza…
July 27, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Obama on the starvation in Gaza…
Reposted by Doug Wissoker
forward.com/opinion/7575...
(My thoughts in the Forward about why anyone who cares about Israel or the Jewish people should be speaking out on Gaza)
(My thoughts in the Forward about why anyone who cares about Israel or the Jewish people should be speaking out on Gaza)
Gaza is starving. Where are the American Jewish leaders?
A fear of being labelled antisemitic still deters American Jews and Jewish institutions from taking a position that is morally correct.
forward.com
July 23, 2025 at 11:06 PM
forward.com/opinion/7575...
(My thoughts in the Forward about why anyone who cares about Israel or the Jewish people should be speaking out on Gaza)
(My thoughts in the Forward about why anyone who cares about Israel or the Jewish people should be speaking out on Gaza)
Reposted by Doug Wissoker
Read my latest:
Gaza is starving
Palestinians seeking food are being killed by the IDF. It's time for the entire world to say enough.
www.thehandbasket.co
July 22, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Read my latest:
Reposted by Doug Wissoker
If only he had a way to vote in accordance with his stated beliefs!
Hawley is a YES
But: "This has been an unhappy episode here in Congress, this effort to cut Medicaid... Frankly, my party needs to do some soul searching. If you want to be a working-class party, you’ve got to deliver for working-class people. You cannot take away health care from working people."
But: "This has been an unhappy episode here in Congress, this effort to cut Medicaid... Frankly, my party needs to do some soul searching. If you want to be a working-class party, you’ve got to deliver for working-class people. You cannot take away health care from working people."
Senate Republicans release 940-page bill for Trump's agenda as they race to vote this weekend www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...
June 28, 2025 at 7:08 PM
If only he had a way to vote in accordance with his stated beliefs!
Reposted by Doug Wissoker
This is a travesty & a nightmare. The US was a founder of @gavi.org. It lowers global vaccine costs, has vaccinated 1B children, & averted 19M deaths. This pull out will cost 100s of thousands of children's lives a year - and RFK Jr will be personally responsible.
www.politico.com/news/2025/06...
www.politico.com/news/2025/06...
RFK Jr. says US won’t donate to global vaccine effort
Kennedy ripped into Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, in a video address at its pledging summit.
www.politico.com
June 25, 2025 at 1:59 PM
This is a travesty & a nightmare. The US was a founder of @gavi.org. It lowers global vaccine costs, has vaccinated 1B children, & averted 19M deaths. This pull out will cost 100s of thousands of children's lives a year - and RFK Jr will be personally responsible.
www.politico.com/news/2025/06...
www.politico.com/news/2025/06...
Reposted by Doug Wissoker
Ok folks, we know work requirements reduce benefits without increasing work (cc: @chloeneast.bsky.social)
But who loses benefits and what happens if work requirements are reversed?
New evidence from linked SNAP-Medicaid data and a natural experiment in CT tell a concerning story...
Thread below 👇
But who loses benefits and what happens if work requirements are reversed?
New evidence from linked SNAP-Medicaid data and a natural experiment in CT tell a concerning story...
Thread below 👇
SNAP work requirements have biggest effect on those least able to work
Most people pushed out of SNAP in Connecticut didn’t find their way back in, even when work requirements were later reversed.
tobin.yale.edu
June 2, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Ok folks, we know work requirements reduce benefits without increasing work (cc: @chloeneast.bsky.social)
But who loses benefits and what happens if work requirements are reversed?
New evidence from linked SNAP-Medicaid data and a natural experiment in CT tell a concerning story...
Thread below 👇
But who loses benefits and what happens if work requirements are reversed?
New evidence from linked SNAP-Medicaid data and a natural experiment in CT tell a concerning story...
Thread below 👇
Reposted by Doug Wissoker
The tragic landslide in Blatten gives me the excuse to tell you the story of how we found out Ice Ages existed. It's a cool story and the most important bit is rather similar to what's happening now.
Aerial view westward over the Blatten deposit and the newly formed lake upstream! 🧊🌊
📷Via Christian Petit/Linkedin
📷Via Christian Petit/Linkedin
May 29, 2025 at 7:49 PM
The tragic landslide in Blatten gives me the excuse to tell you the story of how we found out Ice Ages existed. It's a cool story and the most important bit is rather similar to what's happening now.
Reposted by Doug Wissoker
Read National Academy of Sciences (NAS) members -- economist Chuck Manski, astrophysicist Ray Weyman, & climate scientist Ben Santer -- calling for NAS to more pro-actively defend & advance American science & American interests broadly.
#econsky
www.scientificamerican.com/article/stro...
#econsky
www.scientificamerican.com/article/stro...
March 11, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Read National Academy of Sciences (NAS) members -- economist Chuck Manski, astrophysicist Ray Weyman, & climate scientist Ben Santer -- calling for NAS to more pro-actively defend & advance American science & American interests broadly.
#econsky
www.scientificamerican.com/article/stro...
#econsky
www.scientificamerican.com/article/stro...
Reposted by Doug Wissoker
Say. This.
Walz: If you say you love freedom but you don't believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love is not freedom, it is privilege.
April 24, 2025 at 12:23 AM
Say. This.
Great turnout from Mom’s place.
An 89-year-old Holocaust survivor. A 93-year-old woman who never protested before. They're mad as hell at what Trump is doing to America, as they joined about 80 others in their senior complex in Haverford, Pa. for a "No Kings!" protest like no other
My new column www.inquirer.com/opinion/comm...
My new column www.inquirer.com/opinion/comm...
In Haverford, 80-somethings and 90-somethings take to the road to protest Trump
They saw the Holocaust, WWII and Vietnam, and these senior protesters on Philly's Main Line have seen enough of Trump.
www.inquirer.com
April 20, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Great turnout from Mom’s place.
Reposted by Doug Wissoker
The President of the United States fears only those who do not fear him.
April 18, 2025 at 1:41 PM
The President of the United States fears only those who do not fear him.
Reposted by Doug Wissoker
Last thing. BLS does amazing work to create timely, accurate info about America's working families & employers, a huge public good.
They are there for us & we need to show up for them.
If you are a labor researcher or care about employment, follow & join Friends of BLS.
www.friendsofbls.org/join
They are there for us & we need to show up for them.
If you are a labor researcher or care about employment, follow & join Friends of BLS.
www.friendsofbls.org/join
April 4, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Last thing. BLS does amazing work to create timely, accurate info about America's working families & employers, a huge public good.
They are there for us & we need to show up for them.
If you are a labor researcher or care about employment, follow & join Friends of BLS.
www.friendsofbls.org/join
They are there for us & we need to show up for them.
If you are a labor researcher or care about employment, follow & join Friends of BLS.
www.friendsofbls.org/join
Reposted by Doug Wissoker
NSDUH is one of the only ways we can track trends in substance use in the US. NSDUH is one of the only ways we can track adolescent mental health problems in the US.
We cannot afford to fly blind on these critical issues.
We cannot afford to fly blind on these critical issues.
The entire SAMHSA staff that manages the National Survey on Drug Use and Health has been terminated. This is the only survey that tracks mental health and substance use trends in the US.
We really are flying blind now.
We really are flying blind now.
April 1, 2025 at 7:54 PM
NSDUH is one of the only ways we can track trends in substance use in the US. NSDUH is one of the only ways we can track adolescent mental health problems in the US.
We cannot afford to fly blind on these critical issues.
We cannot afford to fly blind on these critical issues.
Reposted by Doug Wissoker
I have been hearing from people that they have been having issues accessing their Social Security accounts. INSTEAD of going to a branch which may be hundreds or 1Ks+ of miles away from you, call your members of Congress. They have constituent services that will help you regain access. Please share!
March 30, 2025 at 12:04 PM
I have been hearing from people that they have been having issues accessing their Social Security accounts. INSTEAD of going to a branch which may be hundreds or 1Ks+ of miles away from you, call your members of Congress. They have constituent services that will help you regain access. Please share!
Reposted by Doug Wissoker
As a Jewish person it is so uniquely painful to exist in a world where Jews are the ones making lists of people for the government to target.
Jewish groups targeted Columbia grad Mahmoud Khalil — then ICE arrested him
Pro-Israel Jewish groups targeted Mahmoud Khalil, a recent graduate of Columbia University, days before ICE agents arrested him.
forward.com
March 11, 2025 at 1:16 PM
As a Jewish person it is so uniquely painful to exist in a world where Jews are the ones making lists of people for the government to target.
Reposted by Doug Wissoker
Those who know me know I was highly critical of what I saw as some of the rhetorical excesses of the campus protests. Khalil and I wld probably get into a spat immediately. It's all the more important for people who believe as I do to say clearly, the protections of the law are for everyone.
A federal judge in NY has blocked any effort by the Trump administration to deport Mahmoud Khalil – whose arrest and imminent deportation Trump celebrated on Turth Social today — until further proceedings play out. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
March 10, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Those who know me know I was highly critical of what I saw as some of the rhetorical excesses of the campus protests. Khalil and I wld probably get into a spat immediately. It's all the more important for people who believe as I do to say clearly, the protections of the law are for everyone.
Reposted by Doug Wissoker
Now THIS is news www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...
Sale of Ellen Raskin Estate Reveals Unpublished 'Westing Game' Sequel
International Literary Properties has acquired Raskin’s estate and, along with it, two previously unpublished manuscripts by the late author, including a sequel to her Newbery Award–winning mystery, '...
www.publishersweekly.com
March 7, 2025 at 1:39 AM
Now THIS is news www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...
Reposted by Doug Wissoker
NEW: Peggy Carr, commissioner of the Nat'l Center on Education Statistics and a two-decade+ veteran at Educ Dept, was abruptly put on leave today. She runs NAEP, the national math and reading tests seen as important marker of educational progress www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Courts rule on Trump administration initiatives including DOGE, DEI
The latest news on President Donald Trump’s return to the White House and the new Congress.
www.washingtonpost.com
February 24, 2025 at 11:11 PM
NEW: Peggy Carr, commissioner of the Nat'l Center on Education Statistics and a two-decade+ veteran at Educ Dept, was abruptly put on leave today. She runs NAEP, the national math and reading tests seen as important marker of educational progress www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Doug Wissoker
Now this, I can co-sign.
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." As the foundation of #democracy in America crumbles and the vulnerable are under attack from a rogue administration, we, the people, are asking our former presidents to "Say something!”
February 19, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Now this, I can co-sign.
Today at 4:15 at the CFPB, 1700 G Street NW in DC
February 10, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Today at 4:15 at the CFPB, 1700 G Street NW in DC
Reposted by Doug Wissoker
The deadline has been extended until noon on Feb 10. Thanks to everyone who has signed on. Over 2,400 organizations and individuals to date.
SIGN-ON Letter to Congressional leadership expressing concern about the recent incidents involving federal data being selectively removed from agency websites. Please consider signing on. Thank you.
We are accepting signatures until noon (ET), Friday, February 7.
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
We are accepting signatures until noon (ET), Friday, February 7.
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Protecting and Preserving Public Access to Federal Data
February **, 2025
Re: Protecting and Preserving Public Access to Federal Data
Dear Majority Leader Thune, Minority Leader Schumer, Speaker Johnson, and Minority Leader Jeffries,
We write to express o...
docs.google.com
February 8, 2025 at 1:53 AM
The deadline has been extended until noon on Feb 10. Thanks to everyone who has signed on. Over 2,400 organizations and individuals to date.
Reposted by Doug Wissoker
If it's true that future collection of Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data "will cease," this would be a staggering loss to the global community. 1/6
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
February 6, 2025 at 4:53 AM
If it's true that future collection of Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data "will cease," this would be a staggering loss to the global community. 1/6
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
Reposted by Doug Wissoker
Gannett, owner of the Des Moines Register, won’t publicly commit to paying legal costs for Ann Seltzer, the pollster being sued by Trump.
This is ominous, especially in light of the capitulation last week by Disney/ABC, which is vastly better resourced than Gannett.
www.nytimes.com/2024/12/19/u...
This is ominous, especially in light of the capitulation last week by Disney/ABC, which is vastly better resourced than Gannett.
www.nytimes.com/2024/12/19/u...
December 20, 2024 at 12:00 PM
Gannett, owner of the Des Moines Register, won’t publicly commit to paying legal costs for Ann Seltzer, the pollster being sued by Trump.
This is ominous, especially in light of the capitulation last week by Disney/ABC, which is vastly better resourced than Gannett.
www.nytimes.com/2024/12/19/u...
This is ominous, especially in light of the capitulation last week by Disney/ABC, which is vastly better resourced than Gannett.
www.nytimes.com/2024/12/19/u...