Economist: Biden Jobs Chart Had 'Gigantic Error'

Welcome back!

Here’s your must-read news this morning:

• Biden jobs chart's “gigantic error”

• ChatGPT-5 released

• Trump signs debanking order

I’ve got all the details for you, so let’s dive in.

— Josh

MARKETS

💰 Steve Moore: Biden Jobs Chart Had 'Gigantic Error,' Trump Right to Fire BLS Head

The Scoop: Economist Steve Moore, speaking alongside President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, shared new Census Bureau data on Thursday that suggested the Biden administration overestimated job growth by 1.5 million jobs in its final two years.

The Details:

• Moore unveiled unpublished Census Bureau data, indicating that the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) overstated job creation by 1.5 million during Biden’s last two years, prompting calls for greater accuracy.

• Trump fired BLS head Erika McEntarfer after the agency reported weaker-than-expected job growth of 73,000 jobs in July, missing forecasts of 109,000, and revised down May and June employment figures by 250,000 jobs.

• Moore showcased encouraging data, noting a $1,174 rise in inflation-adjusted median family income from January to June 2025.

• Comparing administrations, Moore highlighted a $6,400 real income gain for families in Trump’s first term (2020) versus $551 under Biden, attributing the difference to Trump’s economic policies.

What’s Next: Trump is actively seeking a new BLS chief to ensure accurate economic reporting and plans to announce a replacement in the coming days, with some conservatives, such as Steve Bannon, urging the White House to select E.J. Antoni, the chief economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation, for the role.

Markets Roundup

🏦 Economy & Policy

• ⭐ Editor’s Pick: Trump nominated Stephen Miran, a top White House economic adviser, to temporarily fill a Federal Reserve governor vacancy left by Adriana Kugler. (CNBC)

• Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller has emerged as a leading candidate to replace Jerome Powell as Fed chair. (BBG)

• U.S. jobless claims rose slightly to 233,000 for the week ending August 2, while second-quarter nonfarm productivity increased at a 2.3% annualized rate, signaling improved economic efficiency. (INV)

• JPMorgan Chase economists predict the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by a quarter point at each of its next four meetings through January 2026. (RTS)

📈 Stock Market

• ⭐ Editor’s Pick: Toyota slashed its annual operating profit forecast by 16% to 3.2 trillion yen ($21.7 billion), citing a $9.5 billion hit from U.S. tariffs, despite reporting a first-quarter operating profit of 1.17 trillion yen and revenue of 12.25 trillion yen. (TCP)

• Eli Lilly surpassed Wall Street's Q2 expectations with $15.56 billion in revenue and $6.31 earnings per share. (YF)

• Gilead Sciences reported a 1.8% year-over-year revenue increase to $7.08 billion and earnings per share of $2.01 for Q2, surpassing Wall Street estimates. (ZCK)

• ConocoPhillips reported Q2 earnings of $2.0 billion, or $1.56 per share, down from $2.3 billion, or $1.98 per share, in the prior year. (RTTN)

🏢 Industry & Deals

• ⭐ Editor’s Pick: Skydance Media, led by David Ellison, finalized an $8 billion merger with Paramount Global. (RTS)

• Trump demanded the resignation of Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, citing national security concerns over his alleged investments in Chinese firms linked to the military. (FBN)

• The Fox Corporation will launch Fox One, a $19.99-per-month streaming service combining its news, sports, and entertainment content, including Fox News. (DL)

• Disney and Lucasfilm settled a wrongful termination lawsuit with actress Gina Carano, who was fired from "The Mandalorian" in 2021 over her social media posts. (NYP)

💵 Energy & Commodities

• ⭐ Editor’s Pick: Global food commodity prices surged in July to a two-year high, fueled by rising meat and vegetable oil costs, said the Food and Agriculture Organization. (RTS)

• U.S. tariffs on Swiss one-kilo gold bars drove gold prices above $3,400 per ounce. (KIT)

• EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin confirmed the termination of a $7 billion Biden-era solar energy grant program. (X)

• Princeton NuEnergy opened the U.S.’s first commercial-scale battery recycling facility in South Carolina, achieving over 97% yield in producing critical battery minerals. (IE)

🌕 Crypto

• ⭐ Editor’s Pick: SEC and Ripple ended their five-year legal battle, dropping appeals and upholding 2023 ruling that XRP is not a security for retail sales. (TB)

• Trump signed an executive order permitting 401(k) plans to include digital assets, potentially reshaping retirement investment options. (WSJ)

• Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss invested in American Bitcoin Corp., a mining firm co-founded by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump. (BBG)

• Tether acquired a minority stake in Spanish crypto platform Bit2Me and is spearheading a €30 million ($35 million) funding round. (TE)

TECH

💻 OpenAI Debuts ChatGPT-5, Elon Musk Takes Swipe at Latest Model

The Scoop: OpenAI on Thursday launched GPT-5, its new flagship AI model, powering the next generation of ChatGPT with enhanced reasoning and task-completion capabilities, marking a shift toward agent-like AI systems.

The Details:

• GPT-5 combines the reasoning of OpenAI’s o-series with the speed of its GPT series, featuring a real-time router to optimize responses.

• Excels in coding (74.9% on SWE-bench Verified), health-related queries (1.6% hallucination rate on HealthBench), and creative tasks like design and writing.

• Slightly outperforms competitors like Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.1 and Google DeepMind’s Gemini 2.5 Pro in coding and PhD-level science questions (89.4% on GPQA Diamond), but lags in some areas like retail navigation (81.1% on Tau-bench).

• Available to all free ChatGPT users as the default model, with higher limits for Plus ($20/month) and unlimited access for Pro ($200/month) subscribers.

• xAI CEO Elon Musk said xAI’s Grok 4 Heavy outperforms GPT-5, citing a 44.4% score on Humanity’s Last Exam compared to GPT-5 Pro’s 42%.

• Musk warned Microsoft’s Satya Nadella that OpenAI will “eat” Microsoft alive on the day GPT-5 launched.

• Musk also claimed Grok 4 Heavy was “smarter two weeks ago than GPT-5 is now” and has since improved further.

What’s Next: GPT-5’s reception will shape perceptions of AI progress, influencing Big Tech, investors, and regulators. Its real-world performance, especially in coding and creative tasks, will determine if it sets a new standard for AI. Meanwhile, Musk teased xAI’s upcoming Grok 5, set for release before year-end 2025, describing it as “crushingly good.”

Tech Roundup

🧠 AI

• ⭐ Editor’s Pick: UK Labour MP Mark Sewards introduced an AI-powered chat bot version of himself, sparking backlash from voters. (YEP)

• Trump’s Truth Social launched Truth Search AI, powered by Perplexity, relying on conservative-leaning sources like Fox News to counter left wing bias. (ENG)

• Tesla disbanded its Dojo supercomputer team, ending in-house AI chip development for self-driving technology and reassigning workers to other projects. (TC)

• Google’s Gemini AI chatbot suffers a meltdown, calling itself “a disgrace” after failing a task. (BI)

🤖 Hardware & Robotics

• ⭐ Editor’s Pick: Beijing’s high-tech district opens China’s first all-service robot store, showcasing humanoid robots for tasks like pharmacy stocking and bartending. (ABC)

• NASA astronaut Jonny Kim, orbiting on the ISS, controlled four robots to navigate a Mars-like terrain in Germany, testing autonomous problem-solving for future missions. (SP)

• Samsung launched a wheeled, screen-equipped companion robot for senior care in South Korea, aiding elderly with medication reminders. (MBN)

• A German robot arm, developed by TUM, assisted humans at a Munich construction site, precisely placing bricks to build a wall. (IE)

🚀 Defense & Space

• ⭐ Editor’s Pick: In a major shift in strategy, Israel’s Mossad recruited Iranian dissidents to sabotage Iranian air defenses in the initial hours of its June 2025 strike, a new investigation revealed. (PRO)

• Ukraine’s military unveiled a ground robot armed with a missile system, the first of its kind to target Russian aircraft, enhancing frontline air defense. (BI)

• China’s lunar lander successfully completes touchdown and takeoff tests, advancing plans for a 2030 crewed moon mission. (SP)

• U.S. Army’s laser weapons, deemed “pretty mature” by a senior official, show potential for integration into next-generation missile defense systems. (BD)

💰 Venture Capital & Deals

• ⭐ Editor’s Pick: Meta acquires WaveForms AI, a startup working on AI that understands and mimics emotion in audio, after its $40 million seed round led by a16z in December. (TI)

• German AI startup n8n is poised to raise hundreds of millions of euros led by Accel at a $2.3 billion pre-money valuation, up from $350 million four months ago. (BBG)

• Decart, an AI startup focused on real-time video generation, secures $100 million in a Sequoia Capital-led Series B at a $3.1 billion valuation. (SA)

• New York-based Casap, focused on automating bank disputes and fraud prevention, raises $25 million in a Series A led by Emergence Capital. (FOR)

FREEDOM

🏦 Trump Signs Order Cracking Down on Debanking of Conservatives

The Scoop: President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday to combat debanking, ensuring banks cannot deny services based on political or religious beliefs, reinforcing fairness in America’s financial system.

The Details:

• The order empowers federal regulators to scrutinize banks for practices that exclude customers due to political or religious views, authorizing fines, disciplinary actions, or Justice Department referrals for civil action.

• Mandates the elimination of the subjective “reputational risk” standard within 180 days, removing a regulatory barrier that banks criticized as enabling discriminatory practices.

• This week, Trump highlighted personal experiences of alleged discrimination by JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, who denied closing accounts for political reasons.

• Major banking groups, including the Bank Policy Institute and American Bankers Association, praised the order for curbing regulatory overreach and providing clarity to serve more customers.

What’s Next: This executive order sets a strong precedent for protecting financial access, with regulators expected to rigorously enforce compliance. The move strengthens confidence among conservatives and industries like crypto, while signaling further regulatory reforms to prioritize economic freedom.

Freedom Roundup

🏛️ Policy & Culture

• ⭐ Editor’s Pick: Trump signed an executive order tightening federal grant approvals, requiring evaluation by his political appointees to ensure alignment with administration priorities. (INV)

• FCC Chairman Brendan Carr warned DISH Network that failure to eliminate its DEI policies could trigger an investigation. (DC)

• Penske Truck Rental faced backlash for criticizing the DHS's use of its vehicles in a Los Angeles immigration raid, drawing comparisons to Bud Light. (FED)

• Oklahoma will end in-state tuition for illegal aliens following a Department of Justice lawsuit. (OAG)

• A former Lake Superior College professor, fired for refusing Minnesota’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, is suing Gov. Tim Walz (D), alleging violations of his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. (CF)

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