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Platypus Economics with Justin Wolfers
Justin Wolfers
From world events to everyday decisions, economics explains it all. Platypus Economics makes it clear, useful, and actually fun.
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Can’t tell30% confidence8 sourcesSep 10, 2026The Trump agenda includes moving to a world in which the White House lies rather than cherry picking truths.Said by AThe claim is the poster's political characterization of Trump's agenda as a move toward a world where the White House lies rather than cherry-picks truths, which is opinion rather than a checkable factual statement. The sources document related data-manipulation allegations (the BLS firing, the DHS estimate dispute) but do not establish any stated agenda of lying in place of cherry-picking, and the claim faithfully reflects the passage.Can’t tell30% confidence5 sourcesSep 10, 2026The Heritage Foundation has not told the truth in decades.Said by AThe claim is a sweeping, opinion-style characterization of Heritage Foundation's honesty over decades, which cannot be checked as a literal factual statement. The extraction faithfully reflects the post's wording ('is a joke that hasn't told the truth in decades'), and sources show mixed views: a Snopes check rated a Heritage voter-fraud database claim mostly true, while MBFC rates its factual reporting mixed and Krugman calls it a fraud.Can’t tell45% confidence8 sourcesSep 10, 2026Larry Kudlow, Stephen Moore, and Pete Navarro have lied in their capacity as economic experts.Said by AThe claim is a sweeping accusation that three named economic advisers lied, which is partly opinion and partly an imputation of intent that the sources do not establish. Fact-checkers rated some Kudlow statements false (PolitiFact, FactCheck.org) and a columnist called Moore's statements lies, but none establishes that these three knowingly lied in their expert capacity, so the claim is not checkable as stated.Can’t tell30% confidence5 sourcesAug 28, 2026The Census Bureau has released propaganda for the first time in its history.Said by AThe only source that calls the Census Bureau's report 'propaganda' and says it is unlike any in the Bureau's history is the claimant's own newsletter (Platypus Economics), which cannot corroborate the claim. Independent coverage (TPM, 2026) dismisses the underlying 2020 miscount allegation as baseless but does not address whether the Bureau released propaganda or whether that would be a first; the claim's 'propaganda' label is an opinion characterization.Can’t tell50% confidence6 sourcesAug 28, 2026Senator Lisa Murkowski stated she would not vote in favor of the nomination of EJ Antoni for Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner.Said by ASources show Murkowski voiced 'extreme reservations' about Antoni, called his past comments disqualifying, and declined to meet him, but none records her saying she would not vote for his nomination. The claim's specific vote statement, which the post attributes to her, is therefore not confirmed, though the sources support her opposition in spirit.Reported in the post, not stated as its own.Can’t tell50% confidence5 sourcesAug 28, 2026The acting Census Bureau director brought in outside think-tank staff to write the report on noncitizen voting in the 2020 election.Said by AMultiple sources (NPR, Wired, Bloomberg, Justin Fox) support that staff from the America First Policy Institute, a Trump-aligned think tank, worked on or were detailed to the Census report, and that political appointees were involved. None of the sources says the acting Census Bureau director brought them in, so that specific attribution, which is the claim's point, is not addressed.Can’t tell30% confidence10 sourcesAug 28, 2026A report alleges 1,100 fraudulent votes in Arizona during the 2020 election.None of the sources mention the Census Bureau report or its 1,100-vote figure, so the claim that a report alleges 1,100 fraudulent votes cannot be checked. The sources do show that broader claims of fraud in Arizona's 2020 election were investigated and rejected, which is context rather than a ruling on this specific figure.