Why questions about the reliability of federal economic data have become unavoidable

It didn’t generate a lot of attention, but Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell was asked at a press conference last month about “cutbacks” in federal economic statistics collection, and his response struck me as interesting. https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/questions-reliability-federal-economic-data-become-unavoidable-rcna217217