Economist Purged from Chicago Fed for Criticizing ‘Defund the Police’

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago ended its work with University of Chicago economics professor Harald Uhlig after he was targeted by left-wing peers for criticizing the Black Lives Matter movement’s call to “defund the police.”

As Breitbart News reported earlier this week, Uhlig had tweeted that he supported the Black Lives Matter movement, but that the “defund the police” slogan was counter-productive. That provoked critics to scour his past blogs and tweets.

Too bad, but #blacklivesmatter per its core organization @Blklivesmatter just torpedoed itself, with its full-fledged support of #defundthepolice : "We call for a national defunding of police." Suuuure. They knew this is non-starter, and tried a sensible Orwell 1984 of saying,

— Harald Uhlig (@haralduhlig) June 9, 2020

Though he apologized for some of his past language on controversial political issues, Uhlig’s critics were not satisfied. They include former Fed Chair Janet Yellen and Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman of the New York Times.

According to the Chicago Fed, its decision to part ways with Uhlig “reflects our determination that his views are not compatible with the Chicago Fed’s values and our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.”

In addition, Uhlig was suspended as editor of the Journal of Political Economy because a former student, weighing in during the debate over his views on Black Lives Matter, accused him of mocking Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in class in 2014.

@haralduhlig, I sat in your class in Winter 2014:
(1) You talked about scheduling a class on MLK Day
(2) You made fun of Dr. King and people honoring him
(3) You sarcastically asked me in front of everyone whether I was offended
Here is the receipt: @JustinWolfers @and_joy_

— Bocar A. Ba (@bocar_a) June 12, 2020

A poll released Friday revealed that 64% of Americans oppose plans to “defund the police,” but 55% of Democrats approve.

The campaign against Uhlig was led by University of Michigan economics professor Justin Wolfers, a Times contributor.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His new book, RED NOVEMBER, is available for pre-order. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

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