Bushies decide to close economic indicators website.

[techs]

http://www.computerworld.com/a...9063022&intsrc=hm_list

Sign of a faltering economy? Feds to close economic indicator site
EconomicIndicators.gov will be shuttered on March 1 because of 'budgetary constraints.'

February 15, 2008 (Computerworld) It may soon be harder to track whether the U.S. is in fact sliding into a recession with the closing of the U.S. Department of Commerce's EconomicIndicators.gov Web site. The site provides a public portal to key economic indicator data from the government.

The department's Economics and Statistics Administration announced that the site, which provides daily updates of key economic indicators released by the government's Bureau of Economic Analysis and the U.S. Census Bureau, will be shut down on March 1 because of "budgetary constraints."

Amanda Terkel, deputy research director at the Center for American Progess, noted that the site has been particularly useful because people can sign up to receive e-mails as soon as new economic data across government agencies becomes available. "While the data will still be available online at various federal Web sites, it will be less readily accessible to the public," she added.




I have said it in this forum time and time again that the Bushies have stopped publishing economic, social and tax data to hide information from Americans and make it more difficult to see what they have done to America.
Yet another case of it.

 

[compuwiz1]

They don't want to tell the American people the truth and cause fear based reaction, further slowing down the economy. I guess they feel we are better off being mushrooms, kept in the dark and fed bullshit.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

lol. All that site does is centralize information readily available from the Census and BEA websites . It's not as if the data will no longer be available publicly. Does it make it harder? Sure, it makes it harder for people that can't click their left-mouse button a couple of extra times.

iow, it's pretty much redundant anyway. Nothing is being hidden away though. But I guess any ridiculous claim where Bush is involved is fodder for a conspiracy theory today.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken
lol. All that site does is centralize information readily available from the Census and BEA websites . It's not as if the data will no longer be available publicly. Does it make it harder? Sure, it makes it harder for people that can't click their left-mouse button a couple of extra times.

iow, it's pretty much redundant anyway. Nothing is being hidden away though. But I guess any ridiculous claim where Bush is involved is fodder for a conspiracy theory today.

Next time your boss asks for a report, tell him that you aren't going to make one and that it's just a few extra clicks to look around your financial databases for the same info and see what he says.

Wouldn't you be upset if your bank account no longer had a summary of your balance? Oh, but you can find one by just doing a few more additions of each purchase you've made, so what's the big deal?

Anyway, Bernanke said no recession. I believe him!

 

[OrByte]

the OP is borderline paranoia...

..but it is paranoia well earned.

That is what happens when you run a sh!tty administration from the top down...

 

[RightIsWrong]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken
lol. All that site does is centralize information readily available from the Census and BEA websites . It's not as if the data will no longer be available publicly. Does it make it harder? Sure, it makes it harder for people that can't click their left-mouse button a couple of extra times.

iow, it's pretty much redundant anyway. Nothing is being hidden away though. But I guess any ridiculous claim where Bush is involved is fodder for a conspiracy theory today.

Next time your boss asks for a report, tell him that you aren't going to make one and that it's just a few extra clicks to look around your financial databases for the same info and see what he says.

Wouldn't you be upset if your bank account no longer had a summary of your balance? Oh, but you can find one by just doing a few more additions of each purchase you've made, so what's the big deal?

Very good rebuttal. I hope that you don't wait for or expect any kind of reasoned reply. I learned in another thread that TLC is code for Totally Lacking Cognizance.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken
lol. All that site does is centralize information readily available from the Census and BEA websites . It's not as if the data will no longer be available publicly. Does it make it harder? Sure, it makes it harder for people that can't click their left-mouse button a couple of extra times.

iow, it's pretty much redundant anyway. Nothing is being hidden away though. But I guess any ridiculous claim where Bush is involved is fodder for a conspiracy theory today.

Next time your boss asks for a report, tell him that you aren't going to make one and that it's just a few extra clicks to look around your financial databases for the same info and see what he says.

Wouldn't you be upset if your bank account no longer had a summary of your balance? Oh, but you can find one by just doing a few more additions of each purchase you've made, so what's the big deal?

Anyway, Bernanke said no recession. I believe him!

If my boss asked me to provide a report like that I would. And if he came back and said that due to budget retraints that report is being obsoleted, which is the case here, I'd do that too.

Duplicating this webpage that's going down is a mater of saving links to the relevant reporting sections from the Census and BEA websites. It's not as if this is any great crushing blow to anything. How many people in here even knew of the exitance of that website before this thread came around? Maybe Legend Killer did. I doubt many others though.

The point that I'm responding to is that the OP attempts to pose this as some great conspiracy by the Bush admin and that's just whack. Great example of BDS though.

:thumbsup:

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Originally posted by: RightIsWrong

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken
lol. All that site does is centralize information readily available from the Census and BEA websites . It's not as if the data will no longer be available publicly. Does it make it harder? Sure, it makes it harder for people that can't click their left-mouse button a couple of extra times.

iow, it's pretty much redundant anyway. Nothing is being hidden away though. But I guess any ridiculous claim where Bush is involved is fodder for a conspiracy theory today.

Next time your boss asks for a report, tell him that you aren't going to make one and that it's just a few extra clicks to look around your financial databases for the same info and see what he says.

Wouldn't you be upset if your bank account no longer had a summary of your balance? Oh, but you can find one by just doing a few more additions of each purchase you've made, so what's the big deal?

Very good rebuttal. I hope that you don't wait for or expect any kind of reasoned reply. I learned in another thread that TLC is code for Totally Lacking Cognizance.

Actually, not a very good rebuttal. The analogies were weak and easily countered. But I understand your bias and why it would prompt you to contribute absolutely nothing to this thread except for fluffing another forum member.

 

[IronWing]

Why not? This is the same administration that stopped collecting the information needed to track the money supply when it became clear to everyone the the fed has been engaging in gross monetary inflation.

 

[GrGr]

Nothing may be hidden. Yet. But it is another spoke in the wheel for those trying to analyze what is going on, as it will slow down their work now that this service is taken away.

 

[NoStateofMind]

Yeah, just like the M3 reports. The same reason was given.

 

[LegendKiller]

Originally posted by: ironwing
Why not? This is the same administration that stopped collecting the information needed to track the money supply when it became clear to everyone the the fed has been engaging in gross monetary inflation.

No, the metrics just aren't accurate, especially considering how much is outstanding in certain areas of the capital markets and such. It's a worthless figure.

If it were engaged in such a thing then the dollar would be worth a lot less than it is. All of the variability in the current trading of the dollar isn't accounted for in inflation, but also includes differentials in interest rates and economic growth. The market as a whole cannot be fooled, so the situation isn't as bad as you say.

 

[trenchfoot]

the bush "government" has wasted billions of our tax $ in allowing obscene overcharging and other contractor chicanery in the "war against terror" in the middle east.

the bush government has wasted huge sums of tax dollars subsidizing the poor destitute folks running the oil industry and those near bankrupt business people that gouge us through the military industrial complex.

the bush government has gutted essential social services and burdened the middle class and the poor with paying an increasingly disproportionate amount of taxes every successive year they have been in power. they've been continually hacking away at disabled veteran's benefits to feed their profiteering war machine which creates even more disabled veterans by the ward-full's.

and yet they find it impossible to keep one small lousy website up that gives us taxpayers a better look at what our economy is doing?:roll::thumbsdown:

 

[GroundedSailor]

This website was one of Forbes magazine Best of The Web.

It was used by a large number of public economists to get govt data. Just another example of this administration trying to hide bad news from the public.

http://63.240.4.179/bow/b2c/review.jhtml?id=7136

f you don't want to pay the fees for The Dismal Scientist, this is your next best bet for up-to-date U.S. economic data. This site is maintained by the Economics and Statistics Administration and combines data collected by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, like GDP and net imports and exports, and the Census Bureau, like retail sales and durable goods shipments. The site simply links to the relevant department's Web site. This might not seem like a big deal, but doing it yourself--say, trying to find retail sales data on the Census Bureau's site--is such an exercise in futility that it will convince you why this portal is necessary. Site may soon offer data delivery to wireless devices.

BEST: Have new data e-mailed or faxed to you as it is released.

WORST: As with most government sites, a lot of the reports are just uploaded text files.

Come to think about it, the real cost of the website which is the work done to produce the data, is still being done (as the data is probably available spread out over the multitude of Govt websites). The cost of putting it up on the web is tiny in comparison - after all how much does it cost to maintain a website?

And if they want to save money, they could start by shutting down Barney's website:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/barney/

 

[Robor]

Bah, you GWB critics are gonna have your feet in your mouths when the history books are written!

/sarcasm

 

[Jhhnn]

From Legend Killer-

The market as a whole cannot be fooled, so the situation isn't as bad as you say.

Heh. I'm sure that sentiment was raised by many, just prior to the crash of '29...

You are right in the sense that the market can't be fooled forever...

Let's face it, if the market can't be fooled at all, then we wouldn't have the current liquidity crisis...

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: Jhhnn
From Legend Killer-

The market as a whole cannot be fooled, so the situation isn't as bad as you say.

Heh. I'm sure that sentiment was raised by many, just prior to the crash of '29...

You are right in the sense that the market can't be fooled forever...

Let's face it, if the market can't be fooled at all, then we wouldn't have the current liquidity crisis...

Or the worst january in recent memory or 2000 crash, etc.

 

[LegendKiller]

Originally posted by: Jhhnn
From Legend Killer-

The market as a whole cannot be fooled, so the situation isn't as bad as you say.

Heh. I'm sure that sentiment was raised by many, just prior to the crash of '29...

You are right in the sense that the market can't be fooled forever...

Let's face it, if the market can't be fooled at all, then we wouldn't have the current liquidity crisis...

The liquidity crisis is really a joke. Most of it's deleveraging, the rest is people taking advantage of the situation to demand a large premium, regardless of credit quality.

 

[techs]

Originally posted by: GroundedSailor
This website was one of Forbes magazine Best of The Web.

It was used by a large number of public economists to get govt data. Just another example of this administration trying to hide bad news from the public.

http://63.240.4.179/bow/b2c/review.jhtml?id=7136

f you don't want to pay the fees for The Dismal Scientist, this is your next best bet for up-to-date U.S. economic data. This site is maintained by the Economics and Statistics Administration and combines data collected by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, like GDP and net imports and exports, and the Census Bureau, like retail sales and durable goods shipments. The site simply links to the relevant department's Web site. This might not seem like a big deal, but doing it yourself--say, trying to find retail sales data on the Census Bureau's site--is such an exercise in futility that it will convince you why this portal is necessary. Site may soon offer data delivery to wireless devices.

BEST: Have new data e-mailed or faxed to you as it is released.

WORST: As with most government sites, a lot of the reports are just uploaded text files.

Come to think about it, the real cost of the website which is the work done to produce the data, is still being done (as the data is probably available spread out over the multitude of Govt websites). The cost of putting it up on the web is tiny in comparison - after all how much does it cost to maintain a website?

And if they want to save money, they could start by shutting down Barney's website:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/barney/

Truly one of the great ironic posts I have ever seen.
Shutting down the economic indicators site to save money, yet putting Barney the Bush dog on the web at government expense.
Classic.

 

[SickBeast]

I have a feeling that Bush is hiding an enormous deficit from the American people.

We had something like that happen here in Ontario. A Conservative government under Mike Harris hid $billions in debt from everyone, and then on their way out it was discovered. The new government inherited the problem and was forced to raise taxes to compensate.

I'm guessing that they do it to try to make the other party look bad. *shrug*

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Originally posted by: GroundedSailor
And if they want to save money, they could start by shutting down Barney's website:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/barney/

Hasn't been updated since October 2007?

lol. Doesn't seem like a good example.

 

[NoStateofMind]

Originally posted by: SickBeast

I'm guessing that they do it to try to make the other party look bad. *shrug*

From what I understand that is exactly what happened after the tech bubble collapsed. The FED propped up the market with low interest rates. Instead of Bush taking the hit for the policies that were instituted while Clinton was in office, Bush wanted to continue the artificial interests rates so he didn't look bad. Now we are at a point of a real slowdown. Bush may squeak out of the harshest part only to hand it off to the new president. Partisan politics suck.

 

[NoStateofMind]

Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken

Originally posted by: GroundedSailor
And if they want to save money, they could start by shutting down Barney's website:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/barney/

Hasn't been updated since October 2007?

lol. Doesn't seem like a good example.

The fact that the presidents dog even has a website is absurd!

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon

Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken

Originally posted by: GroundedSailor
And if they want to save money, they could start by shutting down Barney's website:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/barney/

Hasn't been updated since October 2007?

lol. Doesn't seem like a good example.

The fact that the presidents dog even has a website is absurd!

It's a webpage. And, unfortunately, there are probably a lot more people interested in the dog than economic indicators.

 

[jman19]

Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken

Originally posted by: GroundedSailor
And if they want to save money, they could start by shutting down Barney's website:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/barney/

Hasn't been updated since October 2007?

lol. Doesn't seem like a good example.

Actually, it seems silly to me to cry poverty while wasting money elsewhere.