Data: keep this alive
Econbrowser: The War on Data Collection with a link to Businessweek:
Most U.S. economic data come from three federal agencies: the Census Bureau, the BEA, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They have a combined budget of $1.6 billion, less than 0.05 percent of President Barack Obama’s $3.7 trillion proposed budget. These agencies have always had to fight for more funding. Now they may have to fight just to keep their budgets intact. As part of $19 billion in nondefense discretionary cuts in Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) budget—recently passed by the House of Representatives—the agencies are likely to get less funding. More…
Trying to kill off data collection is like throwing over the chess board when checkmated, with the difference that real lives are at stake. That’s the mentality we are facing in “conservative” leadership. It’s self-destructive. Paul Ryan and company would navigate without instruments or feedback on where we are going. They have become so conservative they have declared war on reality, sparing nothing. Anyway, lets hope the media can keep an eye on this.
River of Asymmetry 