Much of the data for economic analysis comes from U.S. Government sources. Most of the 100 Federal sites do not provide much in the way of education but there are exceptions. In addition to education the Government sites for economic data are described below.
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http://www.fedstats.gov/ is a very helpful site for education on what a hundred or more Federal Agencies with statistical programs do. Clicking on Principal Statistical Agencies brings up the list from which one can choose to find the key statistics that the selected agency produces or link directly to that site. So if we want to go the Federal Reserve Board to find out about interest rates, or the Bureau of Labor Statistics to find the unemployment rate, or the Office of the Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, which ensures the financial safety of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, we simply have to come to this site and click twice.
http://www.federalreserve.gov/ The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System states that the Federal Reserve’s duties fall into four areas: (1) conducting the nation's monetary policy; (2) supervising and regulating banking institutions and protecting the credit rights of consumers; (3) maintaining the stability of the financial system; and (4) providing certain financial services to the U.S. government, the public, financial institutions, and foreign official institutions. This site is where the speeches of the Federal Reserve Board Members can be found. In addition to data and unlike many of the other government sites this site has numerous economic research papers and a considerable amount of educational material, some of it from links to other Federal Reserve Banks. The subjects range from mortgages to consumer protection to links to the National Council on Economic Education. It is so user-friendly that it even has, from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, a game for learning that is “free, fun and easy-to-use”.
http://www.irs.gov/ The Internal Revenue Service makes efforts to educate visitors about tax matters.
http://www.sba.gov/ The United States Small Business Administration was still featuring in 2004, under its Economic Statistics and Research section, papers such as “Research Publications 2002” and “Small Business Economic Indicators for 2002”. Hidden under Advocacy’s Working Papers were two papers less than a year old.
http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/ displays the nation’s debt, which has been subject to increasing focus in recent times. It displays daily amounts to the penny, and interest expenses.
http://www.fms.treas.gov/ reports monthly receipts, outlays, deficits and surplus.
http://www.treas.gov/tic shows the U.S. Liabilities to foreigners. As investors we need to keep an eye on the current account deficit and the net foreign capital inflows in order to gauge any change in the willingness of foreign investors to finance the debt. If the net foreign purchases decrease then the deficit may become unsustainable which could hit the dollar and the stock market.
www.treas.gov/tic/ has a Learning Vault in its Education section, which has education for kids as well as adults.
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/ This Treasury site has information on the various ways to purchase treasury securities, including TIPS, Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities, which Bill Gross of http://www.pimco.com/ , and others, has recommended recently.
http://www.stlouisfed.org/ has numerous topical articles and access to FRASER, the Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research. It points that that in conjunction with FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) FRASER improves electronic access to data.
http://www.ny.frb.org/ has reports related to monetary policy, financial supervisions and the bank payments system.
http://www.fedworld.gov/ is a site that “makes it easy to locate government information”. With its coverage of Supreme Court decisions, Government research and development and other topics it covers far more than the subjects of direct interest to investors. Perhaps that is why we did not find it quick and easy to find the economic information that we wanted.
http://usinfo.state.gov/ has international news and articles on topics such as Iraq, politics, and other of general interest to the investor.
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/ is the place to find the printed reports that the government produces.
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