“The Guardian today has launched a new website in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help focus the world’s attention on global development. The site will provide a new space for discussion and interaction on the biggest challenges affecting the lives of billions of people across the developing world, including poverty, hunger, infant mortality, adaptation to climate change and economic development. One aim of the website, which launches just a week before a major UN summit, is to hold governments, institutions and NGOs accountable for the implementation of the United Nations millennium development goals (MDGs), which 192 countries signed up to in 2000. Huge advances have been made with many of the MDGs, and the new site will enable people around the world to better monitor how each country is performing. For the first time, individuals will be able to access a central data store using the world’s top sources for development and aid data, through which they can access development statistics, and information. For example, users will be able to find out who has given the most aid to Pakistan, or which countries have the highest Aids rates.”
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Daily Archives: September 16, 2010
CBO: Fiscal Policy Choices in Uncertain Times
Fiscal Policy Choices in Uncertain Times, September 16, 2010, Douglas W. Elmendorf, Director “CBO expects that the economic recovery will proceed at a modest pace, leaving the unemployment rate above 8 percent until 2012. There are monetary and fiscal policy options that, if applied at a sufficient scale, would increase output and employment during the… Continue Reading
BLS: Consumer Price Index- August 2010
Consumer Price Index – August 2010: “On a seasonally adjusted basis, the CPI-U increased 0.3 percent in August, the same increase as in July. The index for all items less food and energy was unchanged in August after rising 0.1 percent in July.” Related postings on financial system Continue Reading
BLS: Real Earnings – August 2010
News release: “Real average hourly earnings for all employees was unchanged from July to August, seasonally adjusted. This result stems from a 0.3 percent increase in average hourly earnings, which was offset by a 0.3 percent increase in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U). Real average weekly earnings was about unchanged over… Continue Reading
Sunlight Foundation Announces House Rules Proposals for the 112th Congress
House Rules Changes: Sunlights Proposals for the 112th Congress, September 16, 2010 “The rules of the House and Senate have extraordinary influence. The Constitution, in granting each chamber the ability to determine the rules of its proceedings, has allowed Congress to create the evolving set of processes, norms and standards by which it functions. The… Continue Reading
National survey reveals increases in substance use from 2008 to 2009
News release: “The use of illicit drugs among Americans increased between 2008 and 2009 according to a national survey conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) shows the overall rate of current illicit drug use in the United States rose from 8.0… Continue Reading
MIT Report: The Future of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle
News release: “Uranium supplies will not limit the expansion of nuclear power in the US or around the world for the foreseeable future, according to a major new interdisciplinary study produced under the auspices of the MIT Energy Initiative. The study challenges conventional assumptions about nuclear energy. It suggests that nuclear power using todays reactor… Continue Reading
Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2009
News release, includes data: “The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that real median household income in the United States in 2009 was $49,777, not statistically different from the 2008 median. The nation’s official poverty rate in 2009 was 14.3 percent, up from 13.2 percent in 2008 the second statistically significant annual increase in the… Continue Reading
Panel Tells Congress, Defense Department of Urgent Need to Enhance Nation's Preparedness for Domestic Disasters
News release: “A panel of retired senior U.S. military officers, former Members of Congress, National Guard generals and academics with expertise in responding to domestic disasters today delivered to the Congress and the secretary of defense a far-reaching report that details how defense officials can better support the nation’s response to a major disaster on… Continue Reading
Children of Immigrants: 2008 State Trends Update
Children of Immigrants: 2008 State Trends Update, Karina Fortuny, Urban Institute. “Growth in immigration during the 1990s and afterward resulted in a larger number of children in immigrant families. Between 1990 and 2008, the share of U.S. children with immigrant parents increased from 13 percent to 23 percent.2 In 2008, 16.5 million children age 0… Continue Reading
