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Daily Archives: November 21, 2013

Census Bureau Releases New Interactive Visualization of Jobs, Businesses and Other Key Economic Statistics

“Today, the U.S. Census Bureau released a new interactive tool designed to visualize the key economic findings found in the statistical agency’s most recent Business Dynamics Statistics report released in July. The Business Dynamics Statistics Visualization Tool spans four decades of information about America’s economy – providing key insights on job creation and loss during the most recent recession. Economic measures such as employment, number of establishments and number of firms can be analyzed for a single year or multiple years from 1977 to 2011. The tool has three major components: an interactive thematic map for the 50 states, interactive bar charts that give side-by-side comparisons of states and business sectors as well as time series data comparisons over a range of time. “We are providing a new and easy way for users to look at key economic trends about America’s economy by visualizing statistics over time,” said Thomas Louis, the associate director for research and methodology and chief scientist at the Census Bureau. “The latest Business Dynamics Statistics report shows older firms dominate the economy, new firms are entering the economy slowly, and there has been an overall decline in job creation in recent years.” In partnership with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the Census Bureau has produced annual data series for the Business Dynamics Statistics since 2008. For more information on the Business Dynamics Statistics program, go to <http://www.census.gov/ces/dataproducts/bds/>. Guidance on how to use the visualization tool can be found at <http://www.census.gov/ces/dataproducts/bds/what_to_do_first.html>.”

Cancellation of Nongroup Health Insurance Policies

Cancellation of Nongroup Health Insurance Policies, Bernadette Fernandez, Specialist in Health Care Financing – Annie L. Mach, Analyst in Health Care Financing. November 19, 2013 “Congress has expressed interest in health insurance cancellations, in light of media reports stating that individuals have received cancellation letters. While cancellations are not a new industry practice, additional attention has focused on the… Continue Reading

WaPo: D.C. area had slower income growth than any other major metro area last year

Neil Irwin: “As Greg Jaffe and Jim Tankersley documented Monday, it has been a boomtown featuring incomes and wealth that have risen much faster than in the rest of the country. But 2012, as it turns out, was not a great year for Washington. Personal income per capita in the region rose only 1.5 percent – the lowest among large metropolitan areas and… Continue Reading

Commentary – Is There a Future for Solos and Small Firms?

Sam Glover: “Susskind’s most-recent book, Tomorrow’s Lawyers, is short and worth a read, but I will try to do it justice in brief. Basically, the future according to Susskind will come about due to three drivers of change: Clients, who are demanding more work for less money  2. Liberalization, or the spread of non-lawyer ownership; and 3. Technology… Continue Reading

Paper – The New Speech

The New Speech – Andrew Tutt, Yale University – Information Society Project, Yale University – Law School. July 17, 2013. 41 Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly, 2014 “Could the government prevent Facebook from deleting an individual’s Facebook account without first following government-prescribed procedures? Intervene to require Google to conduct its search engine rankings in a certain manner, or subject Google… Continue Reading

Advocacy Groups – General Assembly Should Pass Strong Resolution on Right to Privacy in the Digital Age

Human Rights Watch: “The United Nations General Assembly should approve a new resolution and make clear that indiscriminate surveillance is never consistent with the right to privacy, five human rights organizations said in a November 20, 2013 letter to members of the United Nations General Assembly. After heated negotiations, the draft resolution on digital privacy initiated by Brazil and Germany  emerged on… Continue Reading

OECD Health at a Glance 2013

“This seventh edition of Health at a Glance provides the latest comparable data on different aspects of the performance of health systems in OECD countries. It provides striking evidence of large variations across countries in the costs, activities and results of health systems. Key indicators provide information on health status, the determinants of health, health… Continue Reading

BEA – Local Area Personal Income: New Estimates for 2012

“Personal income growth slowed in 2012 in most of the nation’s 381 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), according to estimates released today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Personal income growth slowed in 311 MSAs, accelerated in 65 MSAs, and remained unchanged in 5 MSAs. On average, MSA personal income rose 4.2 percent in 2012,… Continue Reading

Trends in Health Care Cost Growth and the Role of the Affordable Care Act

Council of Economic Advisors, November 2013 – Trends in Health Care Cost Growth and the Role of the Affordable Care Act “The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed against a backdrop of decades of rapid growth in health care spending in the United States. While much of this historical increase reflects the development of new… Continue Reading

Guardian – Fisa court documents reveal extent of NSA disregard for privacy restrictions

Spencer Ackerman, UK Guardian article – “Newly declassified court documents indicate that the National Security Agency shared its trove of American bulk email and internet data with other government agencies in violation of specific court-ordered procedures to protect Americans’ privacy. The dissemination of the sensitive data transgressed both the NSA’s affirmations to the secret surveillance court about the… Continue Reading