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Daily Archives: November 25, 2014

NY Fed – Household Debt Balances Increase as Deleveraging Period Concludes

: “The New York Fed released the Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit for the third quarter of 2014 today. Balances continued to rise slightly, with an overall increase of $78 billion. The aggregate household debt balance now stands at $11.71 trillion, up 0.7 percent from the previous quarter, but still well below the peak of $12.68 trillion in the third quarter of 2008.  The report shows increases in all types of credit, except for home equity line of credit (HELOC) balances. Overall, it looks as if the trend of increasing household debt balances is continuing, and in this post, we further investigate the winding down of deleveraging.”

What Internet Users Know about Technology and the Web

“American internet users’ knowledge of the modern technology landscape varies widely across a range of topics, according to a new knowledge quiz conducted by the Pew Research Center as part of its ongoing series commemorating the 25th anniversary of the World Wide Web. To take the quiz for yourself before reading the full report, click here. The… Continue Reading

Washington Metropolitan Area Facing Economic Downturn

Washington Post: “The Washington area’s reliance on federal spending has become a major headache for state and local governments, with congressionally mandated program cuts leaving gaping holes in revenue projections from Annapolis to Richmond. George Mason University’s Center for Regional Analysis estimates that the federal government spent $13.4 billion less in the Washington area in 2013 than… Continue Reading

Honda’s Early Warning Report Audit & NHTSA Special Order

Fact Sheet: “In September 2014, Honda commissioned a third-party audit of its TREAD Act reporting (also known as Early Warning Reports, or EWRs) to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) after certain discrepancies in reporting had been identified. NHTSA Special Order Once Honda received preliminary findings from the third-party audit, it requested a meeting… Continue Reading

How many academic documents are visible and freely available on the Web?

Khabsa M, Giles CL (2014) The Number of Scholarly Documents on the Public Web. PLoS ONE 9(5): e93949. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0093949 “The number of scholarly documents available on the web is estimated using capture/recapture methods by studying the coverage of two major academic search engines: Google Scholar and Microsoft Academic Search. Our estimates show that at least… Continue Reading

Ambulatory Health Care Services Receipts and Employment on the Rise

“Receipts for the nation’s 582,733 ambulatory health care services establishments (NAICS 621) totaled $825.7 billion in 2012, up 23.5 percent from $668.5 billion in 2007, according to the latest economic census statistics released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. Employment in this industry increased 15.1 percent, from 5.7 million in 2007 to 6.6 million in 2012,… Continue Reading

New GAO Reports – DOE Cost Estimating, Veteran’s Reemployment Rights

Project and Program Management: DOE Needs to Revise Requirements and Guidance for Cost Estimating and Related Reviews, GAO-15-29: Published: Nov 25, 2014. Publicly Released: Nov 25, 2014. Veterans’ Reemployment Rights: Department of Labor Has Higher Performance Than the Office of Special Counsel on More Demonstration Project Measures, GAO-15-77: Published: Nov 25, 2014. Publicly Released: Nov 25, 2014. Continue Reading

Stronger policy response needed to avoid risks to growth – OECD Economic Outlook

“25/11/2014- Modest global economic forecasts, continuing high unemployment, and downshifts in potential output should spur governments with a greater sense of urgency to fully employ monetary, fiscal and structural policy levers to support growth, notably in Europe, according to the Economic Outlook. The Economic Outlook draws attention to a global economy stuck in low gear, with growth… Continue Reading

FDA Menu and Vending Machines Labeling Requirements

“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has finalized two rules requiring that calorie information be listed on menus and menu boards in chain restaurants and similar retail food establishments and vending machines. Menu labeling final rule: Applies to restaurants and similar retail food establishments if they are part of a chain of 20 or more… Continue Reading