Monthly archives: March, 2017

NY Fed – Household Debt Edges Up as Auto, Credit Card, and Student Debt Climb

“The Center for Microeconomic Data’s latest Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit reveals that total household debt increased by 1.8% in the fourth quarter of 2016, rising $226 billion to reach $12.58 trillion, only 99 billion shy of its 2008 third quarter peak. Balances increased across all debt products, with a 1.6% increase in …

Subjects: Economy, Education, Financial System, Government Documents

GAO – US Gov’t Procurement – More Opportunities to Foreign Firms Than Other Countries

Government Procurement: United States Reported Opening More Opportunities to Foreign Firms Than Other Countries, but Better Data Are Needed, GAO-17-168: Published: Feb 9, 2017. Publicly Released: Mar 13, 2017. “The United States participates with 57 other countries in trade agreements that allow foreign firms to compete for government business. We found that the United States …

Subjects: Economy, Financial System, Government Documents

Forbes – The Massive Cost Of America’s Crumbling Infrastructure [Infographic]

Niall McCarthy – Forbes: “One of President Trump’s key aims during his time in office is overhauling and revitalizing America’s potholed roads, disheveled railways and creaking bridges. Illinois and Connecticut have the worst roads in the nation (73 percent of roads in each state are in poor or mediocre condition) while according to the government, …

Subjects: Economy, Financial System, Government Documents, Legal Research

OpenSecrets – Foreign Lobby Watch

Center for Responsive Politics – ‘Use our new FARA search tool…to look up the lobbyists registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, the foreign interests they represent, and their meetings and other contacts with government officials. Please be patient — this search is slower than most on our site; we are working on that. See …

Subjects: Congress, Economy, Financial System, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation, Search Engines

CBO Health Score – 14 million more uninsured next year under GOP plan

Washington Post – Analysis underscores concerns about dramatic loss in health coverage – “The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said 24 million fewer Americans would have insurance by 2026, and also predicts $337 billion in deficit reduction over the same period. The projected loss in coverage potentially contradicts President Trump’s vow that health-care reform would provide …

Subjects: Congress, Economy, Financial System, Government Documents, Health Care, Legal Research, Legislation, Medicine

The Economist – Why Europeans are less eager consumers of online ranting than Americans

Perhaps because they trust the mainstream media more – “…But in other ways Europe is less suited to internet-based populism than America. Enthusiasm for social media is related to scepticism towards traditional media, says Cornelius Puschmann of the Alexander von Humboldt Institute, a Berlin-based think-tank—and Americans have plenty of both. In 2016, 16% of American …

Subjects: Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Social Media

LC Exhibition – The Red Book of Carl G. Jung: Its Origins and Influence

“Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961) created the Red Book, an account of what he called his “confrontation with the unconscious” in the first decades of the twentieth century. The Red Book contains the raw material from which Jung refined his distinctive theories and concepts. Until the publication of a facsimile edition of the Red …

Subjects: Knowledge Management, Libraries

What Happened to Global Banking after the Crisis?

Schoenmaker, Dirk, What Happened to Global Banking after the Crisis? (March 9, 2017). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2930568 “The global financial crisis led to an alleged end of global banking. However, we find that reports on the end of global banking are premature. Investigating the global systemically important banks, we identify a strong composition effect: a …

Subjects: Economy, Financial System, Legal Research

WaPo – Trump budget goal to implement record slash of federal programs and boost military

Trump budget expected to seek historic contraction of federal workforce – “The president is expected to propose a budget this week that includes cuts in the federal government of a magnitude not seen since the end of World War II, a plan expected to prioritize military and homeland security spending while slashing budgets for a …

Subjects: Defense, Economy, Financial System, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation

Tim Berners-Lee: I invented the web. Here are three things we need to change to save it

theguardian – Sir Tim Berners-Lee – “Today marks 28 years since I submitted my original proposal for the worldwide web. I imagined the web as an open platform that would allow everyone, everywhere to share information, access opportunities, and collaborate across geographic and cultural boundaries. In many ways, the web has lived up to this …

Subjects: Digital Rights, Domain Names, E-Commerce, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Social Media