Archive for the ‘Business and Economics’ Category
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009
From the Article:
Pioneer Institute, a nonprofit policy think tank, has organized reams of data on state spending into a free online database that includes state worker salaries, public pensions and vendor contracts.
The database, MassOpenBooks, is part of an institute mission to promote transparency in government.
Source: The Patriot Ledger
From the MassOpenBooks Web Site
Data Available:
+ Retiree Pensions
+ Employee Salaries
+ Disbursements
+ Suggested Analysis
…the data used in this website are public records obtained from the State Comptroller’s Office and the State Retirement Board. It was at one point entered into the system manually, so we cannot guarantee 100% data accuracy or completeness.
See Also: PIbuzz.com Offers a Massive List of Government Employee Pay Database Links
…a directory of links to federal, state, county and municipal government salary and employee name databases. These searchable databases of salaries, pay, overtime and compensation of government workers are compiled by news organizations, open government advocates and government agencies.
See Also: This ResourceShelf Post Has Links to Many of the Other States that Provide Salaries of State Employees. Be sure to note the two links at the bottom of the post labeled one and two.
Posted in Business and Economics, Databases, Directories, and Guides, Government Documents and Political Information, Reference Tools, Resources | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009
OMB Issues 2010 Release Date Schedule for Principal Federal Economic Indicators
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued today the Schedule of Release Dates for Principal Federal Economic Indicators for 2010. The schedule is available online.
Principal Federal economic indicators are the major statistical series that describe the current condition of the economy. They are compiled, released, and periodically evaluated in accordance with procedures established in OMB Statistical Policy Directive No. 3.
- Each agency that issues these economic indicators has provided OMB with its schedule of releases for the upcoming calendar year.
- If special, unforeseen circumstances make it necessary to change any scheduled release date after this consolidated schedule is issued, the agency must announce and explain the change as soon as it is known.
- Also, each release of a principal economic indicator will include an announcement of the date and time of the next release. The last release in the calendar year will provide a schedule for the next calendar year.
+ Schedule of Release Dates for Principal Federal Economic Indicators for 2010 (PDF; 51 KB)
Source: U.S. Office of Management and Budget
Posted in Business and Economics, Calendars and Special Events, Fast Facts, Government Documents and Political Information, Reference Tools, Source File | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009
From the Article:
These 20 dynamic young companies have the growth prospects to make venture capitalists salivate.
Click on a company box for more info about that particular company.
Additional information includes:
+ Video About Company
++ Usually, CEO, Founder or another Company Leader Describes the Organization in the Video
+ Company Vitals
+ Leadership Info
+ TVA Radar Graph ||| Explained Here
+ List of Promising Highlights
Limit Companies to:
+ Companies with prior entrepreneurial experience
+ Revenue > $0
+ Patents
+ Outside Investors
+ More than 10 Employees
Methodology (3rd Tab)
See Also: America’s Fastest-Growing Companies: Lists & Rankings, Online Database: 2009 Inc. 500 and Inc. 5000 Released
Source: Forbes
Posted in Business and Economics, Lists and Rankings, Source File | No Comments »
Monday, September 21st, 2009
From the Story:
Dow Jones & Co. said Monday it will end publication of the Far Eastern Economic Review in December as part of a move to focus on its core publications
[Snip]
Current subscribers will be offered a one-year subscription to asia.wsj.com, Dow Jones said. The Far Eastern Economic Review was launched in 1946.
Source: Marketwatch
Hat Tip: Buslib
Posted in Business and Economics, Information Industry, Print Publications | No Comments »
Monday, September 21st, 2009
Resource of the Week: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development State Information
By Shirl Kennedy, Senior Editor
Housing, the foreclosure crisis, and all the associated issues — yes, all a part of the Big Economic Picture. But at essence, these are local problems. The real estate situation differs from one part of the nation to another. Foreclosure laws are different. Many agencies that can offer help are community-based.
Which is why this section of the HUD website is so useful. Just click on a state and you are taken to information and resources specifically for that state.
OK, some of the resources are pretty much the same here, from state to state. Such as links to a database of HUD homes for sale. Or instructions on how to file a housing discrimination complaint. This sort of general information is also accessible from a Topic Areas page.
But with the state-specific information, there are often links directly to state government/local agency websites, such as those on this page devoted to avoiding foreclosure in Florida.
You’ll also find pointers to state-specific information about homelessness here, such as links to relevant agencies and counseling services, and resources for homeless veterans. Also included — links to food bank directories, employment-related assistance, local Social Security offices, sources of free/low cost legal help and health care, and to state umbrella agencies dealing with the entire spectrum of poverty-related issues, including food stamps and other forms of financial aid.
Posted in Consumer Issues, Databases, Directories, and Guides, Source File | No Comments »
Sunday, September 20th, 2009
Note: The G-20 Summit September 24-25, 2009, will take place in Pittsburgh, PA.
From the Article
News junkies, social studies teachers and anyone just fascinated with the outpouring of information related to the upcoming G-20 summit in Pittsburgh might want to play around with this Web site set up by a local advertising agency.
Mullen’s new G20Buzz.com is set up [our emphasis] to pull information from online services such as Google News, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube. Anything that’s tagged with the G-20 label should show up, said Aaron Clark, who designed the site for the Strip District agency.
Read more
Access G20Buzz.com
Source: PP-G
Hat Tip: P.W.
See Also: Official G-20 Pittsburgh Web Site
See Also: Must See Pittsburgh (via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Includes Blogs and Twitter Feed and Archive.
See Also: Official G-20 Pittsburgh Media Center
See Also: G-20 Pittsburgh Summit Press Room
See Also: Official G-20 Web Site ||| FAQ
See Also: Interactive Graphic: G20 Pittsburgh: Objectives and action (via Financial Times)
Posted in Business and Economics, Calendars and Special Events, Media, New Websites and Resources, Social Media, Source File | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
Understanding Users of Social Networks
If the ongoing social networking revolution has you scratching your head and asking, “Why do people spend time on this?” and “How can my company benefit from the social network revolution?” you’ve got a lot in common with Harvard Business School professor Mikolaj Jan Piskorski.
Only difference: Piskorski has spent years studying users of online social networks (SN) and has developed surprising findings about the needs that they fulfill, how men and women use these services differently, and how Twitter—the newest kid on the block—is sharply different from forerunners such as Facebook and MySpace. He has also applied many of the insights to help companies develop strategies for leveraging these various online entities for profit.
Source: Harvard Business School Working Knowledge
Posted in Business and Economics, Search News, Social Media, Technology and Internet, Web 2.0 | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 8th, 2009
FDA Opens the Reportable Food Registry Electronic Portal for Industry<
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has a new way to head off potential cases of foodborne illness – the Reportable Food Registry (RFR), where food industry officials must use to alert the FDA quickly, through an electronic portal when they find their products might sicken or kill people or animals. The requirement, a result of legislation, took effect with the launch of the portal.
Facilities that manufacture, process or hold food for consumption in the United States now must tell the FDA within 24 hours if they find a reasonable probability that an article of food will cause severe health problems or death to a person or an animal.
The reporting requirement applies to all foods and animal feed regulated by the FDA, except infant formula and dietary supplements, which are covered by other regulatory requirements. Some examples of reasons a food may be reportable include bacterial contamination, allergen mislabeling or elevated levels of certain chemical components.
Source: U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Posted in Consumer Issues, Government Documents and Political Information, Source File | No Comments »
Sunday, September 6th, 2009
From the Directory:
The Library of Congress began systematically collecting residential and organizational telephone directories from many countries in 1937, but the records for these items, in general, are not included in the Library’s online catalog. To fill that gap, the indexes provided here detail the Library’s specific holdings of these directories from each of the countries listed. In addition, the Library has earlier address (non-telephone) directories and business directories that are reflected in the online catalog – only a few of them are included in these indexes. Historians, biographers and genealogists greatly value older directories, for such resources tell where a person lived and what years he or she resided there. Some directories provide additional information, such as profession or trade.
A comprehensive microfilm collection of telephone directories from France, including overseas departments, published by the French national library and the French post and telecommunications office, may be found under the title Annuaires téléphoniques, 1883-1959, [microfilm] reproduits sur microfilm avec le concours du Ministère des Poste et Télécommunications. Sable-sur-Sarthe : Bibliothèque Nationale, 1988. A comprehensive microfilm collection of telephone directories from France, including overseas departments, published by the French national library and the French post and telecommunications office. Collection is available in the Microform Reading Room under the call number Microfilm 2000/54. A guide to that collection is available in the Main Reading Room: Microform Guide 530.
The Library has also digitized a few directories from Bulgaria, Poland and Romania, with links from this page.
Source: European Reading Room, Library of Congress
Posted in Business and Economics, Genealogy, History, Reference Tools, Resources | No Comments »
Monday, August 31st, 2009
Remittance Prices Worldwide
This Website provides data on the cost of sending and receiving small amounts of money from one country to another. Called remittances, these international transfers are often initiated by migrant workers. The aggregate cash flows and the number of participants are enormous. In fact, the World Bank estimates that remittances totaled $397 billion in 2008, of which $305 billion went to developing countries, involving some 190 million migrants or 3.0% of world population. The money received is an important source of family (and national) income in many developing economies, representing in some cases a very relevant percentage of the GDP of the receiving countries. The site covers 134 “country corridors” worldwide. The corridors studied flow from 14 major remittance sending countries to 72 receiving countries, representing around 60% of total remittances to developing countries.
The research and publication of remittance pricing worldwide serves four important purposes: benchmarking improvements, allowing comparisons among countries, supporting consumers’ choices, and putting pressure on service providers to improve their services.
Source: World Bank
Posted in Business and Economics, Databases, Directories, and Guides, Source File | No Comments »
Saturday, August 29th, 2009
From the Article:
…Thomson Reuters has been dealing with another change in its market. Thanks to the rise of the internet, today’s traders are more familiar with clicking their way through YouTube than memorising a complicated series of codes for using Reuters’ trading screens and information feeds.
“You see very different behaviour from a 25-year-old just out of the London School of Economics to a 55-year-old who has been trading for the last 25 years,” said Wenig.
“People who grew up with Google have totally different expectations of how to interact with information and media. We can’t ignore that.”
Source: The Sunday Times
Posted in Business and Economics, Information Industry | No Comments »
Thursday, August 27th, 2009
USDA Announces New Global Agricultural Trade System Database
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) recently launched an enhanced U.S. foreign agricultural trade searchable database called the Global Agricultural Trade System (GATS).
…
The GATS database, which replaces the current U.S. trade data system, will provide users with U.S. agricultural data not previously available from FAS, including U.S. Customs District trade data, monthly and annual trade data going back to 1967, and U.S. state export data. Users will also be able to use GATS to produce charts and graphs.
GATS will help exporters and government officials keep up with fluctuations in U.S. agricultural trade. This information can help formulate marketing and negotiating objectives and strategies. Policy makers, program administrators, farmers, exporters, food aid organizations and others will be able to use this information to plan activities and make decisions.
+ Direct to database
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture
Posted in Business and Economics, New Websites and Resources, Source File | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 26th, 2009
From the Announcement:
The Internal Revenue Service today announced the availability of video and audio products to help taxpayers take full advantage of the 2009 tax provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The IRS has launched a YouTube video site and an iTunes podcast site to better serve taxpayers.
People can visit the video site at www.youtube.com/irsvideos to view information about the Recovery, tax tips and how-to videos. These videos will be in English, Spanish, American Sign Language and other languages.
The IRS YouTube channel will debut with seven Recovery videos in English and ASL and eight in Spanish. Also, included will be a video on using the IRS Withholding Calculator. Many workers received the Making Work Pay tax credit in April through their tax withholding at work. However, people who have more than one job or working spouses should especially check their withholding to ensure neither too much nor too little is being withheld. People can use the calculator to help determine if they should make adjustments.
People can visit the audio site at iTunes to listen to IRS podcasts about ARRA tax credits. People without an iTunes account can hear those same podcasts, in English and Spanish, on IRS.gov’s Multimedia Center.
Source: Internal Revenue Service
Posted in Business and Economics, Government Documents and Political Information, Social Media | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
Quantifying the Economic Impact of the Internet
Businesses around the advertising-supported Internet have incredible multiplier effects throughout the economy and society. Professor John Quelch starts to put some numbers on the impact. Key concepts include:
- Each Internet job supports approximately 1.54 additional jobs elsewhere in the economy, or roughly 2 percent of employed Americans.
- The advertising-supported Internet creates annual value of $444 billion.
- About 190 million people in the United States spend, on average, 68 hours a month on the Internet. A conservative valuation of this time is an estimated $680 billion.
Source: Harvard Business School Working Knowledge
Posted in Business and Economics, Search News, Technology and Internet | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
From a Blog Post:
You may have read that Morningstar, Inc., a leading provider of independent investment research, acquired 10-K Wizard in December, 2008. As part of our ongoing efforts to provide more global content, 10-K Wizard will become Morningstar Document Research on August 28, 2009. Morningstar Document Research will continue to be a leading website for enabling streamlined company research with a worldwide scope.
Source: 10-K Wizard Blog
See Also: 10-K Wizard Name Change FAQ
Posted in Business and Economics, Information Industry | No Comments »
Monday, August 24th, 2009
The new blog is titled: Pushing the Envelope.
From the Web Site:
It provides a forum to discuss different aspects of the Postal Service and how it can be improved.
See Also: Other U.S. Government Blogs
Source: USA.gov
Posted in Business and Economics, Government Documents and Political Information, New Websites and Resources, Resources | No Comments »
Friday, August 21st, 2009
From the Announcement:
NewsBank, inc., announced today the launch of NewsInHistory.com, a subscription service providing easy access to fully-searchable historical U.S. newspapers published from 1800-2000.
Featuring thousands of newspapers from all 50 states, including new content added monthly, NewsInHistory.com provides an exceptional record of the topics, people, issues and events that shaped America’s past.
[Snip]
NewsInHistory.com offers cover-to-cover reproductions of thousands of historical newspapers and millions of articles that capture the civic, political, social and cultural events of American life. This new resource will appeal to a broad spectrum of users, from the serious scholarly researcher to the casual user interested in learning more about the nation’s past.
Access NewsinHistory
Learn More About Subscribing to the Database
Source: NewsBank
Posted in Business and Economics, Calendars and Special Events, Chronologies and Timelines, Citation Reports | No Comments »
Thursday, August 20th, 2009
From the Web Site:
Want to know what’s going on with the stimulus in your area? ProPublica has compiled nearly all the contracts, grants and loans that the government has reported awarding so far in the stimulus program. Type in your county or click on your state to find projects in your area.
Direct to Database
Source: ProPublica
See Also: Web Resources: Eye on the Bailout
Many more bailout resources from ProPublica. An excellent compilation.
Posted in Business and Economics, Databases, Directories, and Guides, Government Documents and Political Information | No Comments »
