Administration shuts down "best-of-web" economicindicators.gov
Wed, 2008-02-13 21:29 Ü(From a list correspondent)

http://freegovinfo.info/node/1627

Forbes has awarded EconomicIndicators.gov one of its 3Best of the Web2
awards. As Forbes explains, the government site provides an invaluable
service to the public for accessing U.S. economic data:

    This site is maintained by the Economics and Statistics Administration
and combines data collected by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, like GDP and
net imports and exports, and the Census Bureau, like retail sales and
durable goods shipments. The site simply links to the relevant department1s
Web site. This might not seem like a big deal, but doing it yourself -- say,
trying to find retail sales data on the Census Bureau1s site -- is such an
exercise in futility that it will convince you why this portal is necessary.

Yet the Bush administration has decided to shut down this site because of
"budgetary constraints," effective March 1.

Here's a cross-section of the data available:

Advance Monthly Sales for Retail and Food Services | Advance Report on
Durable Goods | Construction Put in Place | Corporate Profits | Current
Account Balance (International Transactions) | Gross Domestic Product |
Housing Vacancies and Homeownership | Manufacturer's Shipments, Inventories,
and Orders | Manufacturing and Trade: Inventories and Orders | Manufacturing
and Trade: Inventories and Sales | Monthly Wholesale Trade | New Residential
Construction | New Residential Sales | Personal Income and Outlays |
Quarterly Financial Report | Quarterly Services | Retail E-Commerce Sales |
U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services | U.S. International
Transactions |