Facing Public Pressure, Bush Administration Will Continue Site Tracking U.S. Economic Indicators
Facing Public Pressure, Bush Administration Will Continue Site Tracking U.S. Economic Indicators
On Feb. 13, ThinkProgress reported that facing a faltering U.S. economy, the Bush administration was attempting to hide economic data by shutting down the award-winning website EconomicIndicators.gov.
As Forbes explained when it awarded the site one of its “Best of the Web awards, Economic Indicators is a “necessary” portal because it provides easy access to aggregated economic data across government agencies. More significantly, people can sign up to receive e-mails as soon as new data becomes available.
Yet recently, the Bush administration announced the site would be shut down on March 1 because of “budgetary constraints“:
In addition to pressure from the netroots, the Commerce Department heard objections from tech experts and lawmakers. Yesterday, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) wrote a letter to Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez, pressing him to keep Economic Indicators open.
ThinkProgress spoke with a Commerce Department spokesman today who said, “We heard from the users of the website, and they liked being able to receive the e-mails with the news releases.” A new announcement on the Economic Indicators notes that the “decision has been made to continue the site and improve its functionality”:
Many users also subscribe to the site and have economic indicators and the full releases emailed to them. There are a number of technical challenges with this aspect of the EI site — the service often backs up and fails because of bandwidth issues, releases sometimes take hours to reach subscribers, and some subscribers receive multiple copies of the releases while others get none at all. The cost of maintaining the site is almost entirely attributable to operating this feature.
To address these concerns we will redesign the subscription feature of economicindicators.gov. The new system, which will remain free of charge, will email an abstract and link so that users can access the full release on the source website. We believe the cost of rewriting the system will, in the long-run, be less than continuing to run the existing system. The new subscription service will be operational in the next few months.
Originally when the agency announced the site’s closure, it offered users “a free quarterly subscription to STAT-USA®/Internetâ„¢” instead. Once this temporary subscription ran out, however, the public would have been forced to pay a fee.
Glad to see that the Bush administration found a few dollars in its record $3.1 trillion FY 09 budget to keep the site running.
UPDATE: Schumer responds to the Department’s announcement:
The administration took the right step in keeping this important economic indicators website and email alerts free and open to the public. This is no time to pull back on the free flow of critical information about our quick-changing economy, and I’m glad the administration agrees that shutting down this website would be penny wise, but pound foolish.
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February 21st, 2008 at 12:01 pm“Facing Public Pressure, Bush Administration Will Continue Site Tracking U.S. Economic Indicators”
Since when have these scumbags been worried about “Public Pressure”?
February 21st, 2008 at 12:01 pmGigi is scouring the internet(s) for a Clinton reference for this thread.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:02 pm#3 - Comment by Dr. Matt — February 21, 2008 @ 12:02 pm
Well, it is a “series of tubes” so it may take him a while. ;-)
February 21st, 2008 at 12:06 pmGigi is scouring the internet(s) for a Clinton reference for this thread.
Comment by Dr. Matt — February 21, 2008 @ 12:02 pm
Must be something at newsmax about how Clinton shut down a web page.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:06 pmSee! All it takes is enough people calling BS on this crap, embarassing the shit out of these jerks, and stuff (small stuff, to be sure) gets done.
And Daryll gets to keep running on his little wheel!
February 21st, 2008 at 12:08 pmSCHUMER HAS ONLY ONE JOB……AND THAT IS UNDOING HIS TRAITOROUS STRONGARMING APPOINTMENT OF MUKASEY
UNTIL THEN….. HE CAN GO F HIMSELF.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:09 pmI don’t understand why gg is taking so long. No “research” is needed. Just make it up, as usual.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:09 pm……that would be because the website is throwing him and his cabinet of criminials under the bus. so to save face of course he’ll shut it down.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:10 pmUnfortunately, in order to offset the nearly $50 a month to host the website the Adminstration also announced that it had sold the naming rights to the website and it will now be known as “Wendy’s Website of Economic Indicators- here’s the BEEF!”
February 21st, 2008 at 12:12 pmAnd Daryll gets to keep running on his little wheel!
Comment by RUCerious — February 21, 2008 @ 12:08 pm
Daryll must be having a real crisis of faith, given “God’s candidate” Huckabee is not going to be the next U.S. President as prophesized.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:13 pmMaybe the fundies misunderstood God who actually said Huckabee was going to be the next President of the United Bass Players of America.
PLC, Daryll’s next phase involves a massive stroke for McCain the last day of the Repuglycan Convention, whereby Huckster picks up the fallen guidon and runs with it, halo and all.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:16 pmand, PLC, the United Bass Players of America could surely find a better president, geez!
February 21st, 2008 at 12:18 pmIf nobody even noticed this site was about to disappear, that would indicate nobody was using it, and I think the government would be justified in eliminating the waste.
But people DO use it, and the fact that they spoke up and the government listened is a positive sign. A small one to be sure, but in the right direction nonetheless.
Now, if only the government would listen to the people on more vital issues…
February 21st, 2008 at 12:18 pmDaryll must be having a real crisis of faith, given “God’s candidate†Huckabee is not going to be the next U.S. President as prophesized.
Comment by PatrioticLiberalChristian — February 21, 2008 @ 12:13 pm
I think Daryll is still counting on a miracle…
February 21st, 2008 at 12:20 pmComment by good_golly — February 21, 2008 @ 12:13 pm
And Gigi throws a change-up. Rather than claim “Clnton Did It Tooâ„¢” she decides to cast this debacle as a triumph of democracy and a heroic stand by BushCo.
Makes one wonder why Gigi bothers. Is the 10 cents a post really worth the effort?
February 21st, 2008 at 12:20 pmOf course, what assurances do we, the people, have that the numbers just won’t be cooked instead? I mean, in all honesty, HOW many times has the Botch Admin promised something, only to break that promise in the very next sentence?
February 21st, 2008 at 12:21 pms the 10 cents a post really worth the effort?
Comment by ralph the wonder llama — February 21, 2008 @ 12:20 pm
Better than 5 cents a can…
February 21st, 2008 at 12:22 pmRUCerious, United Bass Players of Christian America?
OK, OK, I’ll stop now.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:23 pmBudget constraints. that’s rich.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:23 pmMakes one wonder why Gigi bothers. Is the 10 cents a post really worth the effort?
Comment by ralph the wonder llama — February 21, 2008 @ 12:20 pm
she’s paid to do a job and she does it. for her it’s quantity, not quality, that counts. she’s a conservative after all.
pass the popcorn please.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:24 pmThey shut the site down because it helps people realize that this Administration’s activities will cause the economy to Crash and Burn. The coming economic collapse will make 1929 look like chump change. George W will be right up there with Herbert Hoover, forever famed for trashing the market economy they worshiped.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:27 pmImpeach Cheney and Bush and Save the Constitution!
It’s the economy, stupid!
Yes, Clinton said it. And was sooo right. Poor GOP gogo, he’s seeing the sinking of the Republicans in slow motion, and is terrified… too bad he never learned to swim in the waters of truth and accountability.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:41 pmFirst they are going to shut it down and now:
the “decision has been made to continue the site and improve its functionalityâ€
Why do I not think this is a good thing? If they can’t hide it, let’s alter it.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:55 pmSee my comment at #18, Ms_Joanne.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:57 pmRalph, that 10 cents adds up. After numerous posts, one can buy a cup of coffee at Starbucks!
Keep it fat and happy.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:58 pmWell, DUH on my part TRoS….and GMTA. ;-)
February 21st, 2008 at 12:59 pmS’okay, Ms_Joanne. Done it myself more than once.
Great minds jes’ t’ink alike…
February 21st, 2008 at 1:00 pmThe fact is that Clinton never had such a website. It was started by the Bush administration…
It didn’t take long for a Bush groveler to twist this one.
Hey moron, hardly anyone had a website in the 90s. It took a long time to build all those series of tubes.
But, thanks for playing. Better luck next time.
February 21st, 2008 at 1:09 pmNice one, Joe. That’s gonna show in the morning.
February 21st, 2008 at 1:11 pmI agree with TRoS and Ms. Joanne. That was my first thought, as well. Just put some hack in charge and cook the books. No muss. No fuss.
February 21st, 2008 at 1:23 pmNormally, one would not question the decision of the government to close down a site or curtail certain reporting. Indeed, I can not remember it being an issue during Carter, Regan, Bush I or Clinton. It does become an issue with King George. First, it fits in with a pattern of conduct in which government personnel and agencies are forced to have reports and speeches vetted by political appointees to an extent that has never been seen in previous Republican or Democratic administrations. Second, we have seen scientific and other reports prevented from being issued because they would have been unfavorable to the president’s political position. (I am not a baby, we all know that it happens to some degree in any administration. It is the number of times and the depth to which it is done that is unprecedented for any previous Republican or Democratic administration in modern history.) Third, it is the penchant for this administration to cover its actions with a cloak of secrecy which has alarmed legal scholars belonging to both parties. Fourth, it is the timing that such perpetual sites or periodic reports blink out of existence as soon as economic or other conditions would indicate that things are not going well for the administration. I could go on, but why? We have seen the same style of tactics used by this administration as were used by the Soviets to control public knowledge. Not a condition to be proud of.
February 21st, 2008 at 1:30 pmJMOHR, well put. The only rationalization to engage in secrecy is the desire to hide misdoings.
February 21st, 2008 at 1:41 pmI second that, RU.
February 21st, 2008 at 1:57 pmNow they’ll just start plugging in fake #’s.
All those organs of gov’t have been tainted with Republican’t corruption now, and their #’s won’t be reliable until their operatives have been ousted.
February 21st, 2008 at 3:06 pmMy guess is that it wasn’t just people protests–it was investor protests.
February 21st, 2008 at 3:18 pmIt’s the same reason that the WSJ news section is accurate and reliable. You can make money from accurate information, but not from flattery and whitewash.
They haven’t killed the site but I’ll be damned if I can figure out how to subscribe.
AF
February 21st, 2008 at 5:09 pmBush doesnt have the power over the budget. Thats Congress responsibility.
February 21st, 2008 at 11:09 pmSo its the Legislative branch (OK education time: we have 3 co-equal branches)
Hey morons, try educating yourself besides your television and Google. Thank you and God Bless President Bush.
^^ sorry for broken english but apparently some europeans know more about US government than you stupid american socialists.
February 21st, 2008 at 11:16 pmClear thinking europeans understand tyranny from communism you americans really are very uneducated.
3 co-equal branches. Congress controls the budget. Morons. (hows my english now)
Like I said read a book
^^ sorry for broken english but apparently some europeans know more about US government than you stupid american socialists.
Clear thinking europeans understand tyranny from communism you americans really are very uneducated.
3 co-equal branches. Congress controls the budget. Morons. (hows my english now)
Like I said read a book
Comment by cobray — February 21, 2008 @ 11:16 pm
Of course, because Europe hasn’t suffered from fascist (that is rightist) dictadures.
/sarcasm
February 22nd, 2008 at 6:47 am