The United States government continually collects data about virtually every aspect of our lives. From the census to longevity and everything in between. It comes from multiple agencies and is published online but unfortunately the data is not on one site and it takes time and effort to find real and factual information.
But that has changed and it is due to the philanthropic efforts of Steve Ballmer, the former CEO of Microsoft and his wife Connie. With a bank account of 41 Billion dollars they wanted to present a fact-based site that is not tilted in any direction. It presents the data in easy to read form and is totally without outside support or commercial interest. From the site:
"USAFacts is a new data-driven portrait of the American population, our government’s finances, and government’s impact on society. We are a non-partisan, not-for-profit civic initiative and have no political agenda or commercial motive. We provide this information as a free public service and are committed to maintaining and expanding it in the future. We rely exclusively on publicly available government data sources. We don’t make judgments or prescribe specific policies. Whether government money is spent wisely or not, whether our quality of life is improving or getting worse – that’s for you to decide. We hope to spur serious, reasoned, and informed debate on the purpose and functions of government. Such debate is vital to our democracy. We hope that USAFacts will make a modest contribution toward building consensus and finding solutions".
I rarely make recommendations about websites due to either bias or poor execution of the material. But this one is worth a visit. And, as always, comments are welcome. Here is the link. I would suggest that you start with the "about us" section to get a feel about how the site began and its goals. Ken.
But that has changed and it is due to the philanthropic efforts of Steve Ballmer, the former CEO of Microsoft and his wife Connie. With a bank account of 41 Billion dollars they wanted to present a fact-based site that is not tilted in any direction. It presents the data in easy to read form and is totally without outside support or commercial interest. From the site:
"USAFacts is a new data-driven portrait of the American population, our government’s finances, and government’s impact on society. We are a non-partisan, not-for-profit civic initiative and have no political agenda or commercial motive. We provide this information as a free public service and are committed to maintaining and expanding it in the future. We rely exclusively on publicly available government data sources. We don’t make judgments or prescribe specific policies. Whether government money is spent wisely or not, whether our quality of life is improving or getting worse – that’s for you to decide. We hope to spur serious, reasoned, and informed debate on the purpose and functions of government. Such debate is vital to our democracy. We hope that USAFacts will make a modest contribution toward building consensus and finding solutions".
I rarely make recommendations about websites due to either bias or poor execution of the material. But this one is worth a visit. And, as always, comments are welcome. Here is the link. I would suggest that you start with the "about us" section to get a feel about how the site began and its goals. Ken.
RSS Feed
