Welcome James Turk, blogger of the month for October, 2008!
Wow it's October already! And that can only mean one thing: Polls are open in Ohio!! Ok, I guess it means 2 things: It also means we've got a new guest blogger to introduce. So without further ado, let's welcome James Turk to the podium. James comes to us from the Sunlight Labs (full bio here), makers of such fine projects as Visualizing Earmarks, Capitol Words, Fortune 535, PoliQuiz and of course PublicMarkup.org. We're really excited to read what's on James Turk's mind. Take it away James! We'd also like to thanks Starr Hoffman, our guest for September. Starr started a number of good conversations (see below) all while juggling classes, work at University of North Texas and myriad other things. You're a Rock Starr!! Continue reading
James Turk: BOTM for October, 2008
James Turk is a Web Developer for Sunlight Labs. The focus of his work is web application development, including distributed research projects such as EarmarkWatch.org, he also maintains the Sunlight Labs API (http://services.sunlightlabs.com/api/). He earned his Bachelor of Science in computer science from the Rochester Institute of Technology where he also studied Political Science and Public Policy. Before joining the Sunlight Labs, he also spent time working at Project Vote Smart. He spends a good part of his time, both at work and elsewhere hacking away at government data of all types. Continue reading
Senate Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008
Sunlight Labs is posting the new economic bill at PublicMarkup.org.
Gabriela Schneider of the Sunlight Foundation says:In order to facilitate a conversation about the specifics of the Senate's new proposed bailout legislation (included within a 451-page document filled with additional provisions), we're parsing the bill's text, and have completed the first part, "Division A: the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008," posted on PublicMarkup.org at http://www.publicmarkup.org/bill/senate-emergency-economic-stabilization-act-2008/ for your review and commentary.And the PublicMarkup site says:
Unfortunately, because Congress has yet to enter the 21st century by publishing legislative data -- instead of PDF files of bills -- we cannot present the entire bill section by section, for you to review and comment on. (However, if you notice, the file name on the top of the PDF they published shows that the bill originally was an XML file.)Continue reading
“Sunlight has long been the best disinfectant to prevent problems in our market”
SEC Seeks More Transparent Disclosure For Investors, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, press release 2008-227, Sept. 25, 2008.
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it will hold a roundtable on October 8 to discuss ways to modernize its disclosure system to give investors more useful and timely information for investment decision-making.... "Sunlight has long been the best disinfectant to prevent problems in our markets. The more direct sunlight we can shine on company disclosure documents to extract the information that investors most want and need to make financial decisions, the more honest our markets will be and the stronger investor confidence will be," said Dr. William D. Lutz, Director of the 21st Century Disclosure Initiative.Thanks and a tip of the hat to J.H. Snider who says, "The SEC’s disclosure technology may already be the best of any agency in the Federal government.... Nevertheless, given the recent financial meltdown, it looks like it may continue to break new ground. Continue reading
Missed Econ 101?
In light of all this financial upheaval, I've been trying to find good sources for learning basic economic concepts. I must admit that I haven't taken economics since high school, a class that consisted of one semester learning to balance checkbooks... and that was about it. Lately I've been reading a basic economics book, and have another on my to-read list, but it struck me that what I really needed was a series of short educational publications on specific economic topics. Hmmm... government documents, anyone? Here are some helpful documents and websites I'm using.
- Federal Reserve Education
- Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco: Publications
- Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas: Publications
- The Federal Reserve, Monetary Policy and the Economy
- Free Enterprise, the Economy and Monetary Policy
- Everyday Economics
- Federal Reserve Bank of New York