Federal Budget Deficit: 2012

"The federal budget deficit was about $1.1 trillion in fiscal year 2012, CBO estimates, approximately $200 billion less than the shortfall recorded in 2011. At 7.0 percent of gross domestic product, the 2012 deficit was down from 8.7 percent in 2011 and 9.0 percent in 2010 but greater than in any year between 1947 and 2008. The estimated 2012 total reflects the shift of some payments from fiscal year 2012 into fiscal year 2011 (that is, from October 2011 to September 2011, because October 1 fell on a weekend); without that timing shift, the deficit in 2012 would have been about $30 billion higher..."
Federal Budget Deficit: 2012

Field of Degree and Earnings by Selected Employment Characteristics:2011

An examination of the relationship between the field of study or major of bachelor's degrees,  earnings, and employment characteristics for those aged 25 and older.
 Field of Degree and Earnings by Selected Empoyment Characteristics:2011

Homeland Security and Terror Levels

"Homeland security generally refers to the efforts by states to protect their interests and citizens from terror. In the United States, this effort is overseen by the cabinet level Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The department was created in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks on New York City and Washington DC and is now responsible to protecting the United States against terror as well  as administering other issues, such as immigration, border security and natural disasters..."
Homeland Security and Terror Levels

Wisconsin Fall Color Report

Find the best sites for fall colors in Wisconsin.
Wisconsin Fall Color Report

FTC Cracks Down on Phony Mortgage Relief Schemes

"The Federal Trade Commission has filed three separate suits in federal court to halt the allegedly deceptive tactics of three operations that preyed on distressed homeowners by falsely claiming they could save their homes from foreclosure, and then charging them thousands of dollars up-front, while delivering little or no help and often driving them deeper into debt..
FTC Cracks Down on Phony Mortgage Relief Schemes

Trafficking in Persons: International Dimensions and Foreign Policy Issues for Congress

"Trafficking in persons, or human trafficking, refers to the subjection of men, women, and children to exploitative conditions that can be tantamount to slavery. Reports suggest that human trafficking is a global phenomenon, victimizing millions of people each year and contributing to a multi-billion dollar criminal industry. It is a centuries-old problem that, despite international and U.S. efforts to eliminate it, continues to occur in virtually every country in the world. Human trafficking is also an international and cross-cutting  policy problem that bears on a range or major national security, human rights, criminal justice, social, economic, migration, gender, public health, and labor issues..."

Trafficking in Persons:International Dimensions and Foreign Policy Issues for Congress

Western Hemisphere Defense Policy Statment

"DoD will support robust inter-American defense cooperation. Whenever possible, DoD will develop innovative, low-cost and small-footprint approaches to achieve our shared security objectives, relying on training, advisory capabilities, exercises, and rotational presence. This policy statement provides the framework on which we seek to build partnerships to enhance bilateral, sub-regional, and hemispheric capacity to meet the challenges of the 21st century.."

Western Hemisphere Defense Policy Statement

Noncitizen Eligibility for Federal Public Assistance: Policy Overview and Trends

"The extent to which residents of the United States who are not U.S. citizens should be eligible for federally funded public aid has been a contentious issue for more than a decade. This issue meets at the intersection of two major policy areas: immigration policy and welfare policy. The eligibility of noncitizens for public assistance programs is based on a complex set of rules that are determined largely by the type of noncitizen in question and the nature of services being offered. Over the past 16 years, Congress has enacted significant changes in U.S. immigration policy and welfare policy. Congress has exercised oversight of revisions made by the 1996 welfare reform law (the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, P.L. 104-193)— including the rules governing noncitizen eligibility for public assistance that it established—and
legislation covering programs with major restrictions on noncitizens’ eligibility (e.g., food stamps/SNAP, Medicaid)."
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL33809.pdf

Teen Drinking and Driving

" The percentage of teens in high school who drink and drive has decreased by more than half since 1991,* but more can be done. Nearly one million high school teens drank alcohol and got behind the wheel in 2011. Teen drivers are 3 times more likely than more experienced drivers to be in a fatal crash. Drinking any alcohol greatly increases this risk for teens..."
Teen Drinking and Driving

Home-Based Workers in the United States: 2010

"As communication and information technologies advance, workers are increasingly able to perform work at home. Since work is often more than simply a means of making a living, but tends to dictate how people organize their lives, changes in work patterns have both economic and social implications. Accordingly, timely data on the characteristics of home-based workers is of interest to researchers and policy makers, including those in the fields of transportation, employment, planning, and housing. This report provides information about the characteristics of home-based workers in 2010.
Home-Based Workers in the United States:2010

FTC Halts Massive Tech Support Scams

"The Federal Trade Commission has launched a major international crackdown on tech support scams in which telemarketers masquerade as major computer companies, con consumers into believing that their computers are riddled with viruses, spyware and other malware, and then charge hundreds of dollars to remotely access and “fix” the consumers’ computers.
  
At the request of the FTC, a U.S. District Court Judge has ordered a halt to six alleged tech support scams pending further hearings, and has frozen their assets...:

FTC Halts Massive Tech Support Scams

Geographic Profile of Employment and Unemployment

"The Geographic Profile of Employment and Unemployment (GP) contains information from the Current Population Survey (CPS) for census regions and divisions, the 50 States and the District of Columbia, and selected large metropolitan areas and cities. Data are provided on the employed and unemployed by selected demographic and economic characteristics.."
Geographic Profile of Employment and Unemployment

The 2012 Long-Term Projections for Social Security: Additional Information

"Social Security is the federal government’s largest single program.1 Of the 56 million people who currently receive Social Security benefits, about 70 percent are retired workers or their spouses and children, and another 11 percent are survivors of deceased workers; all of those beneficiaries receive payments through Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI). The other 19 percent of beneficiaries are disabled workers or their spouses and children; they receive Disability Insurance (DI) benefits. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that in fiscal year 2012, Social Security’s outlays totaled $773 billion, one-fifth of federal spending; OASI payments accounted for about 82 percent of those outlays, and DI payments made up about 18 percent..."
2012 Long-Term Projections for Social Security

BLS Data Finder

"Data Finder is a new search and navigation tool for BLS time series data available on the BLS website. Rather than searching individual data sets, Data Finder allows users to conveniently search multiple data sets all at once. Users can extract specific data by searching by keyword or by filtering through multiple topics, measures, and attributes. Feedback is greatly appreciated and will aid in further development of Data Finder..."
BLS Data Finder

Health Status, Health Insurance, and Medical Services Utilization: 2010

"This report examines the relationship between medical services utilization, health status, health insurance coverage, and other demographic and economic characteristics. Measurement of medical services
utilization includes the frequency of visits to medical doctors, nurses, and other medical providers; visits to
dentists and dental professionals; nights spent in a hospital; and use of prescription medication. Data about
health status are self-reported, where respondents rate their health according to one of five possible response
categories: “excellent,” “very good,” “good,” “fair,” or poor.” The demographic and economic characteristics
studied in this report include sex, race and ethnicity, age, family income,7 and insurance status. These demographic and economic characteristics may not have a causal relationship to health status and medical
services utilization..."
Health Status, Health Insurance, and Medical Services Utilization: 2010