Bush Administration Shuts Down Website Tracking U.S. Economic Indicators

I have been reading the book, Censoring Science, about the attempts by the Bush administration to stifle James Hansen’s work on global warming . It is a telling tale, that shows an administration who fears truth whenever it differs with what they “believe”. An example from the book is when NASA or GISS or NOAA found bad news about the climate and CO2 emissions, the government would censor the reports. When they could no longer do that they often cut off funds and just stopped reporting all together.

Now Bush and his cronies are trying the same tactic with the economy. Economic indicators show us sliding deeper and deeper into a recession, so the Bush administration tries cutting off funds and stopping the reports. The web site http://www.economicindicators.gov/ , once awarded a “Best of the Web” award by Forbes Magazine is being shut down as of March 1. If the news is bad, just stop the reports seems to be the prevailing attitude in this administration.

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. It includes valuable information like retail sales and durable goods shipments. Now all that information will be unavailable on-line.

Let’s face it, the Bush administration has taken the example of Joseph Stalin when it comes to information. Control the flow and you control the country.