Business Buzz @ MHSL

Economy Wide Industry Statistics

Jeff — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:27:22 +0000

This just released from the U.S. Census Bureau: Economy-Wide Key Statistics: 2007

Looking for statistics for a particular industry? Data from the 2007 Economic Census was released today providing a glimpse into nearly every sector of our economy.

The results are arranged by NAICS code and are on a national level. This file contains data on:

Number of employer establishments
Sales, receipts, revenue, shipments, or value of business done for employer establishments
Annual payroll of employer establishments
Total employment of employer establishments
Number of nonemployer establishments
Receipts for nonemployer establishments

Status of AIG’s TARP Money

Jeff — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 21:13:37 +0000

The GAO released a report today titled Troubled Asset Relief Program: Status of Government Assistance Provided to AIG. According to the report:

GAO’s seventh report on the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) focuses on the initial assistance the government provided to American International Group, Inc. (AIG)—an organization with over 200 companies operating in over 130 countries and jurisdictions and $830 billion in assets—in September 2008 and the restructuring of that assistance in November 2008 and March 2009.

You can read the highlights of the report or download the complete 101 page report as a PDF.

Copyright and the Mickey Mouse curve

Jeff — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 14:46:20 +0000

There is an interesting blog post on the ever expanding duration of American copyright protection. Those of you that have attended any of my copyright workshops may remember me talking about the most recent copyright extension act being dubbed the “Mickey Mouse Copyright Extension Act.”

The graphic below accompanied the post and was interesting.

Inc. 500 / 5000 lists released

Jeff — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 19:44:03 +0000

See the complete Inc. 500 / 5000 lists here.

Cost of Health Care Legislation

Jeff — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 21:03:58 +0000

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) sent a letter this week to Rep. Charles Rangel, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, outlining its preliminary analysis of the proposed health care reform legislation, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act.

According to the assessment sent to Rep. Rangel

enacting legislation that embodied those specifications would result in a net
increase in federal budget deficits of $1,042 billion over the 2010–2019 period.

By 2019, CBO and the JCT staff estimate, the number of nonelderly people
without health insurance would be reduced by about 37 million, leaving about
17 million nonelderly residents uninsured (nearly half of whom would be
unauthorized immigrants).

The complete letter from the CBO is available in PDF format and includes a series of tables summarizing the findings in the preliminary assessment.

Business Planning Competitions on the Rise

Jeff — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:27:28 +0000

From the Wall Street Journal:

Universities Crank Up Business-Plan Competitions

By Jonathan Matsey

With early-stage funding opportunities tight in today’s economy, managers of university-run business plan competitions say they’ve seen an increase in budding entrepreneurs looking for a boost.

The complete story is available on the WSJ’s Venture Capital Dispatch blog.

Stimulus Spending by State

Jeff — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 22:00:13 +0000

Take a look at this interactive map from the Wall Street Journal showing the proposed state-by-state breakdown of how federal stimulus money is to be spent. The map shows proposed per capita spending, but the site also includes total proposed spending.

Census 2010 May Affect Federal Grants

Jeff — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 20:47:24 +0000

With Census 2010 just around the corner, the GAO released a report titled “Formula Grants: Census Data Are among Several Factors That Can Affect Funding Allocations.” The GAO report found:

Federal grants use various sources of population counts in their funding formulas. They include the decennial census, which provides population counts once every10 years, and also serves as the baseline for estimates of the population for the years between censuses—known as postcensal estimates.

Other sources of population data include the Bureau’s American Community Survey and the Current Population Survey conducted by the Bureau for the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which provides monthly data.

A one-page highlight summary is also available.

College Football Heads to the Hill

Jeff — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 21:55:53 +0000

Well, I am the government docs librarians, and this is (unbelievably) a government related issue, so here it goes.

Big time college football took center stage on Capitol HIll this week as the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust held a hearing about the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) and a playoff system in Division One college football.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, chair of the subcommittee, released his opening statement from the hearing.

The hearing’s official name was “The Bowl Championship Series: Is it Fair and In Compliance with Antitrust Law?” and you can watch the recorded, streaming video of it.

Our tax dollars at work.

New Legal Research Guide Available

Jeff — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:42:26 +0000

Since LexisNexis Academic is now the Sterne Library’s only source for primary legal information I created a step-by-step guide for case and statutory research. These are the 2 most common legal questions we get at the library.

Legal Research using LexisNexis Academic is a PDF document that explains exactly how to find cases using citations, party names and full-text searching. It also shows how to find federal and state statutes using citations and full-text searching.

The research guide is also available in the Legal Research Guides section on the library’s web site.