No, Kellyanne, alternative facts aren’t real!

Facts, real facts, not Kellyanne’s infamous alternative facts, serve as foundation and building blocks for research. We start with “givens,” with things known to be true. Then we build on that with formal logic. One single example that disproves our theory forces us to begin again.

When we accept something as fact that is later disproven, all hell can and will break loose. Once the fact that the earth was flat was shown to be false—today’s Flat Earthers notwithstanding—science reexamined everything that relied on that fact.

It was with great dismay that I read Thursday morning about the discontinuation of the CIA’s World Factbook. I would wager that nearly every high school student or college undergraduate tasked with a history or geography report used that free resource, made more amazing by its origins with the CIA.

Later on Thursday, I ran across an article in The Atlantic that well expressed my emotions: America Is Losing the Facts That Hold It Together. By David Graham. (Gift article, no paywall.) This quote summarizes my feelings.

« The demise of the World Factbook is part of a broad war on information being waged by the Trump administration. This is different from the administration’s assault on truth, in which the president and the White House lie prolifically or deny reality. This is something more fundamental: It’s a series of steps that by design or in effect block access to data, and in doing so erode the concept of a shared frame for all Americans. »

Which in turn reminded me that I’ve wanted to share the following resources with you. When required reporting goes missing, whether jobs reports, or price indices, there are a few places outside the federal government that provide similar information. I’ll quickly add the following caveat: I’ve noticed that some, especially the one from Intuit, seem to be censoring real data and may soon be irrelevant. For now, it’s worth bookmarking them.

Intuit’s Small Business Index. Tracks employment, wages, revenue from Intuit, mostly very small businesses.
ADP National Employment Report. More mid-sized firms. Those that use ADP to do payroll or ADP’s PEO for payroll + benefits.
U.S. Expat Tax Guide for Germany. Just sayin’.
PWC tax guide for Germany. Too many people emigrate to Germany unprepared for tax consequences.
Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. Inflation forecasts. For now, Federal Reserve is still an independent agency, so their reporting will likely be more accurate than that of agencies in the executive branch.
World Bank financial reports. Not controlled by US government.

According to The Atlantic article, the Wayback Machine is working on archiving World Facebook. I checked the link provided, and they’re not there yet. Looks like it’s in progress. Let’s hope they get it done before the government erases it irretrievably.

Our times, they are a-changing. What will come of these changes is yet to be seen.

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