Sparhawk

Found this while cruising around, thought it was interesting, thought y'all might too:

<a href="http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html"><img src="http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/covers/thumbnails/main.jpg"></a>

Here's an excerpt about the US economy:

The US has the largest and most technologically powerful economy in the world, with a per capita GDP of $36,300. In this market-oriented economy, private individuals and business firms make most of the decisions, and the federal and state governments buy needed goods and services predominantly in the private marketplace. US business firms enjoy considerably greater flexibility than their counterparts in Western Europe and Japan in decisions to expand capital plant, lay off surplus workers, and develop new products. At the same time, they face higher barriers to entry in their rivals' home markets than the barriers to entry of foreign firms in US markets. US firms are at or near the forefront in technological advances, especially in computers and in medical, aerospace, and military equipment, although their advantage has narrowed since the end of World War II. The onrush of technology largely explains the gradual development of a "two-tier labor market" in which those at the bottom lack the education and the professional/technical skills of those at the top and, more and more, fail to get comparable pay raises, health insurance coverage, and other benefits. Since 1975, practically all the gains in household income have gone to the top 20% of households. The years 1994-2000 witnessed solid increases in real output, low inflation rates, and a drop in unemployment to below 5%. The year 2001 witnessed the end of the boom psychology and performance, with output increasing only 0.3% and unemployment and business failures rising substantially. The response to the terrorist attacks of September 11 showed the remarkable resilience of the economy. Moderate recovery is expected in 2002, with the GDP growth rate rising to 2.5% or more. A major short-term problem in first half 2002 was a sharp decline in the stock market, fueled in part by the exposure of dubious accounting practices in some major corporations. Long-term problems include inadequate investment in economic infrastructure, rapidly rising medical and pension costs of an aging population, sizable trade deficits, and stagnation of family income in the lower economic groups.

__________________
"In Iraq, no doubt about it, it's tough. It's hard work. It's incredibly hard. It's - and it's hard work. I understand how hard it is. I get the casualty reports every day. I see on the TV screens how hard it is. But it's necessary work. We're making progress. It is hard work."

Lebell

Yup,

A good site if you need to know the major exports of Sri Lanka or the population of Trinidad & Tobago.

__________________
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." – C. S. Lewis

The ONLY sponsors we have are YOU!

Please Donate!

geep

Looks like a great homework source for my kids!

The_Dude

i need to get a copy of it, lots of useful info

__________________
"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." - Darrel K Royal

Scipio

It's on the web. It's useful if you want to know, for example, just how wealthy Saudi Arabia is, or how much France spends on its military (more than the UK), or the population of Fiji.

__________________
"Erections lasting more than 4 hours, though rare, require immediate medical attention."

Sparhawk

Just the other day I was thinking, if only I knew the major exports of Sri Lanka or the population of Trinidad & Tobago, I'd be set! :P

__________________
"In Iraq, no doubt about it, it's tough. It's hard work. It's incredibly hard. It's - and it's hard work. I understand how hard it is. I get the casualty reports every day. I see on the TV screens how hard it is. But it's necessary work. We're making progress. It is hard work."

mirevolver

Yep, knew about that site for years. Want to know how many TVs there are in Bangledesh? Check the factbook.


(770,000)

__________________
Aside from my great plans to become the future dictator of the moon, I have little interest in political discussions.

Phaenx

Me too. Think about it, what if some stereotypical James Bond bad guy takes you prisoner and puts you into some sort of elaborate death trap, and the only way out is to answer a certain question correctly to a robot that will open the door to freedom? Why, without this book, YOU'D BE FUCKED.

__________________
"I went shopping last night at like 1am. The place was empty and this old woman just making polite conversation said to me, 'where is everyone??' I replied, 'In bed, same place you and I should be!' Took me ten minutes to figure out why she gave me a dirty look." --Some guy

rogue49

Actually that blurb about ourselves was pretty dead-on.

Surprising.

Mad_Gecko

Still fuckin can't find the WMD's in Iraq though

CIA - Completely. Incompetent. Asshats.

/Rant over

__________________
[color=bright blue]W[/color]e Stick To Glass

"If three of us travel together, I shall find two teachers."
Confucious

Phaenx

That's not fair. I wish we had them back during the great American Russian war.

__________________
"I went shopping last night at like 1am. The place was empty and this old woman just making polite conversation said to me, 'where is everyone??' I replied, 'In bed, same place you and I should be!' Took me ten minutes to figure out why she gave me a dirty look." --Some guy

Lebell

The Link:

CIA World Facts Website

__________________
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." – C. S. Lewis

The ONLY sponsors we have are YOU!

Please Donate!

KillerYoda

I got one of the books, I think 2000 or 2001 for 5 bucks at a public library used book sale. They're useful as hell.

__________________
"So you're Chekov, huh? Well, this here's McCoy. Find a Spock, we got us an away team."

Sparhawk

Yeah, the image has a link on it...

__________________
"In Iraq, no doubt about it, it's tough. It's hard work. It's incredibly hard. It's - and it's hard work. I understand how hard it is. I get the casualty reports every day. I see on the TV screens how hard it is. But it's necessary work. We're making progress. It is hard work."

eltardo

Ohhh...I love the World Factbook. I use it quite often actually. Glad to see some of the money the CIA gets put to good use!

Deke

Great for pronunciation of foreign leaders' names, too. Used it a lot in another life. For more insightful info on countries, the State Department publishes some sort of pamphlet on each of them but I can'r recall the name. Perhaps someone else knows.

__________________
Ungrateful Bastard

hrdwareguy

I remember when that information was split into several volumes of books. We used to call the whole set "encyclopedias".

__________________
Gun Control is hitting what you aim at

Aim for the TFP, Donate Today

rat

encyclopedia brown? those books were great!!!

__________________