Slate News Slate Money | Money Talks: The Disappearing Databases
Feb 18, 2025
Lizzie O'Leary, a business journalist and host of What Next: TBD, dives into the concerning decline of accessible government databases and their crucial role in the economy. She discusses the alarming loss of essential economic and demographic data, particularly impacting public health. O'Leary highlights challenges in maintaining trust in government statistics amid political changes, and explores the growing importance of private sector data as a more reliable alternative for economic insights. It's an eye-opening conversation on the future of data in America.
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Data Removal
- The Trump administration is removing public government data, including crucial economic and health information.
- This removal impacts researchers, economists, and regular Americans who rely on this data.
US Data Collection
- The US government was considered the best in the world at collecting data, crucial for policy and economic decisions.
- This data includes economic indicators, social behavior, health statistics, and environmental information.
Data Reliability Concerns
- There are concerns about data disappearing, not being updated, and becoming less reliable.
- These concerns affect various sectors, including health, environment, and economics.