Congress And Trump Are Endangering The Census -- America's $220 Billion Secret Economic Weapon

The Census is not the sexiest subject in the world. Yet the information it provides underpins vast amounts of information that business, the government and the economy all depend on to function. It is also at serious risk right now of either being done poorly or at exorbitant cost. Explaining that in a way that gets through the noise of the modern news cycle is not easy, yet this story doing just that was read by more than a million people.

WASHINGTON ― When most people think of the U.S. Census Bureau, they probably don’t think of an agency that supercharges the profitability and efficiency of American businesses.

Nor do they realize that one of the economy’s best secret weapons is facing its greatest crisis since James Madison and Thomas Jefferson created it in 1790.

But then again, most people haven’t built a $4.5 billion fortune based on Census data, the way Jack and Laura Dangermond have.

Read the whole story here.