How can we make better public decisions?

People are afraid for the future, angry at the dysfunctional status quo and hungry for a pragmatic basis for hope. . . here it is! BlueHat.info--tools for upgrading our democracy:

Before we can make good decisions about where we want to take our communities, we need to know where we are now. Public decisions are about the allocation of resources, so clear financial reports are the first step. Let's create a report format that can serve communities at every level of government--from local to state to national and multi-national. We can begin with the US Federal Government Financial Report. Every American citizen can comprehend the report--we've reduced the basics to fit on a coaster! Once we have a model that is useful to all of us, we'll move on to reports for all of our communities. Think how useful it will be to quickly make comparisons and look for successful patterns of spending.

And, understanding the finances can be simple and easy.
Give your country 15 minutes. You can be informed.
You can be free to make good choices. Review our 2-page US Financial Report. You'll have a memorable context for viewing public decisions. ( NOTE: Friends reviewed the draft content of the site and based on their feedback, I did additional research, thinking and writing to achieve greater simplicity and clarity. Now, we are in the process of converting this site to Open Source (ETA February 15, 2006), removing the old information and replacing it with revisions and updates (the 2005 Financial Information came out in December 2005), and creating a wiki homebase for collaborative development of the next phases of this project. This site has not been launched formally. THANK YOU to invited friends who reviewed the content and gave us pre-launch feedback. The links are currently disabled while we upload the edited material. If you would like to be notified of the formal launch, please email us. )

First step: clear & clean financial reports
	#1. READ IT: The 2005 US Financial Report In a proposed revised format that is simpler, clearer and more honest. Read the summary, get the details you want...
	#2. REVIEW the Suggested Improvements Ten recommended improvements to make the report clear to the average citizen.
	#3. COMMENT & Take the POLLS TAKE PART - evaluate, discuss, perfect, approve!
	#4. FUND IT Send us onward to enriched information and additional tools
	Financial Reference Information Simple and easy explanations of accounting, government accounting, measuring financial change, money, the value of money and more--the foundation for understanding financial reports. Table of contents

The official 150 page 2004 US Government Financial Report came out in December 2004--two full months ahead of previous years! Bravo! to the Comptroller General. Let's perfect our desired format as quickly as possible so that we can add the historical tables and comparisons with confidence.
 Be a detective! It is challenging to tweeze out the Operating Fund information from the Trust Fund information. If you see this symbol, the numbers need further research to confirm their accuracy. Help out if you can. You can also help us add State, local and other nation numbers for the full picture and for informative comparisons. Then we'll be prepared to make good decisions for our future.

We might hope to see the finances of the Union as clear and intelligible as a merchant's books, so that every member of Congress, and every man of any mind in the Union, should be able to comprehend them, to investigate abuses, and consequently to control them. President Thomas Jefferson 1802