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A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

May 9, 2009

In 2008, the U.S. exported $71.5 billion worth of goods to China and imported $337.8 billion in goods from China.
Source: Census Bureau

May 8, 2009

In 2008, Canada was the United States’ top trading partner, with $596.9 billion worth of goods traded between the two countries.
Source: Census Bureau

Was Obama Born in the USA?

Q: Has a “smoking gun” been found to prove Obama was not born a U.S. citizen? Did he attend Occidental College on a scholarship for foreign students?
A: This chain e-mail is a transparent April Fools’ Day hoax. It fabricates an AP news story about an nonexistent group, and makes false claims about Obama and the Fulbright program.

What’s in a Number?

On April 20, President Barack Obama caused a bit of a splash when he gathered members of his Cabinet and directed them to cut (collectively) $100 million in expenses within the next 90 days. Now that sounds like a lot of money. And we’re not ones to complain about cutting costs when the Congressional Budget Office estimated the deficit to be $1.2 trillion in 2009 alone — and that was before accounting for the cost of the stimulus bill.

May 7, 2009

Mexico was the United States’ third-leading trading partner in 2008, with $367.5 billion worth of goods traded between the two countries.
Source: Census Bureau

May 6, 2009

In 2007, 29.2 million U.S. residents were of Mexican origin. That’s 10 percent of the total U.S. population and 64 percent of the Hispanic population.
Source: Census Bureau

May 5, 2009

Cinco de Mayo celebrates the Mexican army’s victory over the French in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.
Source: Census Bureau

Did Obama Misquote Churchill?

In the New York Times‘ "Caucus" blog today, Kate Phillips offers a well-documented and thorough analysis of a lingering controversy: Did Winston Churchill really say about torture what President Obama says he did?
There has been considerable back-and-forth elsewhere regarding this passage in the president’s "100 days" news conference:

Obama, April 29: I was struck by an article that I was reading the other day, talking about the fact that the British during World War II,

H.R. 1388 Passed ‘Behind Our Backs?’

Q: Was H.R. 1388 passed “behind our backs”?
A: This latest e-rumor is a double-header. It recycles one false claim and alludes to another. We’ve debunked both before.

May 4, 2009

Half of single-race Asians 25 and older in the U.S. had at least a bachelor’s degree in 2007, compared with 28 percent for all Americans in that age group.
Source: Census Bureau