Last week I got queries from readers who had followed an exchange of letters to the editor about federal budget deficits and the national debt. One letter writer had asserted, among other things, that "President Bush expanded the federal debt through 2008 by $700 billion." The readers who contacted me thought that was too low.

Fortunately, the Internet has very accessible sources of accurate information on this and other issues. The Economic Report of the President (gpoaccess.gov/eop) issued each year by the President's Council of Economic Advisors is a particularly useful resource.

Each year the report itself focuses on some theme connected with the president's agenda. The 2010 report, which came out in February, is the first for the Obama administration. It examines how to "rescue, rebalance and rebuild" the U.S. economy. Past reports have dealt with reforming Social Security and energy policy.

But for most people, economists as well as the public, the downloadable statistical tables that compose the second half of the report are the most valuable. All of the information they contain is available from the agencies that tabulate it - the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Treasury, the Federal Reserve, etc. But the ERP assembles this data in coherent tables that nearly anyone can use.