One issue that is critical to national security, as well as global stability, is employment. Working a job, and labor more broadly, generate societal value, personal meaning, as well as necessary goods for society. The United States Federal Reserve has several functions, but one of their most valuable roles is that of indexing and recordkeeping, as well as the administration of surveys. Any survey provides data, however the reliability of that data depends entirely upon its methodology and scope, in that order. I believe Federal Reserve surveys almost always have fantastic methodology, and I consider publications from the organization to be highly reliable. The 2023 Small Business Credit Survey, abbreviated as SBCS, is a notable economic indicator of past United States sentiment, both popular and financial. While the individual data are generated for the purposes of tracking sentiment, they are also useful indicators for indexing the movement of capital, as well as societal mobility. This dataset reports the sentiment of multiple people in a given year. It holds value due to its rigorous methodology, and its targeted assessments of sentiment. Furthermore, almost every individual responding to these surveys directs non-trivial amounts of capital, primarily within the United States. My favorite observation from this database is the disparities in outlook from high-credit risk small business leaders, opposed to low-credit risk business leaders.

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