Eleven modules, 48 narrated steps, one data spine: the training program that ties the whole portfolio together — what each module teaches, how every number is frozen and self-tested, and how to work through it.
Three published vintages of CBO’s 10-Year Budget Projections checked against the actuals CBO later reported: receipts +$197bn above baseline, the deficit $162bn smaller — if you know which rows are forecasts and which are restatements.
The flow simulator follows a real appropriation — budget authority to obligations to outlays, month by month — and lets you pull the levers. Real data, frozen, with a scenario engine that applies each lever in a fixed, documented order.
USAspending, Treasury, and FRED — no API keys, one SQLite file, 46,042 rows, and an audit trail for every call. The spine the rest of my portfolio runs on, and the three things the public data got wrong along the way.
I’m a federal budget analyst. This is where I explain how federal money actually moves — from public sources only, every figure cited — and where I document building that analysis with the modern data stack.