Businessweek is found online at:

http://www.businessweek.com

Fortune is found online at:

http://www.pathfinder.com/@@ScH4oQYAzeVLFNGI/fortune/

These magazines publish very detailed records of U.S. economic statistics. They are also a good introduction to the U.S. economy in general.

Go to a local downmarket department store or shopping mall. Observe and record prices of basic items. Also, observe how crowded such a store is. Now see if you can find an upmarket store which stocks the same items. Visit it and record the prices for similar items. Observe how many consumers frequent the more expensive store. You are watching supply and demand in action.

Obtain a local directory of businesses. Now, choose a representative sample of ten companies. Telephone them and enquire as to whether they hire seasonal workers. See if they will tell you how many seasonal employees relative to permanent employees they generally hire.

In the past it was not unusual for a person to pursue one career path during their working lifetime. Training in a single profession or trade was sufficient. Now, however, many people expect to have to continually retrain during their lifetime to cope with structural unemployment. Ask your parents or older relations how many different jobs - and of what different types - they have had. See what they think of a world where they would have to retrain every decade or so.

Find an older person. Ask them if they can remember how much familiar goods cost when they were your age. Then ask them how much a person generally earned, and also how much rent or houses cost. You may be surprised at the answers.