How can I get up to speed with current economic trends, stock market trends, important industries, government, current events, etc?

You can't just read one thing; and you can't just read it once in a while.  1. If you are in the US, Read The Wall Street Journal like it's a daily Bible or meditation.  Whatever anyone else might say about it, it is the Industry publication, trade reference, source.  As with anything else in life and certainly in the market, there is also a degree of "uncertainty" about it; but you will quickly learn about trends, sentiment, methods, and weaknesses for company, municipality, market, sentiment, instrument and sovereign analysis, and you will learn, over time, how to differentiate between conjecture, fact and opinion in a way they don't teach you in school. Read The Financial Times, if you're based internationally, especially in Europe).  (These are obviously English-language based; I'm not as familiar with what might be available or "industry bibles" in Asia; but The Financial Times and The Journal do both provide some coverage of those markets) 2. Read a general interest daily publication, daily, or skim it, as often as you can, preferably a local/national paper.  I love The New York Times, because it sometimes does describe and give a lot of backstory to its stories, so a reader can understand that, for example, Seychelles is a sovereign republic with 155 islands in the Indian Ocean, by Madagascar.  But The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe - all are great for learning more about our world.  When I was in college, I knew someone who's family banned The NYT from their home (and the WSJ, too) for being too liberal, but even if you are that conservative, it's good to know what the "mainstream" is worried about.   The International New York Times (formerly The International Herald Tribune) provides excellent reporting and coverage, too. 3.  Read a general interest, monthly or weekly, or even web-based publication with more longer-form reporting, like The Economist, Forbes, Fortune, Atlantic Monthly, New Republic, Bloomberg Markets, Consumer Reports, Money, Fast Company, Slate, Salon, Vanity Fair, Harper's, Esquire, TechCrunch - depends what you are interested in.  I like to pick up copies of some of these and others, every time I'm at the airport; and catch up while on flights.  They're not always consistent or catch my fancy, and that's when I buy the design, travel, fashion, and health consumer interest publications, instead.  Sometimes, I'll pick up a copy of a magazine like "Rod and Gun" or something I have absolutely no knowledge or interest in, just to get a sense of the culture.   I try to get to the airport early so I can gawk at the newsstands, and browse.  I'm a magazine junkie. 4. Think about checking out the Fed's Beige Book http://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/beigebook/, published 8 times a year, available on-line. "Each Federal Reserve Bank gathers anecdotal information on current economic conditions in its District through reports from Bank and Branch directors and interviews with key business contacts, economists, market experts, and other sources."  It's a little dry, but it gives you as current and "real" a snapshot of what's really going on in the US economy, as you're going to get.  Most of the other publications spend time talking about what's "sexy" in the markets; for instance, the latest momentum stock or what flashy gossip about who might be under investigation for whatever the boundary-pushing get-quick-rich scheme of the day might be.  The Beige Book is a little more dry, but provides perspective and a summary of the economic environment across sectors.  For instance, news from the summary for Chicago, as of March 5, 2014, on prices and costs: Prices and Costs Cost pressures remained mild overall. However, the severe winter weather pushed up prices for energy commodities, creating supply shortages and disruptive price spikes in some areas, especially for propane and natural gas. For instance, a contact reported that a grain elevator withdrew its propane from storage and resold it for home use. Another business contact reported that because homes have priority in natural gas delivery, her company faced a supply shortage and was forced to shift its production schedule. Other producers chose to delay production rather than pay high prices. Most contacts expected energy markets to return to normal once warmer weather arrives. Prices for cement, drywall, lumber, copper, and rare earth metals rose. Prices for steel, scrap, and iron ore were lower even though the winter weather interrupted shipments. Wage pressures edged up, and were stronger for skilled workers. Many contacts indicated that non-wage labor costs increased because of higher healthcare premiums. And here's what the San Francisco Fed is seeing: Prices and Wages Contacts observed minimal price increases for most final goods and services. Fruit and produce prices moved up, and many contacts expect food and water price inflation to pick up in the near term as a consequence of the drought in California. Prices edged up for some construction-related inputs, including wood, insulation, and cement. A higher supply of recycled metals in Asia resulted in lower exports of such metals from the United States, which contributed to downward pressure on U.S. steel input costs and on final prices for steel products. Wage gains remained quite modest on net, although contacts pointed to signs of building upward wage pressures in areas with particularly strong regional economic activity. Wages for some worker types, notably software developers and engineers, continued to increase rapidly. Reports suggested that the rising cost of living in the San Francisco Bay Area may be pushing up wage pressures. Just read.  A lot.  Follow where your interests lie, otherwise nothing will stick, and you'll find it to be a chore.   There is never enough information; everything you read will have a particular perspective and political agenda.   The best thing you can do to become better informed is to read everything you can, and then develop your own personal filters for what you need to read to satisfy your goals, and to determine the degrees of authenticity or relevance to your world.   Consistent good market performance, for instance, is derived from simply looking and seeing what a company is doing, as opposed to what others want it to be doing or think it ought to be doing; and knowing enough about the tools available to be able to capitalize on your analysis.  The biggest factor in all market movement is overall economic sentiment; you can have the best, most well-run company in a given industry, but it will probably lose value in a shrinking economy and if the industry overall goes into a slump, just not as much as every other company.  (Even that's not true, though; sometimes a well-run company will lose "value" because it's presents a more expensive proposition for acquisition as others in its industry...markets and valuation are funny, funny things...) There's a wealth of information out there; just pick something and "read" it, everyday.  Don't rely on TV news; it doesn't allow you to discover a story and the facts in the same way that reading about it does.  On the other hand, podcasts can be pretty good, especially if you're the kind of learner who learns easier by listening (an "auditory" learner); chances are they might prompt more reading.  I'd read Nick Taleb's http://www.amazon.com/The-Black-Swan-Improbable-Robustness/dp/081297381X years ago when it first came out, but I didn't read "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antifragile:_Things_That_Gain_from_Disorder" until I heard Taleb being interviewed on a podcast, and I'm glad I did.   Check out http://freakonomics.com/category/freakonomics-radio/podcasts/, NPR's http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/, or any of the WSJ's podcasts (http://online.wsj.com/page/audio.html) to supplement your reading and substitute for some of your "economics" reading.  Sometimes, http://www.howstuffworks.com has fun stories about dry "economic" and "government" issues, too.   I listen to economics-type podcasts when walking the dogs, driving distances, or cleaning my house.  Reading takes time, focus and concentration.  It doesn't suit everyone; so don't sell yourself short by imagining that the only way you can develop good practical knowledge about economic conditions is doing hours and hours of reading every day.  Do what you can that works for you. Pick something and read it, to learn the jargon and language of economics and the markets; and supplement what you read with observations about your life and community.  We're each a part of the Economy and have our own anecdotal experience to contribute; your experiences might be just as valuable as any reporter's or other observer's, but for now, they're framed in a different language.  Read and learn daily, and over time you will learn that "other language", almost as if through osmosis; and you will accumulate a base of judgment and knowledge about current events and economics that will serve you well.

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Go to http://economistsview.typepad.com Read the articles, interact in the comments section, ask questions, share your perspective respectfully. Do this for a year and you'll understand more about markets, monetary policy, economic modeling, supply and demand, political economy, trade, etc than most people will ever know. You'll make good friends too. Far and away the best economics and current events site on the net. On a personal note I would add that Dr Thoma who runs the blog is a national treasure. I hope he's able to keep it up for many more years.

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Pick a GOOD news source (centrist editorially, worldwide coverage, time efficient to use) and give it an hour (more or less) each day. A good newspaper is often much more effective than TV news, if you can fit it into your schedule. Use that to identify areas of weakness in your background knowledge and pick up some good e-books which will fill in those gap. Put those on a pocket-size e-book and read it in waiting rooms, at coffee shops and at other downtimes (makes a good conversation starter in bars). Read for retention, lookup anything you don't understand.

First of all, don't worry about "getting up to speed." All those people who read all the same things each know the same stuff. There's nothing that sets any one of them apart. You should understand basic concepts and phenomena, like what happens when (not if) the Fed increases interest rates, and perhaps the basic scientific concepts behind climate change. In other words, know enough to understand what they're saying, and to know when they are mistaken. Beyond that, pick a particular area that interests you, and become truly knowledgeable about it. Don't limit yourself to the popular press. Find out where the reporters are getting their information, and go to the source. Read the appropriate academic journal(s). Engage the experts in the field in dialog, either via Twitter or other social media if they use it, or in person if possible, or even via email. Don't make a nuisance of yourself, but ask an occasional intelligent question.   Before long, you'll understand your chosen area of expertise far better than your peers. You will seem far more knowledgeable than them, because when you talk about what you know they will have NO idea what you're talking about.   Of course, if you want to read all the other stuff that everyone else reads, too, go for it... Some of it makes for entertaining dinner conversation.

What is important to remember about reading to stay informed is that the sources have their own influences and you must take those into account when reading the material to determine its accuracy or authenticity.  Since much of the mainstream media in America is controlled by oligarchical interests who have agendas in portraying the news in one fashion or another to elicit the right response from the populous, it behooves someone to broaden one's reading to include sources that might not be so mainstream but are perhaps much closer to the facts and the truth than the swill that passes for journalism at WSJ or NYT.  Looking at sources like Zerohedge, or the new firstlook-dot-org publication the Intercept, will help you triangulate better on what might actually be happening in the macroeconomic and political space that can affect investments and financial strategies.  With the political landscape driving more and more of a wedge between the powers that be and the general populous through poorly considered policies it makes it ever more an imperative to stay more informed and prepared for the inflection points that are coming in world trade and economics.  Given the move in Washington away from democratic and constitutional principles and further towards autocratic rule and corporate interests, one needs to wade further afield and find more independent sources of information that tend to get closer to the driving force in news and events.  Like Zerohedge and Techdirt, there is useful analysis as well as reporting, that can assist you in not only staying informed but also in acquiring the right analytical framework to judge the material you are seeing in the media regardless of source. The first answer though said it all.  Read everything and anything, and, like a good GPS unit, use your education and curiosity to triangulate on the correct set of material that is useful is helping you with your own life decisions.

As a beginner I would recommend the business section from USA today. I find that the articles are relevant and can be understood by most people. You could move up to wallstreet journal next as your understanding grew.