Where is the Money Going?
Happy Days for Goldman Sachs
Many giants of Wall Street are still struggling to rebound from the collapse last year. Morgan Stanley is expected to report a loss for its second quarter of 2009, while Citigroup and Bank of America are barely getting by with the help of the fede... read more
Alternatives to Prison: It’s About Money, Not Ideology
For almost three decades officials in Texas had a single approach to convicted criminals: lock ‘em up. But after watching its prison population explode by more than 500%, and facing a shrinking state budget, conservative lawmakers embraced alterna... read more
Banks Should be Thanking Us, Not Charging Us More: Jim Hightower
Jim Hightower is still waiting for his “thank you” card from the bailed-out banks. He argues that every taxing-paying citizen deserves a big “thanks” from the financial industry for the trillion-dollar bailout that kept it from going belly up from... read more
Foreclosure Sales Crash Normal Home Sales; No Mortgages for Self-Employed
Recent statistics showing an uptick in the housing market are skewed by the fact that almost half of all homes sales in April were resells of foreclosures, in large part because traditional sales have been dulled by what some call “idiotic” standa... read more
IRS Loses Track of 448 Taxpayers Who Owe More Than $1 Million Each
Instead of telling his Cabinet to make minor reductions in their budgets, President Barack Obama might want to ask the IRS to start collecting more than $1 billion in back taxes that the agency has forgotten about. A new report from the Treasury I... read more
Pork Plant Workers Win Union Contract after 17-Year Fight
Despite recent losses by unions in the auto industry and rising debate among unions over reform in the health care industry, there are definite signs of success for unions in the meat packing industry. The 17-year uphill struggle to unionize emplo... read more
House Bill to Stop Congressional Insider Trading
It is illegal for anyone working on Wall Street to use non-public information to help them make investment decisions in the stock market. But the same insider trading restrictions do not apply to Congress, whose members and staffers are free to us... read more
Health Care Costs Rise, but Malpractice Payments Fall Dramatically
Doctors may still be paying big bucks for malpractice insurance, but the amount paid out in malpractice awards actually makes up an ever-shrinking piece of health care costs in the United States, according to a new study published by Public Citize... read more
Drug Industry Concession: Smoke and Mirrors
It remains to be seen if the pharmaceutical industry’s offer to provide discounts valued at $80 billion over the next 10 years will really produce savings, considering drug manufacturers may actually make money from their proposal.
A big part... read more
Obama Staff Salaries 15% Higher Than Bush Staffers
Even though President Barack Obama followed through with his pledge to freeze the salaries of White House staffers making more than $100,000, Team Obama is making 15% more than what George W. Bush’s crew made in 2008. An analysis by National Journ... read more
$423,500 Government Grant to Study Why Men Don’t Like Condoms
Is the issue of why men don’t like to wear condoms worth almost half a million dollars in taxpayer money? That’s the question some government watchdogs are asking over the decision by the National Institutes of Health to pay Indiana University’s K... read more
FTC Chairman Urges End to “Pay-For-Delay” Payments
It’s time to end the practice of pharmaceutical companies paying competitors to postpone the introduction of generic drugs into the market, says the new head of the Federal Trade Commission. For example, Bayer paid almost $400 million to Barr and ... read more
Obama Budget Takes $71 Billion from Richest 1%
President Barack Obama promised during the 2008 campaign to spread the wealth, and so far he’s doing just that, according to the non-partisan Tax Foundation. In its latest of a series of special reports on Obama’s fiscal policies, the foundation c... read more
Why Americans Pay More for Health Care and Get Less
Between steady cost increases in the private health care market and a lack of willpower on the part of Congress with Medicare, it’s no wonder the United States is facing skyrocketing costs for its medical care. According to the Department of Healt... read more
Health Industry Spending $1.4 Million a Day on Lobbyists
Imagine spending $1.4 million every day since the beginning of this year to convince Congress to do right by you. That’s the amount the health industry has averaged with its lobbying expenditures from January to June on Capitol Hill, while lawmake... read more
Madoff Client Made More Than Madoff Himself: $5 Billion
On Monday morning, U.S. District Court Judge Denny Chin will decide if Bernard Madoff will spend the rest of his life in prison. Of the more than 1,300 individuals swindled by Madoff, one investor who can’t say he was victimized by the now-infamou... read more