Where is the Money Going?

45% of Americans Try to Include Organic Foods in their Diet…and 15% Try to Avoid Them

Regionally, organic foods rated the highest in the West (54%), followed by 47% in the Midwest, 43% in the South and 39% in the East. Half of urbanities say they try to eat organic foods, while 46% of those in the suburbs said the same thing. Only 37% of rural and small-town residents try to include organic foods in their diets. read more

Three-Quarters of Small Wind Turbines Produced in U.S. are Sold to other Countries

Producers of small wind turbines in the United States aren’t selling as many of their units to American operators, so they’ve shifted their sales efforts to foreign buyers. The move comes largely because Congress did not renew a $13 billion subsidy, the Wind Production Tax Credit (WPTC), designed to help the wind industry in the U.S. read more

$3 Billion Job Training Program Can Lead to Debt instead of Work

A big mistake in developing the program, according to Williams, was a lack of proper government oversight. The feds provided money for the program, while the states took care of licensing training programs. However, officials are prohibited from recommending schools to prospective students, which leaves unscrupulous colleges an opening to exploit those looking for a new career. read more

Job Openings Hit 13-Year High

The one discordant note is that hiring has not risen at the same rate as job openings. Openings are up 17.6% in the past year, while hires have increased only 9.3%. Some economists say it’s because companies might not be offering high enough wages. Others say the disparity is because of a mismatch between the jobs that are available and the skills of job seekers. For example, a former factory worker wouldn’t necessarily be qualified to fill a nursing position. read more

Patent Office Hid Details of Workers Lying about Hours from Inspector General

A Patent Office employee put a “mouse-mover” program on his computer so it would appear he was working. It was noticed by a manager, who reported it up the chain of command, but no action was taken. Many employees did little work until the end of each quarter, when they’d rush to complete their required tasks before their deadline. Meanwhile, the agency has fallen behind on processing patent applications, creating a backlog of more than 600,000 requests. read more

SEC Charges Kansas State Government with Bond Fraud

Between 2009 and 2010, officials made eight bond offerings. But at no time did they inform bond investors that Kansas’ public-employee pension was the second-most underfunded in the United States. At one point, the gap between the fund’s liabilities and assets reached $8.3 billion. read more

Women Own 30% of U.S. Businesses, but only get 4% of Federal Contract Dollars

Women’s business-ownership more than doubled following the passage of the Women’s Business Ownership Act in 1988, going from 4.1 million small businesses to 8.6 million by last year. Women now own 30% of all businesses. But “Only 4 percent of the total dollar value of all small business loans goes to women entrepreneurs,” the report states. read more

DEA Paid Amtrak Secretary $850,000 for Passenger Lists Available for Free

The DEA forked over $854,460 over a 20-year period to a secretary-turned-snitch. The DEA was involved in a joint drug enforcement task force with Amtrak Police during the payoffs—and it could have easily gotten the information through this channel without paying a dime, the IG reported, leading to speculation that DEA officials didn’t trust their legitimate Amtrak partners. read more

Truck Driver Pay has Plunged over Last 4 Years

Truck drivers’ salaries have declined since the Great Recession, from more than $42,500 a year in 2009 to $40,940 last year. The drop is even larger going back to 2003, when the average trucker salary was more than $43,000 annually. In addition, the industry is having trouble replacing retired drivers with younger workers who are reluctant to take a job that involves long hours and sometimes weeks at a time on the road. read more

Credit Scores to Change as FICO Discounts Paid Debts and Medical Debt

FICO announced last week that it would give less weight to medical debts when factoring credit scores—a significant move considering the debts account for about half of all unpaid collections on consumers’ credit reports. The company also said paid collections would no longer cause scores to be downgraded. . It might take a year or more for the changes to be adopted by lending institutions. read more

Medicare Use of Expensive Pig Gland Drug Grows, while Military System and others Limit Use

Medicare, which accounts for about a quarter of Acthar prescriptions, pays an average of $41,763 per prescription for the drug and spent $141.5 million on it in 2012. The 2013 bill may reach $220 million. Despite the growing use of Acthar, there are no scientific studies showing that the drug works any better than cheaper alternatives for the conditions for which it’s prescribed. read more

Proposed $16 Billion Mortgage Loan Settlement against Bank of America not so Bad for BofA as it Appears

Obama administration officials are trumpeting a penalty levied against Bank of America for peddling bad mortgages last decade. But the settlement announced by the Department of Justice may not be nearly as tough on the bank as officials claim, because it will be able to write-off a substantial portion of the cost. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan agreed to the settlement after months of stalling. read more

Defense Dept. Can’t Close Useless Billion-Dollar Health Care Program until Congress Acts

Known as the U.S. Family Health Plan (USFHP), the program serves more than 130,000 military dependents and retirees, but not active duty military personnel. However the services it provides are largely duplicative of those offered by Tricare, the Department of Defense’s main health care system. read more

Who’s Funding the Anti-Marijuana Movement? Private Prisons, Prison Guards, Police and Alcohol, Beer and Pharmaceutical Companies

If the country stops waging its war on drugs, including marijuana, fewer government dollars will flow to police efforts to address this public policy issue. Municipalities will also receive less money from property seized in drug raids. States that legalize marijuana use are likely to experience a decline in prison populations—and that will reduce the need for government to hire private prison companies and correctional officers. read more

National Archives Inspector General Paid more than $350,000 while being Investigated for Misconduct

The council also said it was “particularly disturbed by the comments Brachfeld made concerning interracial marriage, comments concerning pregnant women, and comments indicating that [he] was interested in dating NARA employees or contractors.” One reason the investigation, and Brachfeld’s suspension, took so long was because the council meets only four times a year. read more

Justice Dept. Zeroes in on Sub-Prime Auto Loans

A New York Times investigation revealed that GM Financial had given some sub-prime car loans to individuals who lacked sufficient income or employment to be reliable candidates for borrowing. In some instances, loan officers apparently doctored applications, claiming borrowers had more money than they actually had, or were employed when they weren’t. read more