Where is the Money Going?

Bank Databases Intended to Detect Fraudsters Now Used to Keep Bank Accounts from Low-Income Americans

Banks are using bounced checks and overdrafts to blacklist more than a million low-income individuals. The rejections can last as long as seven years, when the black marks disappear from databases used exclusively by banks. These private databases were first established 20 years ago to help banks combat fraud. Now, however, institutions like Bank of America, Citibank and Wells Fargo use them to avoid providing accounts to risky customers. read more

USDA Paid $36 Million in Aid Money to Dead Farmers for Four Years

The biggest mistakes were made by USDA's Risk Management Agency, which issues crop insurance. Between 2008 and 2012, the agency paid 3,434 policyholders a combined $22 million in subsidies one or two years after their death. Similar mistakes were made by the Natural Resources Conservation Service, which paid out $10.6 million to 1,103 individuals one year or more after their death. read more

Utility Companies Fight the Spread of Rooftop Solar Panels

Out in California, home to the biggest solar market in the U.S., three major utilities want state officials to save them from a subsidy program that they claim could soon drain them of $1.4 billion annually. Advocates of renewable energy scoff at such statements, saying utility companies are exaggerating their losses. They also wonder why company profits should take precedent over the finances of individual American citizens. read more

Income Inequality and Outsourcing of Manufacturing Leads to Growing Poverty for White Americans

Four out of five U.S. adults will struggle with joblessness, near poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives—products of growing income inequality and the outsourcing of American jobs, particularly in the manufacturing sector, since the 1970s. read more

Did Campaign Contributions Influence Representatives who Voted in Favor of NSA Phone Spying?

During a two-year period ending December 31, 2012, the 217 “no” voters received on average more than twice as much cash ($41,635) from the defense and intelligence industries than did the 205 “yes” voters ($18,765). The donations totaled $12.97 million. Of the top 10 recipients of defense dollars, only one House member—Rep. Jim Moran (D-Virginia)—voted to end the program read more

Mortgage Company Sued for Giving Bonuses to Employees who Steered Homeowners to Bad Deals

The litigation represents the first time that CFPB has gone after a financial institution for this kind of business practice, which was common before the financial crisis last decade. Castle & Cooke violated a federal prohibition on paying loan officers more when they sell loans with higher interest rates and fees. read more

First Organization to Spend a Billion Dollars on Lobbying: U.S. Chamber of Commerce

As of the second quarter of 2013, the Chamber has allocated $1,002,845,680 on lobbying over the past 15 years. No other lobbying force in Washington, DC, has spent a billion dollars to influence decision-making, or come even close to that amount. General Electric, the next highest spender, has spent only $294 million over the same period. read more

AMA Helps Doctors Overbill Medicare by Exaggerating Time Needed for Procedures

Analyzing data from Florida, the Post found that “If the AMA time estimates are correct, then 41 percent of gastroenterologists, 23 percent of ophthalmologists and 17 percent of orthopedic surgeons were typically performing 12 hours or more of procedures in a day, which is longer than the typical outpatient surgery center is open.” read more

Exploiting Regulation Loophole, Goldman Sachs Gains Billions from Warehousing Aluminum

By shuffling the aluminum around, it increases the storage time and thus the amount Goldman charges manufacturers that use the metal, such as for soda cans or beer cans. According to the Times report, since Goldman bought Metro in 2010, the average wait time for customers to have their purchases located and delivered has grown from six weeks to sixteen months. read more

If You Want your Children to Climb Income Ladder, Leave the South, Move to Neighborhood with Good Schools and Two-Parent Families

The researchers identified three other factors that contributed to economic mobility besides geography: “upward mobility tended to be higher in metropolitan areas where poor families were more dispersed among mixed-income neighborhoods;” income mobility was higher in areas with more two-parent households; and areas with better schools and more involvement in religious groups and community groups. read more

Lawsuit Accuses Texas of Taxing Small Tobacco Companies to Help Big Tobacco

When he signed the bill, Gov. Perry said the law “was designed...to protect the market share of the Big Tobacco manufacturers.” The plaintiffs agree, saying Big Tobacco’s lobbyists pushed lawmakers into adopting the legislation. read more

Taxpayer Funds Used to Maintain Confederate Graves and Memorials

The issue comes down to this: Should the graves of those who actively committed treason against the United States by taking up arms against it be decorated by the government they tried to overthrow? The federal government does not pay to maintain the memories of Loyalists who fought for the British during the American Revolution, nor for the Irish-Americans who formed St. Patrick’s Battalion to defend Mexico during the Mexican-American War. read more

Raising Roof of New Nuclear Weapons Complex by 13 Feet Adds $540 Million in Cost and Heightened Risk

When it was first proposed, the project was expected to cost a total of $1.1 billion to complete. Now, that figure has soared to $6.5 billion, and the cost might increase further because the roof revision burned through nearly half of NNSA “contingency” funds, the GAO found. read more

With a Straight Face, McDonald’s Advises Employees how to Make the most of Their Meager Pay

Food wasn’t listed in the budget, so perhaps McDonald’s assumed that cost would come out of the $27 for daily living it recommended. Daniel Gross at The Daily Beast noted that if a McDonald’s employee is a teenager living at home, the budget might make sense. “And time was, people in such a situation comprised a big chunk of McDonald’s workforce,” he wrote.“But that’s no longer the case." read more

Dramatic Drop in Cocaine Use in U.S.

Part of the drop is attributed to old-fashioned economics. The cocaine industry has branched out, increasing exports to Europe and “emerging markets.” This, combined with a reduction in production in Colombia and increased adulteration of cocaine being sold in the United States, has led to a near-doubling in prices, which, in turn has led drug users to turn to cheaper products such as methamphetamines and bath salts. read more

U.S. Government See Biggest Budget Surplus in 5 Years

The primary reason for the good budget news is the slowly recovering economy. June’s unemployment rate of 7.6% was down from 8.2% last year, net corporate income taxes were up by $29 billion, payments to the Treasury from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are on the rise, and American employers added 195,000 workers in June. read more