Where is the Money Going?
Billions More Wasted on Anti-Drug Contracts in Latin America
It’s impossible to know if the federal government is effectively spending billions of dollars on contractors to help fight the nation’s war on drugs, says a U.S. senator.
Democrat Claire McCaskill of Missouri, chair of the Subcommittee on Co... read more
AT&T Buys Support for T-Mobile Takeover by Funding Liberal Groups
AT&T is now reaping the benefits of making large donations to various liberal groups, now that it needs public support for its acquisition of T-Mobile.
In recent years, AT&T has provided funding to the following, all of which have publicly d... read more
Big 5 Defense Contractors Not Hurt by Their Multiple Cases of Misconduct
Getting into trouble has not put a damper on business for the nation’s largest defense contractors.
According to the Department of Defense’s rankings for 2010, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics and Raytheon continue... read more
Billions Wasted on Unsustainable Projects in Iraq and Afghanistan
America’s efforts to carry out nation-building in Iraq and Afghanistan could end up wasting billions of taxpayer dollars once the U.S. military pulls out of both countries.
An examination of projects by the Commission on Wartime Contracting ... read more
Spending Taxpayer Money: Creating a Video Game to Teach Latinas to Resist Boys
Here is another installment in AllGov’s series of ways in which the federal government spends money on dubious projects.
Just Have Your Avatar Say No
Project: Video Game to Teach Girls How to Resist Boys
Location: University of Central Flo... read more
Federal Court Rules U.S. Owes Native Americans 17 Years of Unpaid Funding
A federal appeals court has sided with a group of Native American tribes who claim they have been shortchanged by the U.S. government for nearly two decades over money designated to support reservation life.
Under the 1975 Indian Self-Determ... read more
Hospitals Prepare for—and Resist—New Medicare Law that Rewards Keeping Costs Down
Seeking to bring down costs, the Obama administration is implementing a program that collects data on how much hospitals bill the Medicare program for patient care—and hospitals are not happy about it. Hospital payments account for the largest s... read more
SEC Illegally Bought $1 Million Worth of Useless Apple Computer Equipment
In addition to bungling its job looking for billion-dollar Wall Street fraudsters, such as Bernard Madoff, or allowing employees to surf for porn, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) itself broke the law by buying faulty computers.
... read more
Budget Cuts Eliminated Free Books for Children Program
Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), the nation’s largest organization providing free books to children, has lost all of its federal funding as a result of the budget deal between President Barack Obama and House Republicans. Federal funding has surviv... read more
Republican “Grassroots” Group that Spent Millions on 2010 election Had only 11 Blades
The American Action Network is not nearly the voice of the masses as it has claimed.
Although it bills itself as a “network,” tax filings by the so-called Republican grassroots organization for 2010 have revealed it accepted $2.75 million in... read more
Super Rich Go from Paying Taxes to Lending Money to Government: Robert Reich
The United States has gone from relying on its rich for tax revenues to relying on them for loans, an economic turnabout that hasn’t been good for the country, writes Robert Reich, a professor at UC Berkeley and former labor secretary under Presid... read more
Senate Retains $2 Billion in Annual Tax Breaks for Big 5 Oil Companies
Big Oil is getting to keep its billion-dollar federal tax breaks, for the time being.
On a mostly partisan vote, the U.S. Senate defeated an attempt to eliminate government subsidies for five top petroleum producers: BP, Exxon Mobil, Shell, ... read more
Legal Aid for the Poor on the Budget Cutting Block
Non-profits providing free legal assistance to the poor have fallen on tough times as a result of budget cuts and the weak economy.
The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is a quasi-corporation created by the federal government in 1974 that pr... read more
House Republicans Move to Eliminate Grants for Teaching American History
Republicans in the U.S House have introduced legislation to eliminate funding for grants from the U.S. Department of Education to teach American History, labeling such expenditures a waste of money.
The Teaching American History grant program,... read more
IRS May Tax Donations to Anonymous Political Groups
Wealthy political donors may find themselves owing back taxes to the IRS, which has indicated a willingness to enforce a long forgotten rule on taxing large contributions to certain types of groups involved in election campaigns.
IRS officia... read more
VA Orders 600,000 PCs from Dell Despite Internal Criticism of Previous Dell Contract
Neither the Department of Veterans Affairs nor Dell Inc. have bothered to make a big deal out of announcing a new contract worth nearly half a billion dollars, prompting speculation over why.
Quietly revealed on a federal government website (F... read more