Where is the Money Going?
World Trade Organization Tells Obama Administration to Stop Subsidizing Boeing
The ongoing fight between the United States and Europe over subsidies to the world’s two largest commercial aircraft manufacturers is soaring, now that European officials scored one back with an international trade body.
The World Trade Orga... read more
Reagan Raised Taxes to Create Jobs; Why Can’t Obama?: Paul Abrams
Who says you can’t raise taxes during bad economic times, writes physician and consultant Paul Abrams. Conservatives and media pundits have yammered incessantly lately over President Barack Obama’s intention to allow tax breaks for the wealthiest ... read more
Obesity May Cost U.S. $215 Billion a Year
America’s expanding waste line is really hitting the wallet, according to researchers Ross Hammond and Ruth Levine. In their recent paper published by Dove Press, the Brookings Institution scholars calculated that obesity is now costing the coun... read more
Gulf Oil Spill…Questionable Federal Contracts
John Brooks Rice of New Orleans received $18,000 from the federal government to monitor media coverage of the Obama administration’s handling of the Gulf oil crisis for two months. A spokesman for the Coast Guard has said that it expects BP to r... read more
Taxpayer-Owned GM Pays New CEO $9 Million
General Motors, which still is controlled by the federal government since the auto industry bailout, plans to pay its new chief executive officer, Dan Akerson, about $9 million, between salary ($1.7 million) and stock options ($7.3 million).
... read more
Richest Members of Congress Got Richer During Recession
The Great Recession really was a great time for many members of Congress. While millions of Americans lost jobs and homes and struggled to pay bills, the 50 richest lawmakers managed during 2009 to pad their wealth with another $85 million colle... read more
Gates Suggests Raising Health Care Premiums for Employed Veterans
With the Department of Defense staring at enormous cost increases for its health care program, Defense Secretary Robert Gates is proposing raising premiums for the first time ever since the creation of the Tricare system in 1996.
Health care... read more
Church Foreclosures Triple in Less than 3 Years
Many residents throughout the U.S. who are struggling to cope with tough economic times may not even have their neighborhood church to turn to for comfort, given the rate of foreclosures affecting the houses of God.
Like millions of Americans,... read more
As Budgets are Cut, Parents Buy Janitorial Supplies for Schools
Parents these days not only must send their children to school with supplies for education, but also sanitation. With school budgets tighter than ever, districts are asking parents to provide such things as cotton balls, facial tissues, toilet pap... read more
Our Government Spent Two Trillion Dollars on Defense and All We Got was Two Wars and Some Hardware
The Department of Defense appears to be getting less bang for its buck, while spending more than $2 trillion over the last 12 years, according to assessments by military watchdogs.
From 1998 until this year, the Pentagon’s annual budget went f... read more
Ownership of Life Insurance Hits 50-Year Low
Financial struggles are causing millions of Americans to skip owning life insurance, despite the increasing risks to families if a primary income earner should die. A study by the insurance industry-funded research firm LIMRA found that only 44% o... read more
The Other Defense Dept: 75% of Energy Budget Goes to Nuclear Security
The Department of Energy likes to play up the fact that it’s investing in new technologies to power America, from wind to solar to even nuclear reactors. But most of the money the Energy Department spends is defense-oriented.
In the next feder... read more
VA Expands Agent Orange Benefits for Thousands of Vietnam Vets
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is expected to spend an additional $40 billion in the next ten years to provide health services to Vietnam veterans who became ill as a result of exposure to Agent Orange and other herbicides used during the... read more
Which Members of Congress Receive Most Money from Oil Industry and Environmentalists?
OpenSecrets.org, the website of the Center for Responsive Politics, has made it possible to find out which members of Congress are cozy with the oil and gas industry, and which ones rake in the green from the environmental movement.
After comb... read more
Federal Court Again Orders Federal Reserve to Release Records of Bailed Out Banks
The fight over the release of Federal Reserve documents revealing which banks received emergency bailout funds from the Fed during the height of the 2008 financial crisis appears headed to the U.S. Supreme Court, now that the financial industry ha... read more
Meet the Only New Bank to Open This Year
Banks by the hundreds have been closing in recent years during the recession and the weak economic recovery. The tough climate has made it difficult for new financial institutions to get off the ground—in fact, only one new federally-insured bank ... read more