Where is the Money Going?
Obama Orders Agencies to Stop Paying Dead People
Seeking ways to cut wasteful spending, President Barack Obama has ordered the Department of the Treasury, the Office of Management and Budget and the General Services Administration to create a database for federal agencies to use in order to stop... read more
Women are Better Investors than Men
Men’s aggressive nature makes them less successful than women when it comes to playing the stock market. Researchers studied more than 29,000 men and 8,000 women who invested in stocks in the 1990s, and found men traded more but made less on their... read more
Virtual Border Fence Turning into a Money-Waster
Building a reliable “virtual” border fence in the American Southwest is not close to becoming a practical reality. Since 2006, the Department of Homeland Security has spent about $1 billion to deploy and test detection systems along small stretche... read more
NASA Sued over Small Business Contracts with Defense Giants
An organization representing small businesses is suing NASA because the space agency refuses to release records of its contracts. The American Small Business League suspects NASA has improperly awarded contracts intended for small businesses to Un... read more
Many Members of Congress Invest in Businesses They Oversee
Lawmakers in Congress are big believers in doing unto others as they would not do unto themselves, when it comes to financial conflicts of interest. While representatives and senators are happy to pass laws forbidding federal officials from having... read more
Members of Congress Spend $3.7 Million a Day…On Themselves
Over one recent six-month period, the members of the U.S. House of Representatives spent more than $670 million on staff salaries, travel, supplies and contracting out for services—an average of $3.7 million a day for expenditures. Using data coll... read more
Limiting Incarceration of Non-Violent Offenders Could Save Billions
Sentencing reform for non-violent offenders could lead to billion-dollar reductions in state and local corrections budgets, argues the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) in a new report.
The authors of “The High Budgetary Costs of ... read more
Hedge Fund Managers Fight Off Higher Taxes
Democrats in Congress are backing off from getting tough with hedge fund managers over taxes. Last month in the House, Democrats approved legislation that would tax 75% of earnings for managers of hedge funds, private-equity funds, venture capital... read more
Federal Government Loses Billions in Estate Tax after Just One Death
Thanks to legislation pushed by President George W. Bush in 2001, Americans receiving wealthy inheritances this year won’t have to pay estate taxes. The one-year lapse in the tax has already cost the U.S. Treasury billions of dollars from just one... read more
Brand Name Drugs Rise in Price; Generics Go Down
While Congress struggled to adopt national healthcare reform throughout last year and into the beginning of 2010, pharmaceutical manufacturers continued to hike the price of name-brand medications.
An analysis of drug prices by the AARP Public... read more
Is Congress Just a Stepping Stone to a Life of Lobbying?...Financial Sector
Many ex-lawmakers who have joined the “Shadow Congress”—those who have gone into lobbying after leaving office—have accepted lucrative assignments to help push the agendas of the financial sector.
Analysis of federal disclosure records by Publ... read more
Is Congress Just a Stepping Stone to a Life of Lobbying?
More than 170 former members of Congress are now working as lobbyists in Washington, DC, according to an assessment by TPMMuckraker.
While a few of these lawmakers-turned-lobbyists were leaders in the House or Senate, such as former Democratic... read more
New Law May Force Small Businesses to Increase 1099 Forms by More Than 1,000%
Small business owners are facing the prospect of spending considerably more time on tax-related paperwork come 2012, thanks to a new regulation adopted by the IRS.
Currently, small businesses have to complete the IRS Form 1099 only if they pay... read more
U.S. Accounts for 44% of World’s Military Spending
Russia and China, still considered major military powers, have nothing on the United States when it comes to comparing these nations’ defense expenditures to that of the entire world. Russian and Chinese appropriations for warfare each represent a... read more
Buying Allies in Afghanistan
Nawa province in Afghanistan is being used to demonstrate the carrot is mightier than the stick. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is in the process of spending $30 million over nine months in this impoverished territory to und... read more
House Votes to Allow Auditing of Intelligence Agencies
Despite previous veto threats from the White House, the House of Representatives adopted an amendment to a defense authorization bill that would give the Government Accountability Office the power to audit intelligence agencies. The proposal, auth... read more