Where is the Money Going?
Energy Dept. Set to Announce $18 Billion in Nuclear Reactor Loan Guarantees
Picking up where the Bush administration left off, the Department of Energy under President Barack Obama is preparing to make more than $18 billion available to the nuclear power industry for building new reactors. The loan guarantees were approve... read more
War Costs Americans More Than All State Governments Combined: Sherwood Ross
America has become a “warfare state,” spending more on its military than state or local governments do to provide for their citizens’ welfare, according to former journalist Sherwood Ross. Each year, Department of Defense expenditures exceed that ... read more
Welfare for the Rich: Taxpayers Help Goldman Sachs Build New Headquarters
Goldman Sachs made a record profit of $11.6 billion in 2007, and could eclipse that total by the end of this year. The firm received substantial assistance last year from Washington’s Wall Street bailout program, and soon it will move into a brand... read more
Census Used to Distribute At Least $478 Billion a Year…and Create One Million Jobs
The census taken every 10 years by the U.S. government is much more than just an exercise in counting heads. It is responsible for either spending or distributing billions of dollars throughout the country and into the economy, something a recessi... read more
Minorities Gain Little from Small Business Recovery Loans
Minority-owned small businesses have largely been shut out of the federal government’s economic recovery plan. Using information obtained from the Small Business Administration (SBA), New America Media (NAM) found that more than 90% of loans funde... read more
Average Hourly Wage Drops, but Hours Worked Rises
Americans are working longer hours and making less money, according to the latest figures compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. From October to November, real average hourly earnings fell 0.5%, thanks to a modest rise in inflation that offse... read more
Federal Workers are Overpaid: Michael Medved
Sure, Wall Street is getting paid too much—but what about the bloated federal bureaucracy? Conservative columnist and radio host Michael Medved wonders where the outrage is over “the shocking salary increases” for government workers in charge of a... read more
Lieberman Statement Sends Health Insurance Stocks Up
Holiday treats came early this year for the health insurance industry—not from Santa Claus but from U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT). The stock prices of major insurers rose on Monday after Lieberman threatened to join Republicans and delay consi... read more
Treasury Dept. Workers Most Likely to Pay Taxes; Government Printing Office 6X More Delinquent
Uncle Sam has a hard time getting his own employees to pay their taxes. More than $3 billion is owed by U.S. government workers from 2008, an amount only slightly smaller than that of the previous year ($3.6 billion).
More than 276,000 employe... read more
Is U.S. Economy Headed for Another Fall? Watch Out for “Dollar Carry Trades”
The party once again could be over on Wall Street, depending on how the market responds next year to a decline in the “dollar carry trade.” Since the Federal Reserve last year lowered interest rates to near zero, investors have been borrowing the ... read more
Colorado VA Clerk Wins Federal Cost-Cutting Contest
It took a federal employee contest for the Department of Veterans Affairs to realize that throwing out medicine constitutes a waste of money. Last spring, President Barack Obama asked government employees to submit their cost-savings ideas to make... read more
A New Way to Collect Taxes: William Cox
“Stupid and complex” is how author and attorney William Cox characterizes the current system of taxation in the United States. Over time, the burden of taxes has increasingly fallen upon the middle-class, and that needs to change, Cox argues. Ther... read more
Ginnie Mae Ignored Warnings and Threw Away Taxpayer Money
More than three dozen mortgage companies with shady histories of lending were given the stamp of approval by Ginnie Mae (aka the Government National Mortgage Association), which played a significant role in the housing crisis by helping banks pack... read more
Immigrants Increase at Top and Bottom of Workforce; Highest Percentage in 80 Years
America’s labor force is made up of more immigrants today than anytime since the early 20th century, comprising 16% of all workers. Not since before 1920, when the rate was 21%, have so many foreign-born individuals held jobs in the United States.... read more
Main Reason for Dropping Out of College? Money
If President Barack Obama wants to increase the number of college graduates in order to make the United States more competitive internationally, he will have to find ways to make financial assistance more available. A new study from the Bill & Mel... read more
Obama Administration Agrees to Settle 13-Year-Old Indian Lawsuit for $3.4 Billion
Ending one of the longest and most complicated lawsuits ever brought against the U.S. government, attorneys representing American Indians have won a $3.4 billion settlement from the Department of the Interior. The suit was brought because of alleg... read more