Where is the Money Going?
Our Government at Work: The Popcorn Board
Among the many overlooked corners of the U.S. government is the Popcorn Board. Created by a 1996 law and supervised by the Agricultural Marketing Service, the board consists of nine popcorn processors who each process at least 4 million pounds of ... read more
Citigroup Buys $50 Million Jet…Thanks for the Bailout
According to recent reports, Citigroup, one of the biggest recipients of bailout (TARP) funds, is purchasing a brand new $50 million Dassault Falcon 7X corporate jet for its executives. This news, if true, could put the bank in an awkward position... read more
Lemon Socialism: Robert Reich
Robert Reich highlights the fact that American taxpayers, through the current bailouts, are gaining part ownership of the weakest aspects of the U.S. economy—poorly managed banks, GM and Chrysler, Fannie and Freddie, while the industries with the ... read more
FBI Raids Murtha-Friendly Defense Contractor
Agents from the FBI, the IRS and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service raided the Windber, Pennsylvania, offices of Kuchera Industries and Kuchera Defense Systems. The Kuchera companies received $8.2 million in defense earmark contracts in 20... read more
Health Care Stimulus: Where Would the Money Go?
Now that the banks and large corporations are already receiving their bailout money, attention is turning to the Obama/Democratic proposal for stimulating the economy. In the House of Representatives, the Democrats have submitted an $825 billion p... read more
Bailout Recipients Use Overseas Tax Havens to Avoid U.S. Taxes
Sen. Carl Levin (D-Michigan), the head of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, estimates that the U.S. government loses $100 billion a year in lost taxes because 83 of the nation’s largest 100 corporations maintain subsidiaries in ... read more
Bailed-Out Banks Donate to Obama Inauguration
Where is the bailout money going? One place is to pay for Barack Obama’s inauguration. Reporting for the Huffington Post, Marcus Beram points out that bailout recipient Citibank has contributed at least $113,000 to the inauguration fund, Goldman S... read more
Federal Deficit Breaks Annual Record…In Just 3 Months
The U.S. deficit is doing its best impression of Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, racing to set new records with little visible effort. Last year’s record-setting annual budget deficit of $454.8 billion has already been broken by fiscal year 2009’s f... read more
U.S. Spends $52 Billion a Year on Nuclear Weapons
The United States spends at least $52.4 billion a year on nuclear weapons-related expenses. According to a report by the Carnegie Endowment, of this total, 56% ($29 billion) goes to operating, maintaining and upgrading the U.S. nuclear arsenal. On... read more
Five-Month Tax Holiday: Neal Boortz
Author and libertarian talk show host Neal Boortz has berated President-elect Obama’s proposed stimulus plan, writing, “He is proposing to use the occasion of an economic crisis to provide cover for increased government spending that he’s been pro... read more
Giving Bailout Advice is Profitable–for 7 Law Firms
You might think that with financial luminaries like Hank Paulson (former Goldman Sachs CEO) in charge of the Treasury Department, the government would need little outside help in determining how best to allocate bailout funds. Yet from October thr... read more
Bailing Out Dan Quayle
Although Larry Flynt’s attempt to secure $5 billion in bailout money may have been little more than a comedic ploy, it raised the question of who exactly is receiving government funds, and why they deserve it. Cerberus Capital Management, a premie... read more
Too Big to Fail: Dean Baker
In a recent article for the Boston Review, economist Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, reexamines the way the debate over deregulation has been defined. He writes, “In general, political debates over regulatio... read more
13,800 Ignored Regulations Cost Taxpayers $26 Billion
A new report (PDF) issued by Representatives Henry Waxman (D-CA), Ed Towns (D-NY), and Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) of the House Oversight Committee, has found that the Bush administration has squandered $26 billion by ignoring 13,800 recommend... read more
Will Obama Redefine Small Business?
In a January 5 press release, the American Small Business League (ASBL) announced its fear that, “the Obama stimulus plan may change the long-standing federal definition of a small business as being ‘independently owned,’ to include firms that are... read more
Madoff, the Failure of the SEC and Rescuing the Rich
Although Bernard Madoff has become the poster child of the collapse, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) carries a heavy share in the responsibility for ignoring Madoff’s impossibly consistent returns; they even ignored years of warnings ... read more
Where is the Money Going?
Our Government at Work: The Popcorn Board
Among the many overlooked corners of the U.S. government is the Popcorn Board. Created by a 1996 law and supervised by the Agricultural Marketing Service, the board consists of nine popcorn processors who each process at least 4 million pounds of ... read more
Citigroup Buys $50 Million Jet…Thanks for the Bailout
According to recent reports, Citigroup, one of the biggest recipients of bailout (TARP) funds, is purchasing a brand new $50 million Dassault Falcon 7X corporate jet for its executives. This news, if true, could put the bank in an awkward position... read more
Lemon Socialism: Robert Reich
Robert Reich highlights the fact that American taxpayers, through the current bailouts, are gaining part ownership of the weakest aspects of the U.S. economy—poorly managed banks, GM and Chrysler, Fannie and Freddie, while the industries with the ... read more
FBI Raids Murtha-Friendly Defense Contractor
Agents from the FBI, the IRS and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service raided the Windber, Pennsylvania, offices of Kuchera Industries and Kuchera Defense Systems. The Kuchera companies received $8.2 million in defense earmark contracts in 20... read more
Health Care Stimulus: Where Would the Money Go?
Now that the banks and large corporations are already receiving their bailout money, attention is turning to the Obama/Democratic proposal for stimulating the economy. In the House of Representatives, the Democrats have submitted an $825 billion p... read more
Bailout Recipients Use Overseas Tax Havens to Avoid U.S. Taxes
Sen. Carl Levin (D-Michigan), the head of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, estimates that the U.S. government loses $100 billion a year in lost taxes because 83 of the nation’s largest 100 corporations maintain subsidiaries in ... read more
Bailed-Out Banks Donate to Obama Inauguration
Where is the bailout money going? One place is to pay for Barack Obama’s inauguration. Reporting for the Huffington Post, Marcus Beram points out that bailout recipient Citibank has contributed at least $113,000 to the inauguration fund, Goldman S... read more
Federal Deficit Breaks Annual Record…In Just 3 Months
The U.S. deficit is doing its best impression of Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, racing to set new records with little visible effort. Last year’s record-setting annual budget deficit of $454.8 billion has already been broken by fiscal year 2009’s f... read more
U.S. Spends $52 Billion a Year on Nuclear Weapons
The United States spends at least $52.4 billion a year on nuclear weapons-related expenses. According to a report by the Carnegie Endowment, of this total, 56% ($29 billion) goes to operating, maintaining and upgrading the U.S. nuclear arsenal. On... read more
Five-Month Tax Holiday: Neal Boortz
Author and libertarian talk show host Neal Boortz has berated President-elect Obama’s proposed stimulus plan, writing, “He is proposing to use the occasion of an economic crisis to provide cover for increased government spending that he’s been pro... read more
Giving Bailout Advice is Profitable–for 7 Law Firms
You might think that with financial luminaries like Hank Paulson (former Goldman Sachs CEO) in charge of the Treasury Department, the government would need little outside help in determining how best to allocate bailout funds. Yet from October thr... read more
Bailing Out Dan Quayle
Although Larry Flynt’s attempt to secure $5 billion in bailout money may have been little more than a comedic ploy, it raised the question of who exactly is receiving government funds, and why they deserve it. Cerberus Capital Management, a premie... read more
Too Big to Fail: Dean Baker
In a recent article for the Boston Review, economist Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, reexamines the way the debate over deregulation has been defined. He writes, “In general, political debates over regulatio... read more
13,800 Ignored Regulations Cost Taxpayers $26 Billion
A new report (PDF) issued by Representatives Henry Waxman (D-CA), Ed Towns (D-NY), and Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) of the House Oversight Committee, has found that the Bush administration has squandered $26 billion by ignoring 13,800 recommend... read more
Will Obama Redefine Small Business?
In a January 5 press release, the American Small Business League (ASBL) announced its fear that, “the Obama stimulus plan may change the long-standing federal definition of a small business as being ‘independently owned,’ to include firms that are... read more
Madoff, the Failure of the SEC and Rescuing the Rich
Although Bernard Madoff has become the poster child of the collapse, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) carries a heavy share in the responsibility for ignoring Madoff’s impossibly consistent returns; they even ignored years of warnings ... read more