Where is the Money Going?
U.S. Sues KBR for Billing Taxpayers for Private Armed Guards
As part of its contract with the federal government, defense contractor KBR Inc. agreed to rely on the U.S. Army for security in war zones. But instead of doing this, KBR hired private security guards—and billed the government for the unauthorized... read more
Melting Arctic Opens Profit Opportunities for Oil, Gold, Tourism
Less ice in the Arctic Ocean means more opportunities for all kinds of industries, from tourism to natural resources. A new report to Congress says global warming is likely to result in more exploration for oil and natural gas once the summer ice... read more
Navy Considering Renting Commercial Runways
Unable to get the new airfield it needs, the U.S. Navy is considering renting runways at public and private airports in Virginia to accommodate the practice flights of some aircraft. Naval officials have tried unsuccessfully for years to build new... read more
The Economy is Great…If You’re a Hedge Fund Manager
To say hedge fund managers have it better off than corporate CEOs is like saying billionaires have really got it over multi-millionaires.
New data released shows times are still pretty good for many corporate executives, even though compensati... read more
Huge Private Donation: Did Emily’s List Jump the Gun or Hit the Ground Running?
More than two months before it became legal to accept unlimited contributions to federal independent expenditure committees, the abortion-rights advocacy group EMILY’s List
reported a $175,700 donation to its 527 committee involved in the U.S. Se... read more
Abstinence Education Funding is Back, Thanks to Health Reform Bill
Lost amid the last-minute lobbying and sheer size of the healthcare reform legislation was a provision approved by Congress granting $250 million over five years for states to fund abstinence programs. Supporters of such programs have had trouble ... read more
U.S. War Zone Commanders Spend Billion Dollars a Year in Cash
Lawmakers in Congress are beginning to grow concerned over the amount of cash being distributed by American military commanders in war zones. Provided so the military can make friends with local citizens and help struggling economies, the amount o... read more
Bring Back Reagan Tax Rate to Pay for Health Care: Gerald Scorse
By returning to the strategy employed by a conservative icon, President Barack Obama could impose a liberal tax policy, writes Gerald Scorse, a member of the advocacy group, Responsible Wealth.
Scorse argues that Obama could pay for most of th... read more
Germany Plans to Charge Banks for Future Bailouts; Is U.S. Next?
Germany’s government is planning to tax banks in order to discourage risky investment behavior and to create a reserve to fund future bailouts. The proposal comes after the country spent €500 billion ($679 billion) to rescue its financial industry... read more
Nuclear Waste Costing Taxpayers Billions
A 30-year failure to develop a permanent site for storing nuclear waste has cost the federal government billions of dollars in fines paid to power companies. After putting all of its hopes in the Yucca Mountain repository, Washington now is starti... read more
In Iraq, U.S. Paid KBR $5 Million, but They Did Only $400,000 of Work
For $5 million the Department of Defense got 43 minutes of work—a month—out of each mechanic hired by defense contractor KBR Inc. to repair vehicles at Joint Base Balad near Baghdad, Iraq. This enormous waste of taxpayer dollars was uncovered by t... read more
JPMorgan Chase May Get Billion-Dollar Tax Refund to Offset Recession Losses
JPMorgan Chase & Co. may enjoy two helpings of tax relief thanks to a little publicized stimulus provision that permits banks and businesses to apply loses from 2008 or 2009 against taxes paid in the previous five years. This break could mean a ta... read more
Social Security Has a Surplus Not a Deficit
The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) has taken exception to the popular notion that Social Security is going broke. In response to a recent Associated Press story, EPI’s Monique Morrissey pointed that the Congressional Budget Office—the source for ... read more
Despite Recession, Bank Robberies are Down
Bad economic times did not lead to a rise in bank robberies during 2009, according to the FBI. The bureau’s latest statistics reveal there were 5,943 robberies, 100 burglaries, 19 larcenies, and three extortions of banks last year, for a total of ... read more
Construction Jobs Still Dropping Nationwide
Calling the current state of the housing industry a “construction depression,” the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) has released another sobering set of statistics
showing how bad things are for the economy. Construction, one of th... read more
Occupations Ranked from Liberal to Conservative
Using data filed with the Federal Election Commission, Adam Bonica at Ideological Cartography has charted patterns that claim to show where certain occupations fall within the left-right political dynamic. Campaign donations of $250 or greater req... read more