Web Wealth: Track stimulus and bailout spending
Finding out about how the federal government is spending those billions targeted at reviving the economy is no easy task. As the promised transparency remains a fog, these sites help to clear it.
Finding out about how the federal government is spending those billions targeted at reviving the economy is no easy task. As the promised transparency remains a fog, these sites help to clear it.
ProPublica. The public-interest journalism site ProPublica has a growing effort to track stimulus and bailout spending. With details coming at a trickle from official sources, ProPublica is enlisting the public's help, for example, in a "stimulus spot check" that would put volunteer trackers on a sample of 500 highway and other transportation projects allotted stimulus money. Sign up by clicking "I'm on it" for a project near you.
Librarians unite. University librarians have banded together to run this freegovinfo.info site that promotes access to U.S. government information for citizens, watchdog groups, journalists, and others. The "Bailout" page features posts about the trouble researchers are having in tracking bailout funds, and links to sites that post results from inquiries under the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA. The site's "Docuticker" lists latest postings. The top one, when we looked, was an alarming report: "Nerve Gas Leak Detectors Inoperative for Years."
http://go.philly.com/freegovinfo
Rummaging around. The Government Attic site publishes more results from FOIA requests, and many have to do with the economy, banking, and related money issues. These include e-mail culled from the Federal Reserve concerning the processing of FOIA requests from Bloomberg News seeking missing bailout documentation, and post-mortem reviews of failed credit unions. Wide-ranging information requests also delve into Secret Service logs, investigations of American Indian tribal businesses, and the Iraq war.
Recovery central. This is Washington's detail-challenged site dedicated to tracking the spending of recovery funds. The site is promising to post reports from stimulus recipients "beginning in October."