Taxpayer Money

The Age of Open Is Upon Us

Jorge Hage | Posted 04.17.2012

Jorge Hage

The open government movement is indicative of the pressures imposed on us by the post-recessionary world. Opening up government data sources increases the bang of each taxpayer buck and creates new commercial opportunities for businesses.

WATCH: Whitney Houston Funeral Costs Newark Taxpayers $187K

Posted 04.11.2012

Newark residents turned out by the hundreds when pop icon Whitney Houston was laid to rest in their hometown on February 18, but their show of support...

Your Receipt, From This Guy

Emily Cohn | Posted 04.04.2012

Curious how your tax dollars are being spent by the federal government? Check your federal taxpayer receipt. The White House released an updated to...

SOPA's Killer Cousin You've Probably Never Heard About

Abdulrahman El-Sayed | Posted 03.27.2012

Abdulrahman El-Sayed

Findings from NIH-funded research are used everyday to help doctors make treatment and diagnosis decisions -- not just in America but all over the world. That may end with the Research Works Act.

You Want a Publicist? Pay For Him Yourself, Senator

Kelly Moore | Posted 03.21.2012

Kelly Moore

Is this really what our tax dollars should be used for? To allow members of Congress to engage in such shameless self-promotion?

In Issue Of Adoption, Catholic Charities Should Adhere To Basic Fairness

Alvin McEwen | Posted 08.02.2011

Alvin McEwen

While I understand wanting to adhere to one's faith, this is an issue in which the welfare of the child must come first. Studies have shown that children do not suffer from a same-sex household.

Jon Stewart and the Sheer Hypocrisy of Fox News on Teachers

Jim Wallis | Posted 05.25.2011

Jim Wallis

I like teachers. But what I am learning from conservatives these days, especially the hosts and commentators for Fox News is that public school teachers are greedy.

Davos: Goldman's Cohn Does Not Get It

Georges Ugeux | Posted 05.25.2011

Georges Ugeux

Gary Cohn's position is obviously self-interested: nothing else should be expected from the Honorable firm. He and his peers recently increased their salary from $600,000 to $2,000,000!

Read Before You Vote

Matt Kohn | Posted 05.25.2011

Matt Kohn

I decided to curate a group of thoughtful and distinguished individuals to choose one substantive, surprising, and provocative article that anyone and everyone should read before the election.

$600 Million for BP Courtesy of the U.S. Taxpayer

Ken Cook | Posted 05.25.2011

Ken Cook

Congress is currently debating an energy bill that would extend VEETC so that BP and others, including our friends in the ethanol industry, can continue to be propped up with taxpayer dollars.

Uncle Sam Says: Take a Breath, It's Tax Day

Deborah Schoeberlein | Posted 11.17.2011

Deborah Schoeberlein

We reconcile the past year while preparing tax returns, and then come straight into the here and now as we file them. And, funnily enough, that acute awareness of this day is the essence of mindful experience.

Does Tax Time Need To Be So Taxing?

Ron Ashkenas | Posted 05.25.2011

Ron Ashkenas

If there's one thing that unites politicians and the general public it's the belief that the U.S. tax system is too darn complicated. Yet somehow the process of paying taxes has resisted almost every attempt at simplification.

New York Fed Transparency: Bank To Disclose Which Securities Were Bought In AIG Bailout

AP | DANIEL WAGNER | Posted 05.25.2011

WASHINGTON — After two years of secrecy, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York is disclosing key details about billions of dollars of risky inves...

Court Rejects Meat Industry Attempt to Thwart Regulation

Wayne Pacelle | Posted 05.25.2011

Wayne Pacelle

In a third straight federal appellate court ruling against the meat industry, the Ninth Circuit ruled today that California is well within its authority to ban the sale, transport, or purchase of downer cows and pigs.

Money Spent On Perks, Fringe Benefits Rose At Bailed Out Banks Last Year

Washington Post | Tomoeh Murakami Tse | Posted 05.25.2011

Even as the nation's biggest financial firms were struggling and the federal government was spending hundreds of billions of dollars to save many of t...

'Shadow Elite': Outsourcing Government, Losing Democracy

Charles Lewis | Posted 05.25.2011

Charles Lewis

Public and private are now substantially blurred, as the "transnational" political elites and the financial elites have become literally the same people. It is a condition which leaves the people feeling unrepresented.

Concerns Grow About Another Mortgage Giant

nytimes.com | LOUISE STORY | Posted 05.25.2011

WASHINGTON -- First it was Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Now concern is growing that another government mortgage giant might teeter, just as the nation'...

Rich Germans Demand Higher Taxes

BBC NEWS | Posted 05.25.2011

A group of rich Germans has launched a petition calling for the government to make wealthy people pay higher taxes....

Bonuses 2009: Why US Banks Deserve the Taxation Prepared by Obama

Georges Ugeux | Posted 05.25.2011

Georges Ugeux

Instead of trying to come up with a constructive solutio, the banks failed to accept that their exceptional earnings did not come to them.

U.S. Taxpayers Are Paying for 1,600 New Homes in East Jerusalem

Blake Fleetwood | Posted 05.25.2011

Blake Fleetwood

The Peace Process isn't working anymore. U.S. taxpayers have given Israel more $80 billion in military and civilian aid in the last half century and w...

Passive Bank Directors Pose Systemic Risks

Emma Coleman Jordan | Posted 05.25.2011

Emma Coleman Jordan

A new report finds that an amazing 92 percent of the directors of TARP recipients who were in place before the financial crisis of 2008 still hold their jobs.

SBA's ARC Loans Are Stimulating the Wrong Businesses

Jerry Chautin | Posted 05.25.2011

Jerry Chautin

SBA expects 60 percent of its ARC loans to go into default even though principal payments are not due for 12 months. So save this column to help you remember why you should be outraged.

Is Bank of America Bad for America?

John Hood | Posted 11.17.2011

John Hood

Here I am, one of the taxpayers who helped give Bank of America billions of dollars; hell, helped them buy Merrill Lynch for Zeus' sake! And still they fleece me every chance they can get.

Louisiana Dems File Ethics Complaint Against Vitter

The Hill's Briefing Room | Michael O'Brien | Posted 05.25.2011

The head of the Louisiana Democratic Party filed an ethics complaint against Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) on Friday, accusing Vitter of using his taxpaye...

Public-Private Investment Program: What's the Point?

Jim Randel | Posted 05.25.2011

Jim Randel

PPIP will put decisions about people in mortgage trouble into the hands of private capital with no interest in the public agenda.