Web Wealth, By Reid Kanaley, Inquirer
Columnist, http://www.philly.com/inquirer/business/tech/20090726_Web_Wealth_.html
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. www.propublica.org
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. http://Governmentattic.org
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." www.recovery.gov