Concerned citizens can now track government spending at USASpending.gov. Users can view current and historical spending on contracts, grants, and loans, broken down by characteristics like congressional district and contractor. The website, mandated by the Federal Funding and Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, is a revamped version of fedspending.org. Warning: if you’re a pacifist, steer clear, or at least keep your blood-pressure pills at hand. (HT: The Big Picture) [%comments]
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and 
. You can also watch it on 
#3
Gee, why could top-ranked research universities *possibly* be getting government dollars?
I’d be willing to bet that you already enjoy the developments of technology developed with federal grants at Stanford and Johns Hopkins (and MIT, which is 75th) on a daily basis.
At least Osh Kosh Corp. is #11. Who can argue with cute overalls for toddlers?
Where is this information for state governments? If that is available then this would be really impressive..
Why is the spending limited to strictly Contracts, Loans, & Grants?
I want to see true costs vs. tax revenue – where’s the breakdown of medicare costs, social security costs, interest payments on debt, etc. Where’s the breakdown of deficit spending?
Are these government costs not considered ‘spending’?
This site is a good attempt, but it doesn’t tell us nearly as much as it should.
Re: “if you’re a pacifist, steer clear…”
Considering the original constitutional role of the federal government, the fact that defense spending accounts for the top allocations should not surprise any of us, especially when the expense of modern technology and research is considered.
The technology/research expense also applies to other areas like healthcare, but that was not part of the original federal scope. Nevertheless, it has increasingly become so. Hence the spending for Johns Hopkins, etc. Who knows how that will grow in the future.