To help citizens understand the complex information on the bailout posted on the government website, a coalition of open government and economic policy groups has set up a website with information and expert commentary. -DB
Project on Government Oversight
April 20, 2009
By Michael Smallberg
Even though the Treasury Department recently revamped its website for the Financial Stability Plan, it would probably take an advanced degree in finance to truly understand what the government is doing to rescue the nation’s financial system.
Thankfully, the bailout received a healthy dose of transparency today, as OpenTheGovernment.org announced the launch of BailoutWatch.net, a collaborative effort by the Bailout Watch project to help the public track how the government and financial sector are spending trillions of taxpayer dollars on the mammoth bailout programs.
BailoutWatch.net will be an invaluable resource for anyone trying to learn more about the bailout. The site already offers a wealth of information, including federal reports, FOIA requests and responses, media coverage, a calendar of upcoming events, and a discussion among experts who are following the latest bailout issues. If you like what you see, there are also a variety of RSS feeds from BailoutWatch.net and from the core participating organizations, including POGO, the Center for Economic and Policy Research, the Economic Policy Institute, OMB Watch, OpenTheGovernment.org, and Taxpayers for Common Sense (click here to see the full list of organizations participating in the Bailout Watch project).
We hope that BailoutWatch.net and projects like Subsidyscope will help the public hold officials and banks accountable for the ongoing expenditure of trillions of taxpayer dollars. And as the GAO and Congressional Oversight Panel continue to criticize the Treasury Department for failing to articulate a clear strategy behind the bailout, we hope these new websites will also put pressure on the government to improve its explanation of the bailout programs.
Copyright 2009 Project on Government Oversight