ProPublica launches site tracking bailout

ProPublica, the non-profit journalism watchdog group led by former Wall Street Journal managing editor Paul Steiger, has launched a site called “Eye on the Bailout” to track the government’s spending designed to keep the financial industry from collapsing.

Paul Kiel, a reporter for ProPublica, writes, “We’ve been working hard over the past six months to keep tabs on the billions flowing from the Treasury Department. But as the government’s response to the financial crisis has grown and scattered, it’s gotten harder and harder to lay it all out for readers.

“The site we’re unveiling today will hopefully make all that a lot easier. It gives readers plenty of ways to break down the data: You can see every recipient of bailout money and the programs the money is being funneled through. We’ve done our best to translate the Treasury’s bureaucratese to plain English (e.g. ‘Targeted Investment Program’ really means ‘More Money for Citigroup and Bank of America‘).”

Read more here to see what the site is offering.