"Ultimately," the final report from Stuart Bowen, the Special Investigator General for Iraq Reconstruction, suggests, "we estimate that the Iraq program wasted at least $8 billion." Over ten years, that's about $1,500 a minute. Here's where it went.
Americans haven't always paid for health care with public programs like Medicare—or even with private insurance. In fact, Americans used to pay for things like medicine almost entirely out-of-pocket, as seen in this animated graph showing changes in who pays for health care by the California HealthCare Foundation.
Rick Perry — who is still governor of Texas and is soon moving back to the official gubernatorial residence in Austin that was recently rebuilt to the tune of $25 million — is not the first politician to be criticized for spending lots of money for personal comfort. But we wanted to know how it stacked up to previous scandals of extravagance.
For your dose of Monday morning irritation, there's more news coming from the General Services Administration investigation. Meet Coleen Newton-White, a GSA contractor, who made $300,000 between 2008 and 2010 by expensing other people's fuel.
Cartoonist Lisa Benson sees a bigger problem.
Newt Gingrich talks about his campaign and supporting the eventual Republican nominee on Fox News Sunday; Debbie Wasserman Schultz accuses Mitt Romney and the Republicans of rooting for the economy to fail.
Cartoonist Nick Anderson on the GSA party's pricetag.
Martha Johnson, chief of the General Services Administration, and two of her top executives resigned today. You probably would too if you spent over $800,000 of taxpayer dollars on an extravagant "conference" off of the Las Vegas Strip.
Cartoonist Steve Breen on Obama's empty promise.
Each weekend when Leon Panetta flies roundtrip from Washington D.C. to Monterey, California, it costs around $30,000--you're paying for it, and he's only reimbursing you for the price of a coach seat.
The House Republicans spent 360 days of the current fiscal year fighting the budget
Obama protected social benefits while Republicans fought off new taxes
Public sector jobs and aid are declining, which is trouble for the fragile economy
The Saturday collapse of the effort to craft a deal reduces hopes for a recovery
On America in Libya, a loss for Wal-Mart's workers, and a new "credibility"
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