USA Facts

Steve Ballmer, former Microsoft chief executive, recently launched USAFacts.org. To understand exactly what it is, check this quote from the inspiration page defining its goals:

USAFacts was inspired by a conversation Steve Ballmer had with his wife. She wanted him to get more involved in philanthropic work. He thought it made sense to first find out what government does with the money it raises. Where does the money come from and where is it spent? Whom does it serve? And most importantly, what are the outcomes?

I haven't done a lot of digging into the inner pages yet but if you want a high level overview of where the money is going it does a decent job of breaking the spending down into distinct, easy to view, budget blocks. I could stand for there to be a bit more explanation along with each grouping but maybe they fear some bias slipping in and, instead, rely entirely on surfacing as much data as they can.

It's a first launch and I can only hope it will improve over time and serve as an easy reference point for everyone.