I originally thought that it was a great idea to set up an online tracking tool so citizens could see what happens to their tax dollars, particularly when the government is so busy handing those dollars out to everyone. The people in charge of the web site, however, seem to be finding it difficult to deliver the goods thus far.

Tracking the spending from the $787 billion economic stimulus package is proving difficult because of shortcomings in the available data, the chairman of the stimulus act oversight board said today.

“I am concerned about data quality,” said Earl Devaney, chairman of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing. “The federal government’s systems have never been fully successful at producing timely and reliable data.”

So…. shortcomings in available data, eh?
Unable to get hold of timely and reliable data?

I may be off-base here, but… doesn’t that mean you don’t know where the money is going yet?