While talking about TV coverage of the app, I had mentioned that writing the iPhone “Government Spending” app was a lot of fun.
I also enjoyed reading the first review on iTunes. Here is what the reviewer said about the app.
‘Wow is this an eye-opener! No opinions here, just the facts. Straight information from the government’s own databases on who’s been getting federal contracts, and for what since 2000. You can look it up by department, by state or even by item – which makes for some very interesting browsing.
Try looking up ‘land mines’, for instance, and you’ll see a sharp escalation in 2008. What’s the story behind that ??
And that, in a nutshell, is what you get from this very handy app: the straight story on what the government has been buying with your tax dollars. This is one reference app that will actually raise more questions than it answers – as well it should. Kudos to the developers for a nice job in putting this information into a format that’s easy (and fun) to explore.’
Cascade Software Corporation 
For all those who get into politically charged discussions about government spending, where vague terms get tossed around like facts, this app is for you. No more tolerating terms like “a huge amount”, “a lot”, “millions”, “billions”, “negligible”, “a drop in the bucket”, “who knows how much,” etc. With this app at my fingertips, I have the facts, a myriad of them. Now when someone makes a general statement about how the government wastes money or spends it unwisely (or I’m tempted to make such a statement), I can pull out my iPhone and we can look it up. And then we can argue endlessly about what the numbers mean. But at least we’ll be starting from the same place.
@Chuckles, yes, indeed.
See http://twitter.com/JoshMaher/status/1872299192 for a tweet from a user who used the iPhone Government Spending app to win an argument.