Examines how cost is determined in goods, what happens to money once it is used to buy something, and the basics of credit.

Some of the nation's wealthiest philanthropies, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, and the Broad Foundation have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in education reform. With vast wealth and a political agenda, these foundations have helped to reshape the reform landscape in urban education. In Follow the Money, Sarah Reckhow shows where and how foundation investment in education is occurring and presents in-depth analysis of the effects of these investments within the two largest urban districts in the United States: New York City and Los Angeles. In New York City, centralized political control and the use of private resources have enabled rapid implementation of reform proposals. Yet this potent combination of top-down authority and outside funding also poses serious questions about transparency, responsiveness, and democratic accountability in New York. Furthermore, the sustainability of reform policies is closely linked to the political fortunes of the current mayor and his chosen school leader. While the media has highlighted the efforts of drastic reformers and dominating leaders such as Joel Klein in New York City and Michelle Rhee in Washington, D.C., a slower, but possibly more transformative, set of reforms have been taking place in Los Angeles. These reforms were also funded and shaped by major foundations, but they work from the bottom up, through charter school operators managing networks of schools. This strategy has built grassroots political momentum and demand for reform in Los Angeles that is unmatched in New York City and other districts with mayoral control. Reckhow's study of Los Angeles's education system shows how democratically responsive urban school reform could occur-pairing foundation investment with broad grassroots involvement. Bringing a sharp analytical eye and a wealth of evidence to one of the most politicized issues of our day, Follow the Money will reshape our thinking about educational reform in America.

As seen on The Ben Shapiro Show! Follow the Money exposes the labyrinth of connections between D.C.’s slimiest swamp creatures—Democrat operatives, lying informants, desperate and destructive FBI agents, Obama power brokers, CIA renegade John Brennan, George Soros, and more—who conspired to attack Trump by manufacturing one bogus scandal after another. Bestselling author, podcast favorite, and Fox News contributor Dan Bongino delivers the third and most shocking of his acclaimed series chronicling the Deep State war against Donald Trump. Starting with the Trump impeachment hearings, Bongino works forward and backward to piece together the connections of a vast, well-funded cabal of wealthy Democrats and D.C. swamp elite to the non-stop deluge of manufactured scandals launched specifically to attack, destabilize, and ultimately remove Trump and his administration. Zooming in on Ukraine, Bongino unspools a complex sequence of corruption—from the miraculous “discovery” of a mysterious black ledger that linked financial transactions to Trump campaign insider Paul Manafort and cast a shadow over the entire Trump team, to Joe Biden’s unexamined quid pro quo interference with Kyiv politics as he threatened to withhold a loan unless a prosecutor was removed from office. The former Secret Service agent exposes how Glenn Simpson, the corrupt cheerleader behind the lie-filled Steele dossier, wrangled millions from top Democrat donor George Soros to meddle in Ukraine politics. Bongino also reveals Soros’s desperate multimillion-dollar plan to stop Trump’s re-election. Using FBI documents, Bongino reveals the outrageous actions of Robert Mueller’s investigators, who sat on evidence that proved the supposedly damning Trump Tower meeting between a Russian lawyer and senior campaign officials was nothing more than a twenty-minute waste of time for all involved. Other chapters delve into the disturbing presence of Obama’s fixer, obstruction angel Kathryn “Kathy” Ruemmler, who represents a rogues gallery of Russiagate political operatives; the FBI’s inside source on the National Security Council, Anthony Ferrante, who dedicated himself to the fruitless task of trying to prove the Steele dossier was legitimate; and “Special Agent 1” Stephen M. Somma’s curious obsession with Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, which was stoked by a Flynn-fixated paid operative named Stefan Halper. Flynn is the centerpiece of one of the book’s most revealing chapters, in which Bongino deconstructs the FBI’s elaborate takedown of Trump’s National Security Advisor, revealing how and why the three-star general was set up not once…but three times. Bongino also returns to the last, desperate attempt to derail Trump—the impeachment trial—and uncovers Adam Schiff’s lies and the Ukraine-call whistleblower’s multiple secret ties to never-Trumpers and Schiff himself. In the final chapter, Bongino unveils the newest front to stop Trump: the unleashing of COVID-19 from China and how the disease mutated from a killer plague in Wuhan to a weapon to destroy America’s economy and, with it, Trump’s re-election chances. Follow the Money displays dizzying detective work from a truly relentless, passionate, and patriotic reporter. An astonishing chronicle of the relentless war to destroy Donald Trump and his administration, this exposé is a must-read for anyone who wants to unravel the most shocking and corrupt campaign to unseat a sitting president in American history.

From mint, to pocket, to vending machine--tag along with George, a brand new quarter, and see how far a coin goes. With her signature bright, cartoony illustrations, Loreen Leedy explores American currency from the coins' point of view. George starts his day at the U.S. Mint, but he's soon swept away to a bank and dispensed, with a roll of his fellows, to make change at a grocery store. Again and again the quarter changes hands-- dropping into a vending machine, bouncing in a purse, slipping through a hole in someone's pocket. At each transaction, the arithmetic is laid out to show how we add, subtract, and multiply money every day. Keen-eyed readers will notice the page numbers are represented in bills and coins, and the amounts pictured in each scene add up to the listed totals, aiding identification of different denominations of money. This funny introduction to cold hard cash also includes an author's note about different kinds of currency through the ages, how to spot a counterfit bill, an introduction to the 50 States Quarters™ program, and a list of money-related vocabulary. Pocket change has never been so entertaining!

With its barbecues, new Cadillacs, and $4,000 snakeskin cowboy boots, Texas is all about power and money -- and the power that money buys. This detailed and wide-scope account shows how a group of wealthy Texas Republicans quietly hijacked American politics for their own gain. Getting George W. Bush elected, we learn, was just the tip of the iceberg.... In Follow the Money, award-winning journalist and sixth-generation Texan John Anderson shows how power in Texas has long been vested in the interconnected worlds of Houston's global energy companies, banks, and law firms -- not least among them Baker Botts, the firm controlled by none other than James A. Baker III, the Bush family consigliere. Anderson explains how the Texas political system came to be controlled by a sophisticated, well-funded group of conservative Republicans who, after elevating George W. Bush to the American presidency, went about applying their hardball, high-dollar politicking to Washington, D.C. When George Bush reached the White House, he brought with him not only members of the Texas legal establishment (among them former White House counsel Harriet Miers and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales) but empowered swarms of Republican lobbyists who saw in Bush's arrival a way to make both common cause and big money. Another important Beltway Texan was Congressman Tom DeLay, the famous "Exterminator" of Houston's Twenty-second District, who became majority leader in 2003 and controlled which bills made it through Congress and which did not. DeLay, in turn, was linked to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who used his relationships with both DeLay and Karl Rove on behalf of his clients, creating a shockingly corrupt flow of millions of dollars among Republican lobby groups and political action committees. Washington soon became infected by Texas-style politics. Influence-peddling, deal-making, and money-laundering followed -- much of it accomplished in the capital's toniest restaurants or on the fairways and beaches of luxurious resorts, away from the public eye. The damaging fallout has, one way or another, touched nearly all Americans, Democrat and Republican alike. Follow the Money reveals the hidden web of influence that links George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and the Texas Republicans to the 2000 recount in Florida; the national tort-reform movement; the controversial late-hour, one-vote passage of the Medicare Reform Act; congressional redistricting schemes; scandals in the energy sector; the destruction of basic constitutional protections; the financial machinery of the Christian right; the manipulation of American-Indian tribe casinos; the Iraq War torture scandals; the crooked management of the Department of the Interior; the composition of the Supreme Court; and the 2007 purges of seasoned prosecutors in the Justice Department. Some of the actors are in federal prison, others are on their way there, and many more have successfully eluded a day of reckoning. Told with verve, style, and a not-so-occasional raised eyebrow, Anderson's account arcs directly into tomorrow's headlines. Startling in its revelations, Follow the Money is sure to spark controversy and much-needed debate concerning which direction this country goes next.

Threatened by sharp cuts in state government support and stagnant federal research funding, US public research universities are becoming fragile ecosystems. By charting flows of research dollars through a leading public research university-the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)-this book illuminates how such schools work to cope with these funding threats and how the challenges and coping strategies affect organization and direction of research. Academic leaders, faculty, administrators, and students will learn how a complex academic health center manages its revenues, expenses, and diverse academic cultures. For the first time, they can begin to understand arcane mysteries of indirect cost recovery, sponsored funds, capital investment, endowments, debt, and researchers' salaries.

No More Monday Morning Blues... You're about to be liberated! Here is the book you've been waiting for-a-step-by-step guide to finding the "work" that expresses and fulfills your needs, talents, and passions. Using dozens of real-life examples, Marsha Sinetar shows you how to overcome your fears, take the little risks that make big risks possible, and become a person whose work means self-expression, growth, and love! Discover how to: Tune into your inner world and your unique talents Evaluate and build your self-esteem--the three key questions to ask yourself Banish your outmoded network of "shoulds " Deal with the Big R--resistance Liberate yourself from an unfulfilling job...and much more! Discover how to tune in to your inner world and your unique talents; evaluate and build your self-esteem, banish your out-moded network of "shoulds" and liberate yourself from an unfulfilling job with this step-by-step guide to finding work that satisfies your passions. -->

Get ready to go global! Our cellphones, our clothes, our food: All are everyday things we consider essential, but we seldom think of what and who is involved in making them and getting them into our hands. In Follow Your Stuff, award-winning children’s author Kevin Sylvester and business professor Michael Hlinka team up again, this time to tackle the dynamics of the global economy, examining the often-complex journey of ordinary goods from production right to our doorsteps. Using familiar examples, easy-to-follow charts and graphs, and a fun, accessible tone, Hlinka and Sylvester introduce young readers to concepts such as relative value and fair wages and how to think critically about our purchasing decisions. Sylvester’s lively illustrations add even more kid-appeal making this sequel to the critically acclaimed Follow Your Money the perfect introduction to socio-economics and an eye-opening essential read for young people.

Your Good Life Starts Now Live beyond your means but spend within them. Take your steady out for that $350 dinner after the big promotion. You might just have to eat PB&J for a week to make it happen. Splurge when it makes sense. Buy the designer jeans you can’t live without in your size, at full price. But you better walk away from last season’s must-have sweater, even if it is 75 percent off! Make more money with your money. Invest in stocks to make the big bucks and start saving for retirement now. You want to be debt-free in your swinging sixties. Have it all . . . just not all at once. Want a Mercedes more than anything in the world? You can make it happen . ..but probably not while sharing a summer beach house with your friends. Finally a savvy, realistic finance book for those of us who love our Starbucks mocha lattes and Razr cell phones but don’t want our Jimmy Choo shoes or Bose headphones buried under a pile of burgeoning debt. Twenty-something financial reporter Farnoosh Torabi tells you that you can satisfy your sophisticated tastes and achieve financial bliss. The key: prioritizing your expenses according to what you want the most—splurging when you can and saving on other things. From sensible grocery shopping (yes, you can have your organic yogurt and eat it, too!) to cyberbanking, empower yourself to live a guilt-free, Gucci- and gadget-clad good life without sacrificing financial security.

This book is about real people and how good people can be broken by bad economics.