“”they abstracted the data so heavily that it was nearly impossible to figure out what money was going where,””
Wouldn’t we all like to know just WHO puts these things together? As you say, impossible to uncover details.
They put those websites out there to provide transparency for the general public, but I have a feeling anyone who looked at it for quick info would have their eyes glaze over.
I downloaded the raw data and had to massage it in Excel, decipher cryptic names of things money went to, and pivot table it to death until things began falling out.
Transparency my ass.