Unveiling the Ivy League Billion-Dollar Taxpayer Tab with Adam Andrzejewski | Ep. 13

Heterodox Out Loud

Discover how Ivy League schools might be shortchanging taxpayers to the tune of billions! Today, we're peeling back the layers of an issue that hits our wallets and our values: the billion-dollar taxpayer support of Ivy League institutions.

Host John Tomasi is joined by Adam Andrzejewski, founder and CEO of "Open the Books," an advocate for transparency in public finances. Adam brings to light a staggering reality: Over a recent five-year period, Ivy League schools amassed fortunes at the taxpayers' expense—a whopping $45 billion tab that's got some scratching their heads and policy-makers wielding the legislative pen.

Adam is not afraid to discuss how taxpayers are burdened with the cost of what seems more like a federal contractor than an educator. We discuss questions of accountability, such as whether universities should receive federal money without oversight and whether state-level standards boards could improve the management of public funds.

Join us on Heterodox Out Loud as we explore the billion-dollar taxpayer tab for Ivy League schools and its implications for the future of higher education, government oversight, and our society's appreciation for knowledge.

In This Episode:

• Elite schools' heavy reliance on taxpayer funds
• Proposed tax reforms for excessive university endowments
• The debate over universities' federal funding accountability
• Tension in bipartisan university public policy
• The Rising costs and transparency in higher education

Follow Adam on X here: https://x.com/everydimeonline

Follow OpenTheBooks on X here: https:/x.com/open_the_books

About Adam:

Adam Andrzejewski is the CEO/founder of OpenTheBooks.com. Before dedicating his life to public service, Adam co-founded HomePages Directories, a $20 million publishing company (1997-2007). His works have been featured on the BBC, Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight, C-SPAN, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, FOX News, CNN, National Public Radio (NPR), Forbes, Newsweek, and many other national media.

Adam founded the transparency website, www.openthebooks.com, and launched it by posting the salaries and pensions of all 1 million Illinois public employees (2011). Today, OpenTheBooks.com is the largest private repository of U.S. public-sector spending. Mission: post "every dime, online, in real time." In 2022, OpenTheBooks.com captured nearly all public expenditures in the country, including nearly all disclosed federal government spending; 50 of 50 state checkbooks; and 25 million public employee salary and pension records from 50,000 public bodies across America.

In their oversight report, published in March 2017, titled Ivy League, Inc., OpenTheBooks uncovered $41 billion taxpayer subsidies, tax-breaks and federal payments into the Ivy League colleges (FY2010–2015).

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