The new US president Barack Obama promised transparency and accountability from the just-passed economic stimulus legislation--aka the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and slated to cost in the neighborhood of $800,000,000,000 (that's billion).

"Transparency" and "accountability" meant his Administration would show how, when, and where the money--which is intended mostly to create jobs while also triggering future economic growth--is spent. He also vowed to publish data that will allow citizens to evaluate the Act’s progress and provide feedback.

Steps have been taken to keep that promise with a just-launched web site known as Recovery.gov. I leave it to the economics experts (and politicos) among you to tell us in the comments whether there's useful stuff here--besides the chart (above) showing plans for divvying up the money and a nice large video of Obama himself. You can also contribute your own tales of economic woe and sign up for email updates.

You'll doubtless be hearing evaluations from other media sources too, in the coming days and weeks. And maybe even years, to the world's woe.