Financial Reporting Using XBRL

How can you waste $100 million?  This article points to one of the great uses of XBRL, keeping voters on top of things.  Seems as though Washington State auditors found "...Nearly $100 million wasted by Port...", per the article.

What if all government spending were marked up in XBRL so that constituents and others could "mine the data" and keep tabs on the politicians who sometimes waste our money?  I was at an XBRL conference in Belgium and a speaker made the comment that "the market is the best regulator", or something to that affect.  If people knew they were being watched, they may think twice before they tried to slip something through the system.

Just like government keeping tabs on things to protect the public, seems like it might be a good thing for the public to have information about government spending available in the same way, XBRL.  Rather than have to wait for a year or two until an audit is performed, post the transaction and the information immediately becomes available for scrutiny.