OBAMA'S FUNNY FIGURES
Caroline Beam, Bloomberg - The administration was already skating on thin ice when it announced on Oct. 30, with great fanfare, that 640,329 jobs had been created or saved as a result of the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Not 640,000, or even 640,300. Six-hundred-forty-thousand- three-hundred-and-twenty-nine. . .
Even Vice President Joe Biden had the good sense to round up to the nearest million, which puts the number of jobs created or saved in line with "government and private forecasters' estimates" for the Recovery Act.
Local newspapers across the country started to notice problems with the, er, jobs. Small stuff, like jobs that weren't created and congressional districts that don't exist. . .
Watchdog.org, a collection of independent journalists covering state and local government, has put together a "Guide to the Stimulus, District by (Phantom) District." Overall the group found that 440 phantom districts in 50 states, the District of Columbia and four U.S. territories received $6.4 billion and created or saved -- let's consolidate to "craved" -- 30,000 jobs. That works out to $213,333 per job. . .
The Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, issued its own report last week, citing "a range of significant reporting and quality issues that need to be addressed."
Gene Dodaro, head of the GAO, told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee he had found about 4,000 reports showing no money expended but the equivalent of 50,000 full-time jobs created. . .
In the face of a 10.2 percent unemployment rate and growing doubt about government claims of jobs created, the administration is standing by its 640,329. . .
Not 640,000, or even 640,300. Six-hundred-forty-thousand- three-hundred-and-twenty-nine. . .
Even Vice President Joe Biden had the good sense to round up to the nearest million, which puts the number of jobs created or saved in line with "government and private forecasters' estimates" for the Recovery Act.
Local newspapers across the country started to notice problems with the, er, jobs. Small stuff, like jobs that weren't created and congressional districts that don't exist. . .
Watchdog.org, a collection of independent journalists covering state and local government, has put together a "Guide to the Stimulus, District by (Phantom) District." Overall the group found that 440 phantom districts in 50 states, the District of Columbia and four U.S. territories received $6.4 billion and created or saved -- let's consolidate to "craved" -- 30,000 jobs. That works out to $213,333 per job. . .
The Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, issued its own report last week, citing "a range of significant reporting and quality issues that need to be addressed."
Gene Dodaro, head of the GAO, told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee he had found about 4,000 reports showing no money expended but the equivalent of 50,000 full-time jobs created. . .
In the face of a 10.2 percent unemployment rate and growing doubt about government claims of jobs created, the administration is standing by its 640,329. . .
posted by TPR | 4:48 PM
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