On anniversary, Obama defends economic stimulus

[alienlovechild 75]

Obama and Vice President Joe Biden launched a sweeping effort to convince skeptical Americans that the stimulus has been beneficial on the one-year anniversary of a plan that was pushed through the U.S. Congress by Democratic majorities.

Obama, in a White House speech, said he believed the stimulus will save or create 1.5 million jobs in 2010 after saving or creating as many as 2 million jobs thus far.

His point was to show that the stimulus, while admittedly unpopular, had the effect of keeping the U.S. economy from plunging into a second Great Depression.

"Our work is far from over but we have rescued this economy from the worst of this crisis," he said.

For example, the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded $1.5 billion on Wednesday in stimulus grants to local and state governments to back 51 transportation projects.

The White House hoped that once Americans in their towns and cities saw the results of the stimulus, they would realize it has helped.

Obama has much work to do to convince Americans who are still struggling to find work amid a 9.7 percent jobless rate.

A CBS News/New York Times poll last week found that only 6 percent of Americans believed the package had created jobs. Another poll by CNN/Opinion Research Corporation showed a majority opposed the stimulus program.

All this comes as Obama and his Democrats face pressure to show results in an election year in which their large majorities in Congress could be at risk.

Republicans eager to score political points emailed out to reporters the original administration estimates from a year ago that showed the U.S. jobless rate would only rise to 8 percent under the stimulus.

"In the first year of the trillion-dollar stimulus, Americans have lost millions of jobs, the unemployment rate continues to hover near 10 percent, the deficit continues to soar and we're inundated with stories of waste, fraud and abuse," said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell.

Obama used a portion of his speech to accuse Republicans of hypocrisy, saying they have enjoyed its benefits even as they criticized the plan.

"There are those, let's face it, across the aisle who have tried to score political points by attacking what we did, even as many of them show up at ribbon-cutting ceremonies for projects in their districts," Obama said.

With Congress now working on a multibillion-dollar jobs bill, Obama warned of the possibility this year of layoffs by state governments as funding from the stimulus runs out.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61G38U20100217

[one...two...tree 2,762]

He's right.

[mawilson 2,133]

Obama, in a White House speech, said he believed the stimulus will save or create 1.5 million jobs in 2010 after saving or creating as many as 2 million jobs thus far.

This "create or save" schtick is not going to fly in 2010. The economy is not losing jobs anymore,

so there's nothing to "save" - we'll see how many jobs they can actually *create*.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

This "create or save" schtick is not going to fly in 2010. The economy is not losing jobs anymore,

so there's nothing to "save" - we'll see how many jobs they can actually *create*.

economic triage

[I'm Gone 60]

Don't piss in my face and tell me it's raining.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Don't piss in my face and tell me it's raining.

Don't pull a quarter from behind my ear and tell me it was there all the time.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Saved or created. Who doesn't see through his smoke and mirrors?

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Saved or created. Who doesn't see through his smoke and mirrors?

Certainly not the CBO, IHS Global Insight, Moody's Economy.com, or Macroeconomic Advisers...all part of the smoke and mirror scheme.

[mawilson 2,133]

Saved or created. Who doesn't see through his smoke and mirrors?

The same fat bastards who claim they've "lost or not gained" 100 pounds by not eating pizza every day.

[DEDixon 39]

from yahoo news: "Obama says stimulus bill saved troubled economy"

he wants you to translated the above into: obama saved troubled economy.

obama, the hero.... his vast knowledge in economics lead us through... yea!!!!

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Saved or created. Who doesn't see through his smoke and mirrors?

Even the GOP lawmakers that opposed and oppose the Recovery Act on Capitol Hill are on record claiming that it saved or created jobs in their funding request letters to various government agencies. The teachers, cops, firefighters and other first responders that were on the chopping block in all 50 states know that this ain't smoke and mirrors - it's bread on their families dinner tables.

[alienlovechild 75]

Even the GOP lawmakers that opposed and oppose the Recovery Act on Capitol Hill are on record claiming that it saved or created jobs in their funding request letters to various government agencies. The teachers, cops, firefighters and other first responders that were on the chopping block in all 50 states know that this ain't smoke and mirrors - it's bread on their families dinner tables.

At what cost? A chicken pecking corn on list of types of job to be funded can make a selection better than Congress just as they do with stock picks. Spending billions to get a relatively few jobs is highly wasteful and largely a political gimmick.

If it was truly a way to create jobs we would double or triple the expenditure every year to get the desired effect. It doesn't happen because there's no such thing as perpetual motion machine in economics except in the make beleve world of politics. The money has to come from a productive sector of the economy to pay for these jobs.

Edited February 17, 2010 by alienlovechild

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

At what cost? A chicken pecking corn on list of types of job to be funded can make a selection better than Congress just as they do with stock picks. Spending billions to get a relatively few jobs is highly wasteful and largely a political gimmick.

If it was truly a way to create jobs we would double or triple the expenditure every year to get the desired effect. It doesn't happen because there's no such thing as perpetual motion machine in economics except in the make beleve world of politics. The money has to come from a productive sector of the economy to pay for these jobs.

Again, we can have a debate about the cost of it but there isn't any debate to be had in the real world about the very fact that the Recovery Act has saved and created a rather large number of jobs. Only in the parallel universe that the GOP on Capitol Hill has chosen to escape to is there any such debate.

[I'm Gone 60]

The teachers, cops, firefighters and other first responders that were on the chopping block in all 50 states know that this ain't smoke and mirrors

Those are all government jobs saved or created. How many private sector permanent jobs were created?

[I'm Gone 60]

http://emac.blogs.foxbusiness.com/2010/02/...+Stock+Watch%29

Facts About Jobs and the Stimulus Program

The Administration is quick to point out again today that it inherited this recession.

Which is what most every president has said over the last two decades, and despite the fact that the president and vice presidents were sitting Senators in the US Congress when the housing and credit bubbles were ballooning (the vice president has been in government since the Nixon Administration).

It's questionable whether you can blame the economic mess on the White House.

But has the White House delivered on its stimulus promises of lowering the unemployment rate and creating 3.5 million jobs by the end of this year, much less its promises of cutting the deficit, already growing at record levels not seen in the eight years of the Reagan or George W. Bush Administrations?

With the expert help of Fox News analyst James Farrell, we found out the following. Did you know that since the Administration's stimulus was enacted:

Unemployment Has Risen

* The unemployment rate has increased since the stimulus bill was enacted, by +1.5% to 9.7%, from 8.2% in Feb 2009.

* The number of people who are unemployed increased by 2.1 million, from 12.71 million in February 2009 to 14.8 million in January 2010.

* The number of states/federal districts with an unemployment rate of 10% or higher increased from Feb 7, 2009 to December 17, 2009 (latest data).

* Payroll employment decreased by 3.3 million (132.823 million in Feb 09; 129.527 million in Jan 2010). Private payrolls are at levels not seen since 1999.

* The construction sector lost 810,000 jobs (6,435,000 in Feb 2009/5,625,000 in Jan 2010).

* The manufacturing sector lost 837,000 jobs (12,377,000 in Feb 2009/11,540,000 in Jan 2010).

* Employment in the federal government (excluding the Post Office) increased by 113,200 (2.068 million in Feb 09 / 2.181 million in Jan 2010). The number of federal, state and local employees is now about twice the number in US manufacturing jobs.

* Most jobs supported by the stimulus so far are public employees.

Stimulus Costs Have Risen

* The CBO raised its estimated cost of the bill from $787 billion to $862 billion - a $75 billion increase, due to more spending on things like unemployment benefits and food stamps.

Stimulus Money Yet to Be Spent

* About 1/3 of the stimulus has been paid out so far.

* Only about 11% of stimulus infrastructure spending has been paid out.

* About 58% of stimulus spending so far has gone to government and social services.

* Nearly $130 billion went towards tax cuts, Medicaid assistance for the states, unemployment and food stamps.

* $112 billion of 2009 stimulus spending went to balance state budgets.

* Administering the stimulus cost $700 million in 2009

* More than $3.5 billion in economic stimulus funds are going to programs that President Obama wants to eliminate or trim in his new budget.

* A dozen Republicans requested stimulus funding for their districts, the Wall Street Journal reports, showing the fiscal hawks have flown the coop and adult supervision in DC is eroding.

Administration Backs Away from Jobs "Saved"

* The Administration has quietly backed down from its assertion that the stimulus "created or saved" 640,000 jobs, due to unreliable or fraudulent data.

"There is a range of significant reporting and quality issues that need to be addressed" in these statistics, said a November 2009 report from the Government Accountability Office.

*Earl Devaney, chairman of the Administration's Recovery Board which oversees this data, testified before Congress that the 640,000 jobs saved or created "may not be the correct number."

Devaney has also informed the Oversight and Government Reform Committee that his department will now report jobs funded rather than created or saved on the White House's official site counting jobs attributed to the stimulus.

* The November 2009 GAO audit found widespread discrepancies in the reports that the government collected from local officials. These officials were charged with reporting back to the government on how the stimulus program “created or saved” jobs in their areas.

Widespread massaging of the data was found. For example, state and local officials counted planned raises to staffers towards the jobs saved data.

For instance, if a workforce was, say, going to get a 10% raise in salary, officials would take the total number of workers and multiply it by 10% to come up with a new jobs saved number.

The GAO found other discrepancies:

- 3,978 reports showed that numerous districts received no stimulus dollars, but somehow officials reported more than 50,000 jobs created or saved

- 9,247 reports showed no full time jobs were created, but somehow did show they received $965 million in stimulus money. For example, 935 jobs at Southwest Georgia Community Action Council were reportedly saved due to the stimulus--but only 508 people work there.

- According to Illinois state officials, some of their local education authorities “had double-counted the number of positions, attributing the positions to both state fiscal year 2009 (which ended on June 30, 2009) and fiscal year 2010 (beginning July 1, 2009), in part because the reporting period covered both of the state’s fiscal years,” the GAO foun

- Despite the requirement that “jobs created or retained" were to be expressed as full-time employees, “data were reported inconsistently” by recipients, "with varying and often inconsistent application of what was a full-time employee," the GAO said.

Due to the problems with the reporting of jobs “created or saved,” the GAO recommended that the OMB make its calculation methodology less subjective, “more explicit” and ensure that recipients report on only full-time equivalent jobs.

A December 18, 2009 memo to stimulus money recipients from the director of the OMB noted that they were scrapping the “saved or created” reporting due to the GAO concerns about the problems with this subjective figure:

“…recipients will no longer be required to make a subjective judgment on whether jobs were created or retained as a result of the Recovery Act. Instead, recipients will more easily and objectively report on jobs funded with Recovery Act dollars. This update aligns with GAO’s recommendation to ‘[make] more explicit that ‘jobs created or retained’ are to be reported as hours worked and paid for with Recovery Act funds.’”

Federal Government Assistance Rose

* Since stimulus was enacted, monthly federal government expenditures on Medicaid have increased by 29% (from $17 billion in Jan 09 to $22 billion in Jan 2010).

*The number of people receiving benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps) increased by 5.672 million - a 17.3% increase (32.556 million in Feb 09; 38.183 million in 11/09).

*The amount federal government spends for benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps) each month increased by $1.404 billion - a 37.91% increase ($3.703 billion in Feb 09; $5.107 billion in 11/09).

US Debt Has Increased

* US public debt outstanding increased by $1.562 trillion - a 14.47% increase ($10.790 trillion on 2/17/09; $12.352 trillion on 2/12/10).

* Since the recession began, China increased the amount of US debt it owned by $11.2 billion ($744.2 billion in 2/09; $755.4 billion in 12/09), but lately it has been decreasing its Treasury purchases to instead spend money on its own economic problems.

* Foreign governments have increased their ownership of US debt by $453 billion - a 14% increase ($3.161 trillion in 2/09; $3.614 trillion in 12/09).

Foreclosures

* Foreclosure filings have increased +9%, with five million homes headed for foreclosure.

Banks Still Failing

* 143 banks to date have failed.