“Stimulus” Recipients and the White House Spin

“Stimulus” Recipients and the White House Spin

OCTOBER 15, 2009

Today, the White House announced the first "hard" evidence of their effort to account for jobs created by the $787 billion "stimulus" bill.  Today's report is the first confirmed number of jobs created by the "stimulus" and includes data on the $16 billion awarded to 5,232 federal contract recipients to date. 

Jobs Created?:  Today's report says that $16 billion in federal contracts awarded from the "stimulus" have resulted in 30,383 government-supported jobs.  While the White House's Chief Economist, Jared Bernstein, said that the number of jobs "exceeds our projections," it represents 1 percent of the roughly 3 million jobs that have been lost since the "stimulus" was passed in February. 

Cost per Job:  With $16 billion in federal contracts awarded, each job created in the past seven months cost $526,610.  These federal jobs are directly paid for with taxpayer dollars and, as such, do not reflect growth in the real private-sector economy.  If the cost per government job remains the same, the $787 "stimulus" could possibly produce 208,000 jobs in eight months-compared to the 263,000 jobs lost in the month of September alone.  

Unemployment:  In January, the president promised that the trillion dollar stimulus bill would keep unemployment below 8 percent.  According the today's report, $110 billion has been paid out for contracts, grants, loans, and entitlements since February.  Over that same span of time, the unemployment rate has jumped from 8.1 percent to a 26-year high of 9.8 percent. 

Broken Promises:  In January, the president's chief economic advisors, Christina Romer and Bernstein, warned, "In the absence of stimulus, the economy could lose another 3 to 4 million more" jobs.  In reality, the trillion dollar "stimulus" has created 30,000 confirmed jobs, while 3 million more have indeed disappeared.

Democrat Rhetoric:  In a statement, Bernstein expressed his delight with the 30,000 jobs reported today, saying "All signs-from private estimates to this fragmentary data-point to the conclusion that the Recovery Act did indeed create or save about 1 million jobs in its first seven months."  But while the White House touts unsubstantiated claims of "saved" jobs, 15 million Americans are unemployed and looking for work.

What's Next?:  Rather than work with House Republicans on real pro-growth policies, the President is determined to increase federal spending and place more federal regulations and taxes on American families and small businesses. Democrats have already rejected a Republican alternative that would have created twice as many jobs at half the cost. In spite of the nation's fiscal and economic crisis and the desires of the American people, Democrats continue their attempts to ram a government takeover of health care which includes trillions of dollars in taxes and new entitlement spending, as well as an $846 billion national energy tax through Congress.