'Recovery Summer'

"Recovery Summer"

Democrats’ Claims vs. America’s Realities

SEPTEMBER 1, 2010

“Welcome to Recovery”  –Treasury Secretary Tim F. Geithner, (Op-Ed, August 3, 2010)

 

CLAIM #1 – A January 2009 report authored by Christina Romer, President Obama’s chief economist, and Jared Bernstein, Vice President Biden’s chief economist and economic policy advisor, predicted that the $814 billion stimulus bill would keep unemployment below 8 percent.

  • America’s Reality:  Since the stimulus was signed into law, the unemployment rate reached a 27 year high of 10.2 percent.  Currently, the unemployment stands at 9.5 percent and has not dropped below 9.5 percent in 12 months.  

CLAIM #2 – On February 17, 2009, President Obama stated, “[W]hat makes this recovery plan so important is not just that it will create or save 3.5 million jobs over the next two years...It's that we are putting Americans to work doing the work that America needs done...” 

  • AMERICA’S REALITY:  Since the president’s “stimulus” was signed into law, 3.6 million jobs have been lost and the economy has experienced a net loss of nearly 2.6 million jobs.  There are currently 15 million Americans unemployed and looking for work.  Millions more have given up looking for a job and are no longer included in unemployment statistics.

CLAIM #3 – On July 1, 2009, President Obama stated, “The Recovery Act [stimulus plan] was designed to make sure that local school districts didn’t layoff teachers and firefighters and police officers, and it’s done its job.”

  • America’s Reality:  On August 6, 2010, Speaker Pelosi called members of the House of Representatives back from their district work period to approve a $26.1 billion federal bailout for states.  The bailout included $10 billion to be used for teacher salaries and state education budgets.  Speaker Pelosi stated, “Democrats will return next week to save or create hundreds of thousands of jobs for our teachers, nurses, firefighters and police officers…”  It’s clear that the Democrats’ original stimulus plan failed to “do its job.”

CLAIM #4 – On September 24, 2009, Vice President Joe Biden stated, “In my wildest dreams, I never thought it [the stimulus plan] would work this well.”

  • AMERICA’S REALITY:  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the rate for underemployment in July 2010 was 16.5 percent.  Gallup’s monthly measure was even higher.  According to Gallup, underemployment was 18.4 percent in July 2010.  Gallup's underemployment measure includes both Americans who are unemployed and those working part time but want full-time work.

CLAIM #5 – On July 2, 2010, President Obama stated that the “economy is headed in the right direction.”

  • AMERICA’S REALITY:  While the unemployment rate stands at nearly 10 percent, on August 19, 2010, the Department of Labor reported that the initial claims for unemployment benefits rose to 500,000, up 12,000 from the previous week.  On August 26, 2010, the Department of Labor delivered more troubling news.  In its weekly uninsured claims report, the Department of Labor indicated that the four week moving average of initial unemployment claims rose by 3,250 to 486,750.  According to Dow Jones Newswire, this increase in the four week moving average is the highest level since November 28, 2009.