Amidst Questions About Their Numbers, White House Says Stimulus Will Save or Create 600,000 Jobs in the Next 100 Days

===“Sheriff Joe” ===
I don’t care how many times I see it, that is still funny.

Thank goodness someone in the press is starting to question Obama’s claims.

“Great, an arbitrary number that can neither be proved or disproved.”
As you are probably aware, the gubermint assumes that spending money automatically equates to job creation. A multiplier (or ratio) is applied to money spent to “calculate” how many jobs have been created (which may or may not be the case). I have no idea how the number of “saved” jobs are calculated/estimated…

How exactly do we count jobs saved? That’s right; we can’t.

We’re in the money, we’re in the money……………

So little money, so many people.

The admin can’t lose with this silly argument, even when we lose more jobs every month.You see, no matter how many we lose, we would would have lost more!
It is like saying you actually made money with Madoff…you see, it is right there in my statement!

I am amazed at how many numbers are thrown out there by the administration that are unprovable by any measure other than making assumptions about how bad it could have been. It is also amazing how many contradicting statements have been made. Thank you Jake for shining some light on these ridiculous statements and numbers, it is just sad that NBC and CBS can’t seem to bring themselves to doing any real journalism on their hero and his admin.

I am currently working a Full time and a part time job,and I have health insurance.
Maybe if people would not be so picky they would be working. Times have changed , this country has changed. Either get with the program or get caught up in the constant negative talk about the current administarion.
Start demanding that stores carry US made items and purchase them as oppose to purchasing made in the “C” word.

Someone needs to call the President on his continued use of the line “Save or Create”.
It’s perfectly unprovable and totally deceptive.

Yes Matt exact numbers DO matter especially when it comes to the amounts of money the government is saying they spend to create non-existant only on paper for people who need excessive qualification (like you have to be an engineer) type jobs. Lets apply your logic to your bank account balance…hey its off by tens of thousands missing but the exact numbers dont matter right?

KR:”He’s preparing to lay off about 30. They aren’t engineers but have experience building bridges. Have some contact info for a job for them?”
We do HVAC and need engineers (the training and the stamp are both important), so nope. Although we are creating some construction jobs since we’re doing a gut remodel of a building for our office (finally big enough to quit leasing and buy some bricks). If they are in bridge building, I would think the company would have shut down outright without the stimulus package keeping at least a baseline activity while all the states have snapped shut their budgets. Or is this a layoff until a winning bid (not uncommon in construction – it’s feast or famine).

Concerned in OH:”Our healthcare costs jumped 20% last month. Out of the blue. The minimum premium we pay now is $500 per employee. Healthy young single adults, $500/month.”
A major and unpredictable business expense that no company in any other first world nation has to worry about. It’s particularly a killer for small shops, who have no bargaining power. Also note that $6000 per person is over double the median per person actual cost of health care in the other first world OECD countries.

Obama can’t even figure out what to do with the money. Now he wants to make us slaves to government wasted HEALTH CARE. Please People wake up. We need the MEDIA to help put a stop to this NONSENSE of Obama. Its going to ruin this country financially.
I can tell you truthfully that any program the goverment creates is going to be full of fraud and waste. Including HEALTH CARE.

“Are Americans really that stupid to believe this garbage.”
Yes…we are an idiocracy.

I would like to meet some of those company officials to whom the president referred– the ones that have been able to tell people they are headed back to work or will not be laid off BECAUSE OF THE STIMULUS. JHW reports his/her company is flourishing and has hired two engineers, but I see no evidence that the hiring is a result of the stimulus (please correct me if I’m wrong, Jhw).
No doubt jhw, a big fan of the current administration, will argue that the stimulus is strengthening the economy as a whole and a stronger economy is allowing them to expand. But I do not see much evidence that the stimulus is stabilizing the economy. My own anecdotal contribution– our family company is doing spectacularly well this year as well, and have had improved revenues every month for over a year and half. The stimulus spending has had no effect at all on our business. We have customers all over the country, and none of the ones we have spoken to about such matters (we are always looking for information about the state of our industry and our customers’ situations so we can plan accordingly), not only do none of them report that the stimulus has had an impact, none have seen the stimulus helping anyone in their communities, period. They are not upset that the stimulus does not touch our industry, in fact most want nothing to do with more government spending or regulation, anyway.

how come nancy pelosi has nothing to say about this? this is her bill and her silence is deafening.

moderate:” JHW reports his/her company is flourishing and has hired two engineers, but I see no evidence that the hiring is a result of the stimulus (please correct me if I’m wrong, Jhw). ”
The stimulus did give my boss confidence that state projects would remain a reliable source of work. We would not have hired additional people if we weren’t somewhat confident in the economic picture, and the stimulus certainly did improve that confidence.

Sorry in my previous message I meant 600,000 jobs not $600,000 jobs

HEY PEOPLE!!!
That is 600,000 temp summer jobs!!
By the time this plan is run, summer will be over and the $$$$$$ will have disappeared into thin air. Under Sheriff Bidens ever watchful eye!! He did say there is going to be a little waste here and there. Where……are the 3 to 4 million jobs he said was coming? He was going to create? I’d settle for the jobs he said he saved!!
All I’ve seen are the jobs he is causing to be lost and the ones waiting to be lost in the medical field after he’s done gutting and Socializing it after the failed Euro and Canadian systems!!

I also wonder if there are a lot of undocumented jobs, just cash and unreported earned income.. and what percentage of total employment it would comprise…

In my State we’ve been spending money on stimulus jobs since April. And now we are predicted to lead the nation out of the Recession – not with part time shovel jobs, but with real High Tech jobs. For us, that means Wind Turbines, Microchips, and Construction. IMO, the key issue is how your State is turning stimulus money into family wage jobs. Check on-line to see how your region is spending this opportunity and get involved.

Typical politicians throwing out numbers that cannot possibly be verified or reliably measured. How could they possibly quantify jobs saved while many of the jobs they are supposedly ‘creating’ are temporary and project based. Most of the ‘stimulus’ money goes for infrastructure and education. Worthy, but in terms of jobs, only rewards union jobs already in place. It’s a constituent payoff really. It does nothing to truly expand the economy which is where long term jobs are created.

Life expectancy is not based solely on medical care. For instance, diet can effect it.

BK_1970:”Life expectancy is not based solely on medical care. For instance, diet can effect it.”
Certainly, as can factors like smoking (which is more common in Europe). But as a first pass metric, it is tough to say their cheap health care system is broken when they live longer. Are Americans just inherently genetically inferior? Do the French just not eat as much butter?

jhw539,
In Europe people don’t get shot at the age of 20 as often as here. How does that prove a darn thing about health care? If you think the care is better over there, Look at cancer survival rates.

jhw539,
Life expectancy is not a “first pass metric” for anything whatsoever. Other than maybe lifestyle. Men die quicker than women. Because they do more hard labor throughout their lives. We have much more freedom here than in Europe. With freedom comes risk. We drink, we shoot each other, etc. Genetically inferior? You must be an idiot. Get some education and come back. What is the life expectancy is France or Britian anyway? If it is higher then it is not by much.

Dan:” In Europe people don’t get shot at the age of 20 as often as here. How does that prove a damn thing about health care? If you think the care is better over there then you are a moron. Look at cancer survival rates. ”
An interesting argument, but the numbers just don’t support your “Americans are shooting each other by the thousands!” argument. Gun deaths get publicity, but they are not a statistically significant cause of death (30,000 a year in a country of 300 million – while that is triple the rate of France on a per capita basis, it’s not making the difference and is less than poisoning deaths).
The care over there is about equivalent, but it costs 50% – 70% less per person. And picking out a few specific forms of cancer that the US has better survival rates for does not change the big picture: Euro healthcare can offer equivalent or better lifespans than the American model.

We are also ethnically diverse in this country. If you look at life expectancy of whites in the U.S. the number goes way up.

whats up with the health care posts ?

People who are shot are disproportionatly young. Have you done the math to se how much that drops the life expectancy. You go back to “lifespans” again. Where is the evidence that the lifespan is longer do to health care? It’s about BEHAVIOR. Gun deaths is just one example of behavior. Alcoholism is another that is much higher over here. Cancer survival rates are a much better “first pass metric” if that is what you want.

If Bush had ever said he saved a job the press would have laughed him out of the room. This is the only president I have ever heard that has tried to take credit for saving a job. He knows that can’t truely be measured therefore he can say whatever he want.

That should be: “Due to” rather than “do to”

How about if the POTUS stops the plugs for NBC and Comedy Central and instead puts his nose to the grindstone!

Look at stocks – up huge – 40% in just the past two months!! Buy stocks with the Wall Street boys and get rich.

BK_1970:”Yep. That $12 tax cut per paycheck goes directly to the increased fuel costs I am paying again. Don’t think that’s going to create any jobs. $288 billion down the tank. HAHA!”
For some Americans, that extra $500 means something. Glad to hear you think it’s a joke. By your logic, a $12 a week tax would be inconsequential and bring in $288 billion a year… (Of course, that is not the full extent of the tax cuts, nor do all people consider it a trivial amount.)

Slowly the American economy like a giant battle ship sailing against the wind and is slowly turning, to put the wind back in her sails, and the crew like the big ship will all sail in the same direction, it takes a lot of crew to run and sail a ship that size to change it’s direction and get it to top not speed.

The captain is sailing the ship strait into the rocks.

Big deal, I saved 10,000 jobs just yesterday!

The internet was a DARPA project. I was actually using it in 1976.
It was not Barack Obama or Teddie Kennedy or Robert Byrd. It was an example of what can happen when government gets the hell out of the way.

The “New Deal” did not solve the great depression. It was WWII the pulled America out of it downward economic spiral.The “New Deal” in fact never drove unemployment below 20%.In the second phase of the stimulus the jobless rate actually rose.Two economists from UCLA using info from the1929 Conference Board and the Bureau of Labor and Statistics concluded after a 4 year study the FDR’s policies actually prolonged the great depression by at least & years.FDR;s own Treasure The “New Deal” did not solve the great depression. It was WWII the pulled America out of it downward economic spiral.The “New Deal” in fact never drove unemployment below 20%.In the second phase of the stimulus the jobless rate actually rose.Two economists from UCLA using info from the1929 Conference Board and the Bureau of Labor and Statistics concluded after a 4 year study the FDR’s policies actually prolonged the great depression by at least & years.FDR;s own Treasure secretary wrote in his memoir that the new deal was a complete failure

With money from the stimulus package, Cincinnati is giving out grants to prevent teen pregnancy. Shovel ready jobs?

I saved $1000 today by not buying a new TV. I’m going to not buy a new TV every day this year so I can have a $365,000 nest egg at the end of the year. If everyone did that, imagine how much could be saved..

I just realized that when Democrats exhale they are releasing CO2 into the atmosphere…

I just saved 10,000,000 jobs and I have cooled the planet with my magnificence alone, you must worship me!

After reading a lot of comments, I think a lot of people are waking up to reality – that the new Messiah is a fraud, a con artist, & not very competent. Blah, blah, blah can only go so far ……..

Blah,Blah,Blah

sometimes i feel like i’m reading press releases from panmunjon.

Will Save or Create 600,000 Jobs in the Next 100 Days
Who in their right mind would vote for Obama again. How can poeple be so stupid.

HOW THE STIMULUS PLAN HAS BEEN WORKING ALREADY AND WHY IT IS BOUND TO GATHER PACE
The stimulus plan in of itself has halted the dramatic plunge in business and consumer confidence with the very likely threat of an economic depression earlier in the year, and businesses and consumers taking a less weary and more upbeat attitude to the future. Maybe more than anything else this will be the most significant impact of the stimulus package in the long-run enabling a spectacular recovery from the real possibility of depression before its passage. Businesses and consumers have become more and more confident that spending from the stimulus in the upcoming months will provide a solid environment for economic activity thus encouraging investment, reducing the pace of job losses and encouraging consumer spending. In other words, the stimulus package has avoided “a cycle of economic downturn to depression” and is now about to engender “a cycle of economic upturn to recovery”.
The stimulus package cash handouts and other social initiatives have played no minor part in lessening the burdens on individuals of the economic downturn and the consequent increase in the number of people unemployed thus palliating the effects with regards to mortgage, health coverage and consumer spending.
The stimulus package has halted the lost of jobs in the areas of education and other state level services and enabled States to avoid budget bankruptcy (caused by the fall in revenues due to the economic downturn) with the result of avoiding indirect job losses in the private sector as well.
The stimulus package is bound to lead the way for new jobs creation to be followed suit by direct private sector investments with the consequence of increasing spending in the economy and accelerating economic recovery. It should be noted that jobs created by the stimulus will have a multiplier effect in the creation of jobs by private enterprises.
Perhaps more fundamental for long-term economic recovery, given the areas of investment of the stimulus package (infrastructure, energy and green jobs, education. etc.), it is the type of government investment required for renewing long-term economic growth. As was the case with FDR’s New Deal in the 1930s and Eisenhower building of interstate highways and investment in the sciences in the 1950s, the stimulus package is bound to restructure the foundation of the US economy within which private enterprise will thrive.
The fundamental element in the criticisms levied against the stimulus package that it will increase the US deficit is the total disregard by most critics of what would have happened without the stimulus with respect to avoiding the real threat of a depression, raising business and consumer confidence and restructuring the economy. Thus providing a good foundation for real growth in the long-run (boostered by the Stimulus and led by private enterprise) with economic growth by itself and healthcare reform allowing for deficit reduction in the long-run.
While the Stimulus Package has often come under this one-sided criticism of increasing the US deficit, such an argument can only be credible to the extent that it elicits how the results mentioned above which have been obtained (and are to be obtained) by the Stimulus Package could have been attained otherwise. Most critics of the stimulus package seem to think that this economy which was at the very brink of collapse simply avoided a depression by some miracle and that by the same token recovery is bound to occur by magic. To the extent that their arguments fail to answer these fundamental facts about avoiding a depression and beginning a recovery, to that extent, such arguments can hardly be considered credible.
Actually, the initial impact of the stimulus for private enterprise and consumers has been “anticipatory” in that it arrested a situation where business and consumer confidence was heading the economy to a depression. That is why the statistics point to the fact that business and consumer confidence stop plunging after the stimulus plan was passed and the stock market has been “going north” since then. It is the anticipation of the impact of the stimulus plan that has stabilized business and consumer confidence, heading off the real prospect of a depression. In other words, the stimulus package first impact was to act as the brakes for an economy that was heading to a depression disaster.

The truth is the stimulus was not working, that is why there is a grand reopening. Most of the money wasn’t even going to be allocated until 2011 just in time for the next election so the stimulus was a political goody bag of campaign cash and nothing more. What we got was a blow to businesses, investors and tax payers who see no reason to spend or invest under this administration because you will be penalized for doing so. If you make money it is going to be taxed. If you spend money it is going to be taxed via possible VAT. If you invest money you are going to be last in line if your investment goes south because of Obama’s treatment of the Chrysler investors. The energy fears are also putting a damper on spending. In short Obama’s first six months have been a disaster and there is none of it he can blame on Bush because his policies quite frankly – suck.

We are losing jobs. So what good is it to create 600K that I doubt will reach people. 600 K jobs and employment daily. He needs to do something besides waste statistics on how many jobs he is creating and help the unemployed who have no income right now. Our government has spent enough. Europe just held elections and the conservative parties won. The ones that don’t want to spend. This is totally crazy. As for the congress and senate they need to think long and hard about the suffering of the voters in their home districts. This is truly the most out of touch administration I have ever seen. Corporations have wasted the money ex Chrysler, Banks. This has gone to far. I will remember as many of the voters suffering right now the reality of what we have representing us in Washington. I know all aren’t guilty but I do keep up with how my representative votes. Everyone else should too. The middle class are not getting any help at all.

Debt on debt. Bailouts on Bailouts for the richest of the rich. These things are fixing us. Don’t worry, be happy.

It is a flat out lie that he will create 600,000 jobs as the lie about 150,000 saved jobs was.
Any economist, and an article today in the wall street journal will tell you that these numbers are pure fantasy.
Obama relies on the media to not call him out on his lies, but to promote them.
He guaranteed that if we rush rush rushed to pass the pork barrel stimulus that unemployment would never exceed 8%. Well we are at 9.4% and rising.
Obama is doing his dirty work while lying to the public and cementing his power with taxpayer funded payoffs to special interests like the UAW, the SEIU and so on.
Wake up you sheep. Unemployment will rise above 10%, inflation will be drastic and cost of living will rise precipitously beyond the tax increases we will ALL endure.
Obama has endowed the EPA with the unprecedented power for these unelected appointees to impose taxes.
Today the EPA gave us a heads up that they are going to tax farm animals for their “gas emissions” that contribute to global warming at the following rates:
Cows $175/head/year
Pigs $20/head /year
and so on.
Meat and dairy costs will rise precipitously but we have no recourse and the EPA is appointed, not elected. So you can thank Obama, and you can bet this is the tip of the iceberg. Since when do we get taxed and it isn’t even up for a congressional vote?
Never in history has so much illegal power been grabbed by a president. He has a multitude of taxing plans to make up for all of his pork barrel and earmark spending, while he quietly soothes us with pretty speeches that never come true.

ALUCEO — WOW!!! I complement you on a very well written lucid and convincing set of statements. Unfortunately, they are almost completely void of substance and fact.
1.) ” The stimulus plan in of itself has halted the dramatic plunge in business and consumer confidence with the very likely threat of an economic depression earlier in the year”– Unemployment was at 7.2% when the Stimulas plan was set in motion. It is currently 9.4% and continues to climb at the rate of 350,000 to 600,000 jobs lost per month. Compare this to both Reagan’s and Bush II ‘s tax cuts.. In both cases the unemployment rate stabilized within 2-3 months and was back to pre recession levels within 8 to 10 months ( check the department of labor website – unemployment figures for 1976 to present to verify this).
this scenario of continued job loss does not support your claim that the stimulus (through consumer confidence alone) has corrected anything.
2.)”The stimulus package has halted the lost of jobs in the areas of education and other state level services and enabled States to avoid budget bankruptcy (caused by the fall in revenues due to the economic downturn)”– Actaully the New York time reported that as of 2 weeks ago, only 7%of the stimulus money has been spent to date. Of this, almost all has been spent to increase welfare and unemployment programs and NOT in the creation or sustaining of any jobs (state, education, or otherwise) and has not stayed any state budgets who were not already solvent to begin with (New York and california come to mind – as they are both struggling with solvency that is even more critical now than it was at the time of the passage of this package – in other words -it hasn’t helped at all.
3.) “While the Stimulus Package has often come under this one-sided criticism of increasing the US deficit, such an argument can only be credible to the extent that it elicits how the results mentioned above which have been obtained (and are to be obtained) by the Stimulus Package could have been attained otherwise”– fair enough, but just as happened in carters Administration in the 70′s the printing of money to cover increased debt leads to increased inflation whick means that consumers who actually have a job are able to buy less with their paycheck. So the question becomes, why spend money in the hopes that it will create jobs (and at this point thats onaly a hope because it hasn’t created any yet) if the result is that you money will buy significantly less. tax cuts on the other hand have proven to stimulate job growth without raising inflation AND once the job growth is realized, the additional tax revenue generated from the additional jobs offsets the revenue initally lost by the cuts. In most cases, tax cuts actaully lead to increases in tax revenue generation within 1 to 2 years (again – check the DOL website).
4.) “It should be noted that jobs created by the stimulus will have a multiplier effect in the creation of jobs by private enterprises.”– that principle usually works quite well when tax cuts are used to generate company growth and job creation. However, historically, it does not translate to the same “multiplier” effect when the job creation is primarily in the government employment/infrastructure area. Which ties into the next point of my counter argument -
5.) “it is the type of government investment required for renewing long-term economic growth. As was the case with FDR’s New Deal in the 1930s”– Again I refer you to the DOL to check your facts. Under FDR, the unemployment rate went from 5% to 9% at the time of the Stock crash in 1929. By 1931 the unemployment rate was 16%, as FDR began instituting the new deal, one would expect that unemployment would decrease over time (at least gradually) thsi was not the case. by 1934 when a large portion of the new deal was already in place, the unemployment rate had jumped to 20%. Even after all aspects of the new deal were up and running (including the TVA) the unemployment rate has stabilized at 19%. the best numbers the Roosevelt was ever able to sustain was 17% between 36 and 37 and then we suffered what was known as Rossevelts recession ( from all the spending) that brought the rate back to 19% by the end of 1937. It wasn’t until PRIVATE business began ramping up for WW2 that any tgrue growth and reductions in unemployment were seen. By 1942 the rate was back to 5% but it was due not tot the new deal, but rather to a free flowing private capital system initally fueled by the war effort. A recent study by UCLA’s history department concluded that Roosevelts policies actually prolonged the depression by at least 5 years and had it not been for WW2, the depression might have lasted an additional 10 years or more…
Finally, remember that recessions ARE cyclic, and yes, despite wht you said, this “disaster” would have self corrected eventually.. the question is, At what cost? Stimulus packages are needed to meet three sets of criteria, calle the three T’s. They are to be targeted, timely, and temporary. Obama’s stimulus was none of the above. Targeted means that the stimulus should be designed to help those who need the help most.. in almost all cases, the citizen who has lost their job. Tax cuts aid in this.. while increases in welfare and pork barrel projects such as money for teachers unions and community organizers do not. Timely means that it helps NOW.. Most recessions will self correct in a year or two even if we do nothing. If the majority of the stimulus is infrastructure spending that will not take affect til 2010 or 2011, what good does it do people who are hurting NOW? Finally, temporary means just that – if your stimulus is made up primarily of items that will continue to pull tax dollars from the government pockets long after the recession is over, not only are you not addressing the problems at hand, but you are committing years of additional debt for policy that does not serve any real purpose to begin with.
You can communicate it any way you wish, but the bottom line is that this “Stimulus” has cost us dearly and we have VERY little to show for it..

You want to stop job loss and bri
ng jobs back to the US? Then do your part (1) start choosing USA made goods over foreign goods, locateamerican.com site gives a list of companies still making things in America. (2) demand stores carry US made products (
I already asked Home Depot to carry Wooster brushes, a USA brush manufactor and I purchase New Balance sneakers with USA lable

Lightduty–”Also, is anyone doing an investigative series on the stimulus spending? My guess is there a no scandals because no one is reporting on how the funds are being spent” — Let me ask you this, Have you seen ANY scandals reported?? NO..
How about this, When Bush was in office all unemployment figures were reported with the addendum of “those who had stopped trying to get a job and had fallen off the roles” If his rate was 6% it was reported as 65 but the true figure is 9% due to those who have fallen off the roles”.. I am sure you remember these types of reports.. NOW, we get a report of 350,000 lost jobs as “good news” because it is not 600,000 like it has been for the last three months and obviously it must be a sign that the recession is slowing.. no mention of the fact that if you apply the same set of standards to Obama’s numbers (an include those who have stopped actively pursuing work) HIS unemployment figures are now sitting at between 14 and 15%.
We get 30+ reporters telling us about Sotomayors “wonderful life story” when Obama nominated her, but there have been scant stories on her actual record as a judge. If Bush had nominated a justice who had a 60% lower court appeal rate and had been overturned by the supreme court 4 times in the last 10 years, you can bet it would be all over the mainstream news. but then any judge nominated by a republican presidnet who had said what she said at university speech would never make it to confirmation to begin with.
How about Pelosci telling the nation that the mortgage industry collapse woul dbe investigated and those responsible would be held accountable, after a week of trying to hang it on republicans, it was determined that democrats were at the root of the problem (namely Rangle, Dodd, Waters and Reid) add to that the actual deregulation was voted on by the senate in 1998 (92-8 vote) and signed into law by Clinton and all of a sudden, amazingly, there have been NO investigations by congress on the mortgage industry crisis. And NO reports by the media as to why.
No one has comdemned the president for telling us to go green while he has a pizza chef flown in for family night at the white house? Sending nine planes to Denver to sign the stimulus instead of doing it from the white house? Sending the family on a Paris shopping spree while he meets in the middle east.
Didn’t we slam bush for trying to push the Dubai ports deal (after all why would we want Dubai muslims to be incharge of port security) — but I guess its perfectly fine that Obama’s has now committed to give nuclear technology to the very same people the dems said we could not trust to protect our ports…Think Bush would have gotten away with that??
All presidents will make mistakes.. any human will. the difference is that if you have an (R) by your name, the media will crucify you for any mistake you make. If you have a (D) beside it, your mistakes will not only be forgiven, they won’t even be reported on..

arkie vet- great post- very frustrating the media lets Obama get away with everything and practically campaigned for him.

Akie Vet posted that the recession would have self corrected. Not everyone agrees that correction happens “Timely” enough without financial assistance, including my State government.
I live in Oregon and since our economy traditionally is dependent on Forest Products, it dips with housing. During our last recession we figured out that “Targeted” means increasing federal aid for food stamps and unemployment. Tax cuts alone will not stimulate the lumber industry, so instead we courted also high technology companies.
This recession has been painful – we have the second highest unemployment numbers. But the State knew from experience how to use stimulus money to fund jobs since April – providing stop gap jobs while building real High Tech family wage jobs like Wind Turbines and Microchips.
Today we are projected to lead the nation in new job creation out of this recession. Clearly, every state is different – look at how stupidly California borrowed to balance its budget – but Oregonians are rolling up our sleeves and working together with stimulus funding to repair our unemployment numbers. It’s not as black and white as you paint.

Now we have Obamanomics!!!!!
We now look at everything in 100 day windows of time.
We rave constantly about a Phantom Statistic….the “SAVED” job. There is no defintion for a saved job & no mechannism in place to report such a Phantom number.
- If you have your job for en entire year, you job would be “saved” 3 times under Obamanomics!!!!
If we had the so-called transparency that this adminstration claimed we would have, there would be no need to waste time & money to produce a 100 day report on the “Stimulator”. This is supposed to be readily and easily viewed online.
- Instead we have Joe “Don’t Mess With Me” Biden created fairy tales.
It is way past time for the reporters in the media to put a stop to all this fantasyland garbage. You guys should be calling Obama, Biden, Gibbbs and anyone else who goes on the record using the term “saved jobs”!

I know a great way to save & create 600,000 jobs. First impeach Obama, undo everything he has done (get all the bailout money back from banks and GM and give it to small businesses and struggling citizens) and remove congress and do away with lobbyists. Doesnt that sound like a good plan?

“… providing stop gap jobs while building real High Tech family wage jobs like Wind Turbines and Microchips.”
I see this thrown around a lot and I’m not questioning validity except in that, what does this mean? Is there a wind turbine factory going up in Oregon or something? Microchip factory? I ask because there are already factories building these things and at least in Oklahoma, they cancelled their big wind farm because of protest from the land owners. Even some local environmentalists were trying to kill it because birds were getting chopped up by them or something. What is a “wind turbin” or “microchip” job?
“Today we are projected to lead the nation in new job creation out of this recession.”
Hate to say it but it was also projected unemployment wouldn’t exceed 8%. Projections is the wrong term, probably the more appropriate term is “optimistic” prediction. Not really trying to be snide, just that we buy into these terms when thats not really what they represent.

Another thing do you realize that they picked Ed Whitacare (former CEO of AT&T) to head up the “new” GM? Coming from a former employee of AT&T I can tell you AT&T has been losing money for years and failed to innovate just barely keeping up with the competiton under his watch and absolutley hemmoraging money and THIS is the guy they want to head up General Motors now? How many of you still have AT&T land-line phone service? LOL!!!!

Arkie Vet and KR – sorry for the delay in answering – I’m at work and my business is picking up! Yes, Oregon is scheduled for massive investments such as INTEL to update a microchip facility + the largest solar manufacturing plant in the country. Those ARE long term jobs.
Sure, Oregon is #2 in unemployment because the state economy traditionally relied on Forest Products. Tax cuts alone cannot make those old economy jobs reappear. Oregon spent its own Stimulus Money on jobs training as the centerpiece for economic growth. Community colleges now train kids for careers as wind technicians and renewable energy – starting pay is $17 to $24 per hour + benefits – we are also offering the first MBA course in the nation focused on clean-tech innovation. We are training for what will be the country’s largest solar manufacturing plant in Hillsboro.
By 2025 this area is projected to create between 41,000 and 63,000 direct clean-tech jobs – similar to the number of high-tech jobs currently available in our High Tech corridor, the Silicon Forest.
To me, the key is how your State is spending the Stimulus Money – look a Japan in the 1990s. They spent and spent on Bridges to Nowhere. Japan’s recession dragged out for a decade. IMO, it’s valuable to become involved at the local level because every single state is different – I can only report that here in Oregon the stimulus is working.

ALUCEO– Again I complement you on a very convincing sounding argument.. but let me break down what you just said into layment’s terms..
The positive affect of the stimulus has far less to do with what it actually is capable of accomplishing by its own merits and far more to do with the impact it has on the “mood” of the country.. in other words, its only positive affect is the feeling it instills that we “are doing something” positive. even though it actually does no such thing (apparently). And, at this point in time you go on to contend that its true benefit currently is the continued “good feeling” it provides as stimulus whether or not it actually accompished anything tangent.
In other words it has worked and continues to work simply because some of us think it is working..it doesn’t have to actually DO anything as long as we think it does, that alone is enough to turn the economy around..
By the way, the stock market was over 13,000 when the mortgage industry crashed.. it dropped to below 7,000 and to date is struggling to maintain itself above 8,500. Not exactly a meteoric rise or a restoration by any means..

Idahogirl – Sorry I couldn’t respond earlier . I’ll rather go by a different analogy to describe the Stimulus. The Stimulus is rather like a project but in this instance a massive and complex national project. A project can be broken down in two broad categories: design and execution. At the design stage (the first few months of the Stimulus), everything is being organised and put in place administratively with relatively little being carried out. The upcoming months will be the period when the massive spending and investments will be executed at an exponential rate. In fact, 1 billion dollar is already being allocated each day for Stimulus projects.
In layman’s terms, the Stimulus is needed for the simple reason that with the failure of the financial system, businesses and consumers were less willing (uncertainty) and less able (banks failures and failure to provide credit) to produce and spend in the economy implying that companies sold less goods and services than usual and so the companies had to laid out workers who in turn bought less and so the cycle goes (and this might just as well have led to a depression).
What the stimulus is meant to do, and is doing, is to incite and give businesses and consumers the confidence to keep on producing and spending respectively for the upcoming spending in the economy it is to generate exponentially. Initially by giving tax breaks, benefits, spending to maintain teaching and social services jobs and then spending on stimulus projects contracts given to companies which are then encouraged not to lay off workers. All these with the consequent multiplier effect in the economy.
Companies and consumers effectively bought to this idea once the Stimulus bill was enacted and kept on producing and consuming respectively in anticipation that upcoming Stimulus spending will maintain a stable economic environment from which recovery is possible. Hence the reason why the stock market and consumer and business confidence started rising. This effort was accompanied by the bank bailout and efforts to provide credit to consumers and companies.
It is effectively because the Stimulus Package is real, a commitment of 781 billion dollars by the US government for real economic projects, that consumers and businesses bought to the scheme and started acting in a positive manner in anticipation of its positive impact in the upcoming months (the Stimulus Package direct impact should enter in full force by the fourth quarter). In fact, many economists have even argued that the amount provided for the Stimulus should have been much more higher.
As a final note, I’ll argue that irrespective of party creed, it will seem to me that the criticism levied against the Stimulus is much more of a “political vogue” (and has nothing to do with “realistic” economics) naïvely taken up by the media which tend to operate on the basis of “two sides to any story” . The milestone which any such critical arguments has to overcome is to answer the question: how could a depression be avoided and a recovery started after the failure of the financial system.

Wait a minute. I thought the Stimulus was suppose to save 3,000,0000 jobs, remember? Now its down to “saving” 600,000?

…Will Save or Create 600,000 Jobs…
And where will these jobs be?
IN THE BLOATED, ALL-CONTROLLING SOCIALIST FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, of course.
Bureaucrats are needed to run the nationalized American finance industry, the nationalized American banking industry, the nationalized American auto industry, the soon-to-be nationalized American healthcare industry and to control ALL ASPECTS of American life.
The loony-left d-crat socialist “Road to Hell” will be paved by millions of bureaucrats.

This recovery belongs to Obama. He said his Presidency will be judged by the results of his policies and he is dead right.
It doesn’t matter how the White House spins this the fact is this plan is not fueling job creation. This business about “saving jobs” is so nebulus that his own people don’t know what it means.
Even the faithful are starting to question the direction of this country -most still hate Bush and are fast to remind us just how much they hate him but these changes are tough to swallow much less believe in. The Bush argument is worn out at this point; Obama owns this recovery.
Bottom line: either the Stimulas plan or the other initiatives by this administration and Congress start producing real economic stimulas or this Congress and ultimately this President are down the road. Today Obama is predicting unemployment will hit 10% – in another 60 days he will be predicting 11%, then 12%, potentially more. (BY the way, he told us when the was selling the Stimulas plan that it would never get higher than 8%)
No question this President can bob and weave with the best of them. His marketing staff is capable of reaching into the ether and making up numbers and impact and they are good at selling it. It is a tough sell regardless and they might think they are pulling it off but unless this job meltdown turns around all the spinning in the world is not going to save this Congress and this Administration.
Let’s just say it right up: the Emperor has no clothes.