In a January 19th article title “The White House Looks for Work” The New York Times Peter Baker reports:

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, known as the stimulus, produced or saved at least 1.9 million jobs and as many as 4.7 million last year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Someone reading this sentence might conclude that the CBO has analyzed actual real world data taken before, during, and after the stimulus and concluded that it saved jobs. This is completely false. The CBO job estimate numbers are based off of a computer model that does not incorporate any … Continue Reading

In the August 26th issue of Time, Michael Grunwald has a lengthy article titled How the Stimulus Is Changing America which is filled with half-truths about President Barack Obama’s failed economic stimulus. First, Grunwald gets the cost of the stimulus wrong reporting: “The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 — President Obama’s $787 billion stimulus — has been marketed as a jobs bill, and that’s how it’s been judged.” As the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has recently confirmed, since the stimulus failed to create jobs the cost of the unemployment measures has risen and the estimated ten … Continue Reading

The August 30th USA Today carried a story by David Lynch headed: “Economists agree: Stimulus created nearly 3 million jobs.” In paragraph two we learn that: “A recent study by two prominent economists generally agrees, crediting the pump-priming with averting ‘what could have been called Great Depression 2.0.’” It is not immediately obvious which two economist’s Lynch is referring to, but two paragraphs later Lynch reports: “‘We have played our policy hand. Now we’ve got to hope it’s good enough,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics and co-author of the recent study.”

The study Lynch is referring to, … Continue Reading

When President Barack Obama stopped in Columbus, Ohio to raise campaign cash on August 18th, Dispath reporters Mark Niquette and Joe Hallett reported:

Later, at a Downtown luncheon fundraiser for Gov. Ted Strickland and the Ohio Democratic Party, Obama said the recession already had swept away 8million jobs before “we had any opportunity to put in our economic policies.” Those policies - the $787billion stimulus package, health-care overhaul, domestic auto industry bailout and tighter regulations on Wall Street - are helping to rebuild the economy, Obama said.

If Niquette and Hallett are just repeating what the President said, then they should … Continue Reading

In his July 27th report on the success or failure of the stimulus bill, the AP’s Bruce Schreiner lays out the pros and cons of the stimulus bill, predominately voiced by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell. What Schreiner misrepresents, however, was the true cost of the stimulus package signed into law last year by President Obama. Schreiner writes, “Pelosi credited last year’s $787 billion stimulus package, passed over deep Republican objections, with creating or saving as many as 3.6 million jobs so far.”

As it’s been pointed out several times on … Continue Reading

Reporting on the Obama administration’s failure to convince voters the stimulus worked, The Washington Post’s Michael Shear reported on July 14th:

On that Friday, Gibbs was upbeat, expressing confidence in Obama’s ability to make his case for what eventually became an $850 billion stimulus plan.

Shear’s $850 billion number is an improvement over the $787 billion number the Post used to use but it is still not correct.

President Obama’s stimulus may have only totaled $787 billion when Congressional critics first voted against it, but its costs have increased since then. According to revised … Continue Reading

Reporting on President Barack Obama’s desire for billions more of deficit stimulus spending, The New York Times‘ David Sanger and Sewell Chan report:

Lawrence H. Summers, the director of the National Economic Council and the economic adviser at Mr. Obama’s elbow, argued that the effects of last year’s $787 billion spending program had not fully kicked in.

President Obama’s stimulus may have only totaled $787 billion when Congressional critics first voted against it, but its costs have increased since then. According to revised accounting by the Congressional Budget Office released this January, because the … Continue Reading

One can understand why facts might be hard to come by while reporting on Vice President Joe Biden’s economic stimulus claims, but The Hill’s Michael O’Brien makes two easy errors in his June 2nd article. First he calls it the “$787 billion” stimulus bill. That was once true … nut not anyomore. According to revised accounting by the Congressional Budget Office released this January, because the stimulus failed to keep unemployment below 8% as promised, it will end up costing $862 billion thanks to increased food stamp and unemployment payments.

O’Brien’s second factual error comes three paragraphs later when … Continue Reading

Reporting on President Barack Obama’s recent trip to Iowa, New York Times journalists Helene Cooper and Jeff Zeleny wrote on April 27th:

The president conceded that the rising level of the budget deficit “keeps me up at night.” But he extolled the benefits of the economic stimulus plan and took issue with his Congressional critics, who he said had tried to take credit for local projects even though they voted against the $789 billion measure last year.

President Obama’s stimulus may have only totaled $789 billion when Congressional critics voted against it, but its costs have increased since then. According to … Continue Reading

In an otherwise fine April 19th article reporting on Pew Research Center’s new poll showing “nearly in 10 Americans say they don’t trust the federal government,” the Associated Press‘ Liz Sidoti writes:

The survey found that Obama’s policies were partly to blame for a rise in distrustful, anti-government views. In his first year in office, the president orchestrated a government takeover of Detroit automakers, secured a $787 billion stimulus package and pushed to overhaul the health care system.

One quibble. According to revised accounting by the Congressional Budget Office released this January, because the stimulus failed to keep unemployment … Continue Reading

The Washington Post’s Alec MacGillis reported on January 13th:

The $787 billion economic stimulus package has created or saved between 1.7 million and 2 million jobs, but its impact on the economy ebbed slightly in the final quarter of 2009 compared with prior months, the White House said Tuesday night.
…
Congressional Republicans have questioned the administration’s claims about the stimulus’s impact, pointing to the 10 percent unemployment rate nationwide. Romer’s new figures are based on macroeconomic estimates, not reports filed by stimulus funding recipients, the next round of which is due later this month.

Separately, the White House has announced a change

… Continue Reading

On January 11th, Matt Apuzzo and Brett Blackledge reported on an Associated Press analysis of federal government infrastructure stimulus spending writing:

Spend a lot or spend nothing at all, it didn’t matter, the AP analysis showed: Local unemployment rates rose and fell regardless of how much stimulus money Washington poured out for transportation, raising questions about Obama’s argument that more road money would address an “urgent need to accelerate job growth.”
…
AP’s analysis, which was reviewed by independent economists at five universities, showed that strategy hasn’t affected unemployment rates so far. And there’s concern it won’t work the second time. For

… Continue Reading

A December 18th USA Today headline read: “House narrowly OKs year-end, $100B jobs bill.” But then reading Associated Press report we learn:

According to documents released by Democrats, the measure would cost $154 billion. But there’s also another $20 billion from the federal treasury to keep the highway trust fund afloat.

Similarly, under the headline: “U.S. House Approves $154 Billion Jobs Bill, Debt Limit Increase”, Bloomberg reports:

The U.S. House approved a $154 billion economic-aid package and a $290 billion increase in the legal limit on government borrowing as the chamber wrapped up its legislative business for the year.

So where did … Continue Reading

Under the header Obama: Job figures sobering, but show recession is slowing CNN’s Chris Isidore and Paul Steinhauser posted an item July 2nd reporting: “Obama has said recovery will take time, predicting the unemployment rate will climb above 10 percent before reversing.” But CNN fails to tell its readers that that “prediction” was made by Obama just this June, which is a bit like predicting the winner of the World Series just before the last strike is called.

In January, when the President was pushing his “stimulus” plan, his Administration was predicting that—if Congress embraced his policies—unemployment would top … Continue Reading