Fox & Friends falsely claims government says stimulus "has only created the 600,000 jobs"
Fox & Friends hosts Steve Doocy, Brian Kilmeade, and Alisyn Camerota seized on a recent Recovery.gov jobs report to falsely claim that the stimulus funded 600,000 jobs, which Fox & Friends then attacked as being inconsistent with other Obama administration officials' estimates of jobs having been saved due to the stimulus. But that 600,000 jobs figure is reportedly only for the jobs funded by the stimulus in the fourth quarter of 2009; the White House still estimates that the stimulus' overall impact has been about 2 million jobs funded, and that number is in line with other economists' estimates.
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Fox & Friends claims Recovery.gov stimulus job figures are inconsistent with other administration officials' estimates
From the February 1 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:
CAMEROTA: Let's talk about whether or not all of this will help jobs, OK? Because that's obviously the number one priority in the country. We have some new information on what the stimulus has done. Remember the $787 billion worth of stimulus funds that were supposed to create jobs? Well, there's new information --and this comes from the government's website, Recovery.gov, over the weekend. They put out their latest numbers, and they say that almost 600,000 people's jobs were created or saved -- 599,108. Well, that's less than many people had hoped.
DOOCY: Well, that's less, Ali, than the president of the United States actually mentioned, and at his State of the Union address, he said that a couple million people were working because of the stuff they'd done. But as we have pointed out in the past, the folks at the White House are having a little problem exactly figuring out how many jobs all that dough has created. Watch this.
[begin video clip]
VALERIE JARRETT (Obama adviser): Just thousands and thousands of jobs.
DAVID AXELROD (Obama adviser): Now, the recovery act the president passed has created more than or saved more than 2 million jobs.
ROBERT GIBBS (Obama press secretary): Just last quarter, we finally saw the first positive economic job growth in more than a year, largely as a result of the recovery plan that's put money back into our economy, that saved or created a million and a half jobs.
[end video clip]
KILMEADE: Gibbs went on to say -- not in that interview -- but he says we're not creating the jobs we would have liked to in the stimulus program. But I think additional recovery stimulus money is important in order to gain and create an environment for small business. So he wants more money but admitted that the last money did not build. And we also know this -- and this might be something the president might have used to run from, he might embrace now -- that most of the stimulus money is not going to be spent until down the line, even though we needed it right away.
CAMEROTA: That's the part that doesn't make any sense. So why have another one when much -- half, I think -- of the $787 billion hasn't been spent yet, and the half that has been spent has only created the 600,000 jobs, if you believe the website. But again, it's a moving target, because you heard 2 million, 1.5, then thousands and thousands, and 600,000.
However, Recovery.gov's 600,000 figure reportedly only represents jobs funded in the fourth quarter
600,000 estimate reportedly only represents "the final three months of 2009." The Washington Post reported in a February 1 article that "[t]he Obama administration's economic stimulus program created nearly 600,000 jobs in the final three months of 2009, a figure in line with the administration's goals for job creation through the end of 2010, the White House reported Saturday night." It continued: "The new total was down from the totals reported for the previous quarter, partly because the administration decided in December to count only the jobs paid for with stimulus funding instead of estimating the number of jobs 'created or saved' with the money." Reuters and CNNMoney.com articles about the report also noted that the figure represents the fourth quarter.
White House: 600,000 jobs "represents just a portion of the job impact in the fourth quarter." In a blog post on WhiteHouse.gov, White House adviser Ed DeSeve wrote that the latest figure "represents just a portion of the job impact in the fourth quarter" but noted that "[t]he Council of Economic Advisers recently released analysis that found the Recovery Act is already responsible for about 2 million jobs." DeSeve also wrote that the 600,000 job figure "is right in line with our goal to create or save 3.5 million jobs through the Recovery Act by the end of 2010."
Orszag: Fourth quarter reporting "only applied to about a fifth of the recovery act funding." Later in the Fox & Friends broadcast, Camerota asked Office of Management and Budget director Peter Orszag about the Recovery.gov report, and he replied: "Well, remember, that reporting only applied to about a fifth of the recovery act funding, so when you scale it up, you're talking about one and a half to 2 million jobs created or saved as a result of the recovery act. So that's, you know, 2 million people who would be unemployed today were it not for the recovery act." Additionally, Orszag explained that the Recovery.gov job figures only "apply to a certain subset of the recovery act funding. It doesn't include things like the jobs created from the tax cuts that were provided under the recovery act or from other components that were part of the recovery act but were not direct discretionary spending that the recipient reporting requirements applied to."
Additionally, the White House's stimulus job numbers are "within the range of other projections," including Moody's, CBO
White House economic advisers: "the ARRA has raised employment relative to what it otherwise would have been by 1½ to 2 million." In a quarterly report issued January 13, the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) estimated: "As of the fourth quarter of 2009, the CEA estimates that the ARRA has raised employment relative to the baseline by between 1½ and 2 million. The CEA estimates for both the effects on GDP and employment are similar to those of respected private forecasters and government agencies." The report also stated, "For the third quarter of 2009, we now have direct reports on jobs created or saved from a subset of recipients of ARRA funds. These reports identify 640,000 jobs that would not have existed but for the Recovery Act."
CEA: Our estimates are within the range of other projections, including Moody's and CBO. Discussing its projection, CEA noted, "[O]ur estimates are within the range of other projections, though somewhat above the median." In its quarterly report, CEA cited figures from Moody's Economy.com and the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office as evidence that its "estimates are within" the range of other economists':
Here you go, this is a start.
Junk in, junk out eh Barry?
The stimulus program may have resulted in negative real jobs created. Almost nothing the government does produces a long term return other than infrastructure and it's been reported that only about 5% has gone to roads and bridges. With all the government red tape, you cannot even build a dam to produce hydroelectric power of the type built during the depression.
On the other hand the space program has resulted in many technological advancements and paid for itself many times. So in true government form the space program has been chosen to be cut.
Somehow that money will have to be paid back with interest creating a net negative for the economy.
And if you don't pay it back, like Reagan and W Bush, you're giving the economy free money. If a republican achieves minor economic success for some part of their term, that's how they're doing it. With free money that a democrat has to pay back.
The so called rich could not make a dent in the debt. It will be the middle/lower class that pays off (or tries to pay off) the debt.
Instead you are going to redistribute wealth to a point where there will no longer be wealth to redistribute.
That is the point at which all socialist governments inevitably fail.
Were you against the redistribution of wealth upwards over the past 8 years?
You know, the wealth disparity is now at its greatest level since the robber baron days, which was a main factor in that little historical thing called the Great Depression.
If you raise taxes on the rich you will have to put them in jail to keep them from moving to another jurisdiction.
The stupid people will keep paying higher and higher taxes.
I don't think you have any concept at how large the debt is. The richest baron could not make a dent in the debt.
Obama implied it in his meeting with the GOP last week and I respect him for it.
Ending Prohibition would help a lot with Medicaid.
A Walmart style clinic would help with Medicare.
Going back to the Constitution would restore the government. I am not ready to give up.
You're too dumb to post here. Goodbye.
Warren Buffet is worth approximately $37 billion.
The national debt is over $12 trillion which is 12,000 billion.
You could wipe out Warren Buffet by forcing him pay the interest on the national debt for about 1-3 months - and that is before taxes.
This is a bit misleading because it is paper value. If it had to be liquidated the realistic value would probably pay the national debt for one week.
The top 1% has 40% of the money.
The top 1% has 40% of the money.
I know you're unteachable, but others reading this might be able to point and laugh.
The top 1% has 40% of the money.
The top 1% has 40% of the money.
The top 1% has 40% of the money.
Are you saying to pay the debt we should try to identify the top 1% and confiscate their property?
Do you care about freedom and the Constitution?
40% of the GDP does not equal 40% of the money. If one dollar is exchanged 20 times in one year it counts as $20 of GDP.
And you look like a child throwing a temper tantrum. Maybe others reading this will see you for what you really are.
This thread is too old to continue this. If we had more time I'd get you to state that you'd change your thinking if my stat is true, then I'd prove my stat.
Maybe we'll cross paths again. But you're really too dumb to post here.
The comments will be closed on this topic soon.
Never mind.
President Obama peppered his State of the Union address to Congress and the nation with facts, which were mostly right but sometimes cherry-picked, strained or otherwise misleading.
He said “there are about 2 million Americans working right now” because of last year’s stimulus bill. But his own economic advisers say the total could be as little as 1.5 million, and independent estimates range down to as low as 800,000.