Fox Falsely Connects Fisker Loan To Stimulus

Source: AutoblogGreen

Fox News is using the struggles of electric automaker Fisker to smear the stimulus, even though the company received its loan from a completely separate Bush-era program, and both have created jobs.

On Thursday's Fox & Friends, Fox Business correspondent Charles Gasparino incorrectly claimed that Fisker received stimulus money, adding “when you use stimulus money, you're supposed to create jobs”:

However, the Department of Energy's Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) program is separate from the 2009 stimulus package signed into law by President Obama. Rather, it was enacted with broad bipartisan support in 2007 to award loans encouraging “meaningful improvements in fuel economy performance.” More than half of that money went to improve the technology of conventional gasoline-fueled vehicles, but some went to support pioneering hybrid and electric cars. Since then, some of the latter, like the Tesla Model S and Nissan Leaf, have been successful.

While the primary focus of ATVM was different than that of the stimulus, the program has still supported more than 35,000 jobs.

In making the false connection, Fox News once again mischaracterized the Obama administration's stimulus package, which private analysts have estimated increased both GDP and overall employment.