Kilmeade: “The President Seems To Be Differing From The Facts” On The Economy

From the June 10 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:

KILMEADE: Let's move to the economy. I know that matters more to you than anything else, and I know you're fed up the Congressman Weiner stuff. So the president of the United States seems to be -- and his staff seem to be on a different plane when it comes to how they view the economy. For example, here's his press secretary yesterday.

CARNEY: (video) We believe the overall trend has been very positive: 15 straight months of private sector job growth, 2.1 Million jobs. More than double the net job creation of the previous 10 years.

DOOCY: How can you say overall very positive? I just don't get that. This past week, a new report came that out for the chroniclely unemployed, it now takes 40 weeks to find a new job.

CAMEROTA: Oh boy.

DOOCY: That is the longest it has ever taken in the history of the survey, and that just shows you how many people out there are suffering. They want jobs! But right now, in this economy, nothing that this administration has done has fired up the job machine, and people are angry.

KILMEADE: Some Democrats are really upset that the president seems to be differing from the facts out there. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 6/10/11]

In Fact, Evidence Shows That Obama's Policies Have Lowered Unemployment And Boosted GDP

CBO: In The First Quarter Of 2011, Economic Stimulus Added Millions Of Jobs To The Economy. From a May 25 post on CBO.gov introducing their latest report on the effects of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009:

CBO estimates that ARRA's policies had the following effects in the first quarter of calendar year 2011:

o They raised real (inflation-adjusted) gross domestic product by between 1.1 percent and 3.1 percent,

o Lowered the unemployment rate by between 0.6 percentage points and 1.8 percentage points,

o Increased the number of people employed by between 1.2 million and 3.3 million, and

o Increased the number of full-time-equivalent (FTE) jobs by 1.6 million to 4.6 million compared with what would have occurred otherwise. (Increases in FTE jobs include shifts from part-time to full-time work or overtime and are thus generally larger than increases in the number of employed workers). [CBO.gov, 5/25/11]

CBPP: “The Economy Has Now Grown For Seven Straight Quarters.” From a June 8 research piece on “The Legacy Of The Great Recession”:

Economic activity as measured by real (inflation-adjusted) gross domestic product (GDP) was contracting sharply when policymakers enacted the financial stabilization bill (TARP) and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, but the economy has now grown for seven straight quarters. [CBPP.org, 6/8/11]

Independent And Private Analysts: Stimulus Significantly Raised Employment. In its sixth quarterly report on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the White House Council of Economic Advisors cited several economic estimates - including estimates from Moody's economist Mark Zandi -- that concluded that the stimulus increased gross domestic product and lowered unemployment:

[Council of Economic Advisors, Sixth Quarterly Report of the Economic Impact Of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, 3/18/11]

Economists: “The Effects Of The Fiscal Stimulus” On Economy “Appear Very Substantial.”Economists also agreed that the stimulus was effective. A March 2010 study in The Wall Street Journalfound that 70 percent of economists surveyed said the stimulus “boosted growth and mitigated job losses.” ABC News reported on February 18, 2010, that most of the economists on its panel thought the economy “would be worse today without the big aid package.” And a February 2010 survey of 203 members of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) found that "[e]ighty-three percent believe that GDP is currently higher than it would have been without the 2009 stimulus package (ARRA)." [Media Matters, 9/26/10]