Jobs “saved or created” from $787 billion Porkulus: 30,083
posted at 12:10 pm on October 16, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
We’ve long criticized the Obama administration measure of jobs “saved or created” by their economic policies as ridiculously ambiguous. That seemed confirmed when the White House announced last month that a million jobs had been “saved or created” by the stimulus package, without any supporting data. This week, the administration finally supplied the data, and the number came to less than 1/30th of their September claim:
The first direct stimulus reports showed that stimulus contracts saved or created just 30,083 jobs, prompting more Republican criticism of the $787 billion package.
The data posted Thursday was the result of the government’s initial attempt at counting actual stimulus jobs. Obama administration officials stressed that data was partial — it represented just $16 billion out of the $339 billion awarded — but they said it exceeded their projections.
“All signs — from private estimates to this fragmentary data — point to the conclusion that the Recovery Act did indeed create or save about 1 million jobs in its first seven months, a much needed lift in a very difficult period for our economy,” said Jared Bernstein, the chief economist for Vice President Joe Biden.
Well, which $16 billion are we talking about? And where did the rest of the $339 billion, almost half of the Porkulus appropriation, go? Why didn’t the administration show that information to make the argument that the other $329 billion had the exact same effect as the $16 billion it highlighted in its initial report?
At the rate shown by this report, this comes to almost $532,000 per job “saved or created”. Extrapolating that over the entirety of the Porkulus spending, the bill would only “save or create” 1.48 million jobs, and that assumes that it actually did “save or create” those jobs in the first place.
Now, let’s assume for the sake of argument that the jobs we “saved or created” pay the national average salary of $50,000 and are permanently saved or created, a very generous assumption consider the kind of temporary hiring that we have seen from this effort. If each of these jobs paid an effective federal income tax rate of 15%, it would take over 70 years for them to pay back the money we spent on Porkulus, and that doesn’t count the interest we will pay on those funds. At a 20% effective tax rate, it would take over 53 years.
And all of that assumes that the program works exactly as the adminstration claims. On that score, I’ll let Ken Spain have the last word:
“Despite numerous promises from Congressional Democrats, there are still 15.1 million Americans out of work,” said Ken Spain, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee. “After wasting taxpayer dollars to produce an unimpressive 397 jobs in Michigan, middle-class families are still asking one thing: Where are the jobs?”
Blowback
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Cost benefit ratio be damned. The government can create jobs… Government jobs.
Dasher on October 16, 2009 at 12:13 PM
How many jobs did the taxes needed to pay for porkulus destroy?
MarkTheGreat on October 16, 2009 at 12:14 PM
But without the Stimulus, that number would be zero!
Chuck Schick on October 16, 2009 at 12:14 PM
Obama’s War on Prosperity™. His legacy will be the destruction of the prosperous free-market economy that made America great.
daesleeper on October 16, 2009 at 12:14 PM
They need to repeal that pork bill and conduct a full independent audit of where the hell all that money went. Then let the hearings begin.
Remember, Nancy’s Salt Marsh Mouse got $30B.
Key West Reader on October 16, 2009 at 12:15 PM
I wonder what that girls cell phone bill is from standing in that line for so long?
Johnnyreb on October 16, 2009 at 12:16 PM
Which amounts to 26,160,954 dollars and 69 cents per job created or saved.
Holger on October 16, 2009 at 12:16 PM
Dude, we lose more jobs than that a day.
jhffmn on October 16, 2009 at 12:16 PM
30,083 jobs = 1,000,000 jobs
Obama math, coming to a town near you.
moonsbreath on October 16, 2009 at 12:17 PM
Well that’s interesting…especially considering that the BLS has been significantly underestimating job losses since March of this year (which we knew, but they are just now admitting it):
http://seekingalpha.com/article/166903-job-losses-higher-than-reported-comstock
The numbers suggested dwarf the fictional numbers of “created or saved jobs” the administration is crowing about here
AUINSC on October 16, 2009 at 12:18 PM
So they’ve been lying for months.
And anybody can create “jobs” by borrowing money… but when those “jobs” don’t represent real demand, they will eventually go away leaving only debt in their wake.
mankai on October 16, 2009 at 12:18 PM
It’s worse:
Much worse…
Freedom! – Bleeds Blue
Success! – crr6
Adults are in Charge – Someone else
lorien1973 on October 16, 2009 at 12:20 PM
WHERE ARE THE F-ING JOBS? The GOP needs to be asking that question in a very public way each and every day.
txag92 on October 16, 2009 at 12:20 PM
Mission Accomplished
LibTired on October 16, 2009 at 12:21 PM
Seriously. Why is the GOP so damned inept?
lorien1973 on October 16, 2009 at 12:22 PM
The unemployment ratio is racist because it stubbornly refuses to bend to the ‘reality’ of liberal spin.
gwelf on October 16, 2009 at 12:22 PM
It is very difficult to create a crisis when unemployment is very low. So it is a success in Obamaspeak.
d1carter on October 16, 2009 at 12:22 PM
Just praying that it all craters sooner than later…
PatriotRider on October 16, 2009 at 12:22 PM
Here, and this is anecdotal, the jobs are in the prisons and jails. So, if you want to be a prison guard, you’ll be golden.
Comes with healthcare and plenty of paid days off.
ORconservative on October 16, 2009 at 12:23 PM
Inept? Did you read the “Change the Game” blog? /sarc
Shock the Monkey on October 16, 2009 at 12:24 PM
Or they can just change arguments when the numbers don’t quite work.
Hurrah fore high unemployment! Good News for America!
mankai on October 16, 2009 at 12:25 PM
Gosh, I would have thought they would claim to have “saved or created” more gubmint jobs than that.
mikeyz on October 16, 2009 at 12:26 PM
Seriously. Why is the GOP so damned inept?
lorien1973 on October 16, 2009 at 12:22 PM
It just pisses me off that the GOP can’t hire competent people to make a stink about the downward spiral this country is heading in. It doesn’t take a PR genious to make this happen.
txag92 on October 16, 2009 at 12:27 PM
Someone has a problem with math…It not only creates jobs, but it “saved” jobs….anyway that’s what Obama told me to post…
right2bright on October 16, 2009 at 12:30 PM
So thirty thousand “jobs” in eight months. Let me see if my math is right:
with 7 million jobs lost since the recession, it will require 233.33 eight month periods to gain those jobs back. That’s 1,866.64 months. That’s 155.55 years. Of course each of those eight month periods, yielding 30,000 jobs will also require another 787 billion dollars. I would multiply that, but my calculator doesn’t have that much space.
Weight of Glory on October 16, 2009 at 12:30 PM
It’s almost like they’re complicit, isn’t it.
LibTired on October 16, 2009 at 12:31 PM
…it’s partial data moron.
crr6 on October 16, 2009 at 12:32 PM
It’s that new Everyday Math curriculum, dontcha’ know.
publiuspen on October 16, 2009 at 12:33 PM
The red-headed chick is back!
I’m part of the exodus of people forced out of Michigan because there are no jobs and the state is in a pathetic state of chaos because of mismanagement by the Granholm administration. This kind of story just makes me angry all over again about this corrupt administration and all the truly evil people destroying this nation.
highhopes on October 16, 2009 at 12:33 PM
Obama’s plan to force you on welfare: Full story at:
http://blog.heritage.org/2009/10/16/morning-bell-obamacare-puts-you-on-welfare/
Cybergeezer on October 16, 2009 at 12:35 PM
I agree, but don’t forget, after making the “stink” you have to have someone report the stink…and they are getting no co-operation on reporting. Most of what you want is said, once, then not repeated, and repeated, and repeated, like the talking points of the WH. Or it is quoted in the middle of another WH talking point on page 16…
Every conservative, who has a liberal paper delivered to their home, or buys one, is responsible for supporting this corrupt reporting.
If the conservatives just stopped, as I did, purchasing just the newspapers, things would change.
Money does talk…
right2bright on October 16, 2009 at 12:35 PM
Job creation. Wouldn’tcha know it – The one thing Obama did not inherit from Bush.
ChrisB on October 16, 2009 at 12:35 PM
So is your reading comprehension moron.
Try reading the next few lines.
jhffmn on October 16, 2009 at 12:35 PM
You missed the point moron…he’s asking these questions:
AUINSC on October 16, 2009 at 12:36 PM
At least all the Salt Marsh Mice are employed.
MarkTheGreat on October 16, 2009 at 12:36 PM
From loudspeaker on White House lawn ……
“Pay no attention to those people in the soup lines.”
fogw on October 16, 2009 at 12:36 PM
I have an interview today and if that is going to be the salary they offer I’m taking everyone out for dinner!!!
milwife88 on October 16, 2009 at 12:36 PM
Both of you assume that the GOP doesn’t agree with what the dems are doing. Maybe, just maybe they see a silver lining in a totalitarian single party system. After all what will the dems do replace every republican or just demand a loyalty oath? How many repubs will walk and how many will start raising their hand?
RagTag on October 16, 2009 at 12:36 PM
Hey. Tard. They are both partial data. The same partial data.
And …
Whip out the calculator. $531,000 per job.
lorien1973 on October 16, 2009 at 12:36 PM
Lucky you. I wish I had an interview today. Hell I wish the companies would just acknowledge they got my resume.
RagTag on October 16, 2009 at 12:38 PM
Don’t assume what I think. I’ve said for a long time that the GOP and the DNC want to control you, if for different reasons.
Sadly, the case could be made.
lorien1973 on October 16, 2009 at 12:38 PM
Yup. That’s the word… complicit.
Key West Reader on October 16, 2009 at 12:38 PM
So where was Biden getting his numbers?
May 19: “Vice President Joe Biden last week claimed that the federal stimulus spending program has created or saved 150,000 jobs since February.”
Sep 3: Obama’s economic stimulus plan, passed by the U.S. Congress in February, aims to save or create 3.5 million jobs over two years, although many economists have questioned how the administration plans to measure the number of jobs “saved”.
Sep 3″ Nearly 200 days into the effort, Biden delivered an upbeat report card about the $787 billion rescue effort that President Barack Obama pushed through Congress. He quoted estimates by private analysts that the plan has created or saved 500,000 to 750,000 jobs so far. But many millions remain out of work.
mankai on October 16, 2009 at 12:38 PM
My husband’s company just hired 4 (part time) employees, but not because of the stimulus – just due to the fact that we are unrepetant capitalists.
If the gubmit would send us some of the stimulus money, we could hire more people, full time. Just sayin’…
SouperConservative on October 16, 2009 at 12:38 PM
You Lie!
BigMike252 on October 16, 2009 at 12:39 PM
I think the jobs are hiding in a box. In the attic.
sleepy-beans on October 16, 2009 at 12:39 PM
Yeah, but they are all hamburger-flipping jobs.
/Democrat
Left Coast Right Mind on October 16, 2009 at 12:39 PM
I think I’m falling in love with the curly-haired chick talking on the cellphone.
Percy_Peabody on October 16, 2009 at 12:39 PM
You hit on the reason Obama and the liberals can pull this junk…people can’t do math, or it is boring to report on.
If it has to be explained why 30,000 jobs is a loser, then the argument is a loser.
Most people can’t multiply 7 X 8, and get an answer…try it, you will be surprised at the answers you get…ask them what the square root of 49 is, and it will be worse.
right2bright on October 16, 2009 at 12:40 PM
Lucky you. I wish I had an interview today. Hell I wish the companies would just acknowledge they got my resume.
RagTag on October 16, 2009 at 12:38 PM
I feel your pain. This is the SECOND interview I have had in a YEAR. No Sh!t. This whole process had made me a stronger person due to the fact that I now have no problem dealing with rejection. I’ve come to expect it.
milwife88 on October 16, 2009 at 12:40 PM
You can find out EXACTLY where a lot of this money was wasted if you go to recovery.com. It’s the government web site that tracks the money, supposedly. There’s a map of the entire country, with dots showing where money went. Click on a dot, then see the list of the ratholes holding your tax money today. It changes over time. More ratholes are added.
Here on the coast of south Georgia, I found a defunct Dairy Queen restaurant got some $285,000, a Super8 motel got $1,500,000, a Microtel Hotel and Suites got $1,500,000, a Country Hearth Inns and Suites got $285,000, M&B Liquors got $285,000, and a two-person art supply store got $180,000, along with the usual cacophony of handouts to city, county, college, head start, public housing, and black organizations. Some of the above are theoretically “grants”, but just because a bank won’t loan a liquor store money taxpayers should? Damn.
Anyway, if you wonder where your money went, check out recovery.com
Then you’ll know.
bradley11 on October 16, 2009 at 12:41 PM
Yep, funny how the lefties like to forget what was promised by the Dems when they show these (highly suspect) jobs created/saved numbers.
AUINSC on October 16, 2009 at 12:41 PM
Maybe Al Gore put them in his lockbox?
MarkTheGreat on October 16, 2009 at 12:41 PM
Hilarious! :D
Republicans can only create burger flipping jobs. Democrats can’t even create those.
lorien1973 on October 16, 2009 at 12:41 PM
Here is a bumper sticker:
Don’t pick on Obama, he hasn’t done anything…
right2bright on October 16, 2009 at 12:41 PM
Back in february, Biden was promising that millions of jobs would never be lost in the first place:
mankai on October 16, 2009 at 12:41 PM
They must have crunched these numbers with the same copy of TurboTax that Geithner used.
bbordwell on October 16, 2009 at 12:43 PM
Not quite. First, Porkulus contained $287 billion in tax cuts and incentives. It wasn’t all new spending. Second, to date only 20% of the $500 billion in new Porkulus spending has gone out the door. So the actual cost per job “saved or created” is in the neighborhood of $3,324,136.55.
Still hardly numbers to crow about. Perhaps these jobs were “saved or created” at Goldman Sachs?
Mike Honcho on October 16, 2009 at 12:43 PM
Boring to report on? It is the opposite – the media is constantly excitedly reassuring us Obama saved the economy.
ChrisB on October 16, 2009 at 12:44 PM
So for every man women and child to be employeed by the Govt, we just need 300,000,000 * $500,000, or $150 trillion. If only we hadn’t spent the Porkulus money, we could have just given everyone a a job and/or a huge raise. What’s wrong with everyone getting the same pay? We could stop the $250.00 checks to retirees, stop Medicare et al.
The goal here is utter destruction of the USA. Welcome to the USSA (United Socialist States of America). All that is needed now is a terrorist attack on USSA soil so that Obama can justifiably declare martial law… but it will have to be a big attack, so watch out New York, LA, DC, Chicago, and Miami, who guys are toast.
Floriduh Jim on October 16, 2009 at 12:44 PM
“Internet Left fringe,” and that one White House adviser said, “Those bloggers need to take off their pajamas, get dressed…”
right2bright on October 16, 2009 at 12:44 PM
Whoops — we forgot about the two people that we hired to count all of these saved-or-created jobs! 30,085!
Ferris on October 16, 2009 at 12:45 PM
Or who the Vice President is.
bbordwell on October 16, 2009 at 12:45 PM
You mean these 30k people got tired of their fun-employment?
BowHuntingTexas on October 16, 2009 at 12:45 PM
You know what I mean…don’t be coy.
Numbers are boring and confusing…slogans of “we created 30,000 jobs” are easy to report.
But to define what that really means, the MSM won’t do it, and the majority of people wouldn’t be able to understand.
right2bright on October 16, 2009 at 12:46 PM
Funny you mentioned that, someone of authority stated that almost all those 30,000 jobs were in Washington D.C….so you aren’t too far off.
right2bright on October 16, 2009 at 12:47 PM
Then they did Ed use this headline?
As you, and apparently Ed know the 30k figure is not from the entire package, but from a fraction of it.
He goes beyond the usual dishonesty and distortion to flat out lying. And the most irritating this is you lemmings will cite the headline for weeks as if it’s a fact.
crr6 on October 16, 2009 at 12:50 PM
It’s 30,000 jobs. Thats’s it, partial or not it’s a crappy stat to hang their hat on considering the economic miracle that Ogabe promised.
Bishop on October 16, 2009 at 12:50 PM
Whoo hoo!!! Bring on the “fun”employment!!!
Dr.Cwac.Cwac on October 16, 2009 at 12:50 PM
30,083 huh. And how many of those are FEDERAL GOVERNMENT JOBS???
A lot of sleight of hand going on.
Just A Grunt on October 16, 2009 at 12:51 PM
Can’t remember who on HotAir suggested it this past winter, but looking back, it was a capital suggestion. To wit, if “guberment” had merely passed out checks for $125,000 or so to every head of household last winter, we’d be in a lot better shape today than we are.
But, this? At $20-million per job?
And how can you prove a job was “saved?”
Damn, I am glad the adults are in charge again. /
coldwarrior on October 16, 2009 at 12:52 PM
Now answer…are you out of your pajamas like your president asked of you?
Please…this is serious, he is talking to liberal bloggers.
right2bright on October 16, 2009 at 12:53 PM
So now your moronic gripe is about the headline instead of the reality.
Whatever it takes to shelter you from the complete waste of money that porkulus has been thus far, I suppose.
lorien1973 on October 16, 2009 at 12:53 PM
Not fair to criticize Obama’s job creation here; in fairness, he has created or will be creating hundreds of thousands of jobs… in the federal government… with the stimulus spending over 3 millions jobs were promised, 80 percent in private sector and 20 percent of the jobs in the public sector – that would be 600,000 new government jobs. So what if none of those of private sector jobs materialized; water under the bridge now… the 600,000 jobs in federal government are still a go for launch! We all need more public sector bureaucrats sitting around doing nothing and Obama should receive maximum credit for their civil servant patronage…
IntheNet on October 16, 2009 at 12:54 PM
Well Ed – this is a good post but not easily understandable for the masses. I had to read real slow … :D
But I know that may man Karl Rove is going to translate this into English and play hell with it!
HondaV65 on October 16, 2009 at 12:54 PM
Libs A. Don’t get fundamental laws B. Trying to destroy economy. I’m going 100% B.
marklmail on October 16, 2009 at 12:54 PM
So now give us the link (after you are out of your pajamas) to the whole amount of jobs saved or created….you have 10 minutes, then we can use this: regarding Obama and you liberals:
right2bright on October 16, 2009 at 12:55 PM
Have I gone I insane or do I not have specific recollection of this Administration telling us that the Recovery Act money was going to shovel ready projects that would have an immediate and significant impact on both the economy and unemployment? How can what we were told then and what we’re being told now possibly be reconciled and considered a success?
Blacksheep on October 16, 2009 at 12:56 PM
crr6 says – You misspelled a word in the post. That totally means everything in it is a lie!
lorien1973 on October 16, 2009 at 12:57 PM
But enough about Matt Sanchez and Arianna Huffington
Just A Grunt on October 16, 2009 at 12:57 PM
Shovel ready?
Lest we forget.
coldwarrior on October 16, 2009 at 12:59 PM
30,083 jobs for 16,000,000,000 by their own admission. You can’t make this shit up. And then you got an a-hole like crr6 defending it and criticizing it’s critics! I nominate crr6 as the stupidest dimwit of the week!
cjk on October 16, 2009 at 12:59 PM
crr6 is the only one confused by the numbers. So I guess, once again, projection is a terrible thing.
lorien1973 on October 16, 2009 at 1:00 PM
Small nit: it is Rick Sanchez, just because that small nit keeps your post from being dead-on.
ChrisB on October 16, 2009 at 1:00 PM
No responsible newspaper should ever put the phrases “hard data” and “saved or created” in the same declarative sentence.
Chuckles3 on October 16, 2009 at 1:00 PM
Apparently it’s a “moronic gripe” to point out that Ed blatantly lied in a headline.
It seems like you’re the one who has a problem with “reality”.
crr6 on October 16, 2009 at 1:01 PM
That shovelling we hear is Obama digging us deeper into debt. And digging our economic graves.
ChrisB on October 16, 2009 at 1:02 PM
Just a few minutes left…come on let’s cough up those “accurate” figures of yours and prove the “lie”….
right2bright on October 16, 2009 at 1:02 PM
Wow, you’re quite excitable today sweetie. 3 responses to one of my posts!
Well, at least you’re not skittering away with your tail between your legs like you did from 2nd amendment thread from a couple weeks ago.
crr6 on October 16, 2009 at 1:03 PM
I was downsized March 2008 and have had four interviews but none this year. I’ve applied for about a hundred jobs but seldom even get acknowledgment that I applied. Right now I’d settle for a burger flipping job if I could get one but the min wage folks don’t want me.
RagTag on October 16, 2009 at 1:03 PM
Where are your more accurate figures…let’s go, you don’t want to be the liar in all of this.
You call others liars, but you seem to not be able to find anything to support your accusations.
right2bright on October 16, 2009 at 1:03 PM
You’d be the expert on moronic gripes. Nice comeback to…”em,em,em well you’re the one who got a problem wit reality! so there!” LOL
cjk on October 16, 2009 at 1:05 PM
BINGO! Heard some Gov from a Dem state a couple of days ago defending Porkulus… all he could say was it saved Teachers and Firefighters… ie… Gov Jobs…
Problem is that they did not cut ANY government jobs… they did not look at even slowing the growth of government… they just shifted state spending to the Gov for a one time deal…
Stimulus package was ALL about growing government… not growing the economy.
Romeo13 on October 16, 2009 at 1:05 PM
What are you talking about? Ed said (or if I’m being very, very generous “implied”) in the headline that the 30k number was from the entire Stimulus. Then within his own post he admits the 30k is from only a part of the stimulus. If you want proof that he’s lying, just read the headline and the post yourself.
crr6 on October 16, 2009 at 1:06 PM
Continuing to shelter yourself from the debacle of the porkulus is working wonders for you, I see.
I know reading an entire post is tough for you, but in the future, please do try. Unless this is normal for you, trying to understand complex issues based upon a 10 word headline. Is this what you’re really saying to us?
lorien1973 on October 16, 2009 at 1:06 PM
So if the Obama administration is insisting that porkulus saved us from a depression, does that mean we’re 30,083 lost jobs away from Great Depression II? If so, then it looks like we’re screwed come November.
Doughboy on October 16, 2009 at 1:06 PM
You call others liars, but you can’t back up your claim…you little weasel.
You should be banned from your incessant lies…you had your chance, but you would rather just let your lies fly, and not be held responsible….the perfect liberal.
A lying little weasel who doesn’t have the guts to post the truth.
You are now banned to the children’s table, and you must listen to the adults converse until you learn your manners.
right2bright on October 16, 2009 at 1:07 PM
Somebody is juggling the books. Apparently most of those jobs were saved right here in Ga
Just A Grunt on October 16, 2009 at 1:07 PM
China, Japan, India,…………
Johan Klaus on October 16, 2009 at 1:07 PM
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