Hey, I know, the first “stimulus” isn’t working, so let’s spend more money we don’t have on a second “stimulus”. Nevermind that we haven’t even spent one third of the first trillion dollar “stimulus” yet.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
/Albert Einstein
STIMULUS WATCH: Unemployment Unchanged by Projects
A federal spending surge of more than $20 billion for roads and bridges in President Barack Obama’s first stimulus has had no effect on local unemployment rates, raising questions about his argument for billions more to address an “urgent need to accelerate job growth.”
An Associated Press analysis of stimulus spending found that it didn’t matter if a lot of money was spent on highways or none at all: Local unemployment rates rose and fell regardless. And the stimulus spending only barely helped the beleaguered construction industry, the analysis showed.
With the nation’s unemployment rate at 10 percent and expected to rise, Obama wants a second stimulus bill from Congress including billions of additional dollars for roads and bridges — projects the president says are “at the heart of our effort to accelerate job growth.”
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood defended the administration’s recovery program Monday, writing on his blog that “DOT-administered stimulus spending is the only thing propping up the transportation construction industry.”
Road spending would total nearly $28 billion of the Jobs for Main Street Act, a $75 billion second stimulus to help lower the unemployment rate and improve the dismal job market for construction workers. The Senate is expected to consider the House-approved bill this month.
But AP’s analysis, which was reviewed by independent economists at five universities, showed the strategy of pumping transportation money into counties hasn’t affected local unemployment rates so far.
“There seems to me to be very little evidence that it’s making a difference,” said Todd Steen, an economics professor at Hope College in Michigan who reviewed the AP analysis.
And there’s concern about relying on transportation spending a second time.
“My bottom line is, I’d be skeptical about putting too much more money into a second stimulus until we’ve seen broader effects from the first stimulus,” said Aaron Jackson, a Bentley University economist who also reviewed AP’s analysis.
And what if your “stimulus” isn’t creating even a fraction of the jobs you promised? Well, as they say, if you can’t dazzle them with your brilliance, baffle them with your bull[expletive deleted]!
White House Inflates Stimulus Job Creation With Accounting Gimmicks
The Obama administration is changing the way it counts jobs created or saved by stimulus spending in a way that will make the programs look far more successful.
Under the old rules, only jobs that were actually newly created or not lost because of stimulus money were counted. Now the administration plans to count all jobs for projects funded by stimulus money—even if that job already existed and the person was never in danger of losing the job.
The changes were made in a little noticed memo sent to federal agencies by OMB director Peter Orszag, according to a new report from ProPublica.
See also:
More Stimulus? Analysis Finds Funds for Roads, Bridges Has Had No Impact
Stimulus? There’s No Stimulus Here
Where Are The Stimulus Jobs?
U.S. road projects don’t help unemployment
Study: Road projects don’t help unemployment
No Unemployment Impact from Road and Bridge Spending
White House Changes Stimulus Jobs Count
White House changes how stimulus jobs are counted
Farewell “Saved or Created”: Obama Administration Changes the Counting of Stimulus Jobs
Counting jobs
White House panics on jobs
SUBJECT: Updated Guidance on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – Data Quality, Non-Reporting Recipients, and Reporting of Job Estimates
/Democrat’s “stimulus”, throwing money in the money hole, what’s the difference?
Filed under: Blog Entry | Tagged: Aaron Jackson, Accounting Gimmicks, Albert Einstein, AP Analysis, Associated Press, Associated Press Analysis, Barack Obama, Bentley University, Budget Deficits, Construction Workers, Democrats, Department Of Transportation, DOT, Economics Professor, Federal Spending, Hope College, Independent Economists, Insanity, Job Market, Jobs For Main Street Act, National Debt, Office Of Management And Budget, OMB, Peter Orszag, Pork, ProPublica, Ray LaHood, Stimulus, Todd Steen, Transportation Construction Industry, Transportation Secretary, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, Unemployment, Unemployment Rates, Wasteful Spending, White House | Leave a comment »
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