The United States Of Stimulus Lies
By K. Daniel Glover | November 16, 2009
Soon after taking office, President Obama successfully pushed a stimulus plan through Congress in part based on the promise that it would "save or create" 3.5 million jobs. The nation's unemployment rate (at 10.2 percent in October) has continued to climb since then, but the Obama administration has repeatedly insisted that the stimulus plan is working.
Last month, the government issued a report that showed the plan has saved or created 650,000 jobs, putting it on target to fulfill Obama's lofty promise. But news reports about the actual funding have exposed the report as a series of exaggerations and flat-out lies. Many of the "jobs" are nothing of the sort.
The claims are so lame that a press corps partial to the president no longer can resist the urge to report the truth. The stories about stimulus lies across America are so numerous that the Washington Examiner had the brilliant idea of creating an interactive map to track all of the money and the stories behind them.
The lies include claims of saving or creating:
- Fifty jobs from purchasing a single lawnmower.
- Nine jobs at a shoe store for $889.60. The money actually was used to buy nine pairs of shoes for the Army Corps of Engineers.
- One job for purchasing $3,500 worth of paint.
- More than 100 jobs in a town police department whose staff totals 23 officers.
- And 4,300 jobs at a tech company that employed 3,000 of those people for only one month.
The Examiner puts the total number of bogus job claims at more than 75,000. Click on the image below to see the map and the complete recap of lies at Examiner.com.
[Cross-posted at The Enlightened Redneck]
K. Daniel Glover is the online communications strategist for AIM for Accuracy In Media. He has worked as an editor, writer and new media specialist in the Washington area since 1991, spending most of that time at National Journal and Congressional Quarterly.
15 Comments | Post a Comment
<Laughing> He only lies when he is awake (or I should say, when he not asleep).
Today, he told Congress to stop any investigations into the Ft. Hood killings. Nothing gets by this Administration, such as the Truth.
It goes far deeper. A friend of mine who runs a manufacturing facility was called by some government pawn, and asked if he had hired any additional people because a supply company he buys from received some stimulus and they wanted to see if it trickled down to impact his business. It hadn’t and they didn’t accept his answer and then pushed for how many were kept on because of this other company receiving the funds. He said ZERO and that his company wasn’t influenced either way. They kept pushing for some kind of number that SUPPOSEDLY was stimulated by this stimulus into another company.
Figures never lie, but LIARs figure.
I have said it before, and I will say it again. The ONLY jobs this Government has stimulated, are those used to increase the size of Government.
And to think, all these people in the Administration are actually being paid, for what, I have no idea…It sure as hell isn’t because they are doing anything to further America. Unless that is now call deceit, subsequently that is all we are getting now.
Mr. Obama, No You Can’t!
Guess you guys have probably heard by now that The Pinocchio adminstration also said they helped to preserve /create more jobs in Arizona’s ninth district ? And Arizona does not even have a ninth district !
Hi again, Gentlemen ! Correction…I just learned that it was reported that 30 jobs were created or saved in Arizona’s 15th congressional district and that $761,420 was sent to that 15th district…...not the ninth ! But once again, Arizona only has eight districts ! ...lol.
And I also read that stimulous money went to 10 congressional districts in Ohio which do not even exist! And so much more crazy stuff has been reported all evening, of course! Now media is tryng to figure out if the govt is telling us lies , or if they made some mistakes ! OH MY!
I was reminded in one article, that at least we all know that millions of dollars of stimulous were spent on that new govt website in Washington, which has NO congressional districts.(lol)
Not much time to post these days, but as usual, I always enjoy reading whatever news and comments that you gentlemen have to share !
Take care !
Hello Diane, it is always a pleasure when you are in a discussion. When I first met you earlier this year, your thirst for political knowledge is something I believe to be admirable, it is sad there are not more who want to be involved
Arizona is not the only State reporting jobs in Congressional Districts which do not exist, there are several more States reporting such as a 49th District in a State which only has 5 Districts.
Biden (Remember him?), is the one in charge of http://www.recovery.gob and his staff has the job to verifying these numbers. Gives a whole new meaning to the word ‘stupid’.
Recovery.gov is nothing less than a scam, and has been from the beginning. Not one cent can be proven to have created any jobs at all, and there is no way anyone can “know” how many jobs were saved, that is simply impossible.
Take into consideration that the National Debt just crossed into the $12 Billion mark. Yet the Stimulus Bill has yet to provide jobs, Congress is now wanting yet another Stimulus Bill.
The one government area that Obama could have expanded with stimulus money and vital jobs is the military. Sadly he like his liberal predecessors will work to reduce and undercut national defense, rather than build and support it.
Our Defense Budget is lower to begin with than ever before. Most all Dem/Liberal Presidential Military Budgets are bad enough, but worst of all, it is not protected. Liberal Law Makers often dip into that fund to use on other projects.
It was bad enough that Obama has dis-continued the very best, most advanced Generation 5, and the only Super Sonic Stealth fighter in the world today…The F-22 Raptor, was shelved…all 137 of them. This only gives time to other countries to close in on catching up quicker.
I do like the F-35 Generation 5, but it is no Raptor.
Obama does not want to weaponize space, but he has to know that Russia and China already have, they have the ability to take out our satellites with theirs.
Thanks, Wes ! And my thirst for political knowledge still grows with each passing day. I do my best to keep up with the daily news from several different sources; and I have been reading a lot of books lately; but I always learn still learn so many details from you and from other people in AIM that I have not seen or heard anywhere else. So it is always nice to stop in here and read your posts, even if I don’t always have the time to respond. For an example, what you told me about brainless Biden (yes, I remember him…lol) was news to me. I wondered where he was being hidden ! ..(lol)
Now what I am hungry to know today is where did all of that stimulous money actually go, which was sent out to all of those PHANTOM congressional districts??? And, I wonder if our representatives and our media will do their jobs and investigate that for us, until we know the answers ? OR, will they be afraid to do so ?
I agree with you that recovery.gov is a scam. I also believe that Obama’s administration is using stall tactics , and all sorts of lies, in hopes of pacifying the American people just long enough until they can gain more control over us; meaning passing that health care bill and Cap and Tax. Having more power and control over us and our daily lives is this administration’s main mission in life. And it has to be so when Obama is surrounding himself with so many people who look to Mao Tse Tung, Castro, and Chevez for their inspiration ! It’s all terrifying to me. I guess that all we can do is to keep the pressure on our Senators; and hope and pray that they listen to the majority of the American citizens regarding those bills ; instead of taking bribes from “those evil forces.” I am beginning to feel like we Americans need some kind of a battle plan out here. (sigh)
And why is that the liberal leaders always show such a lack of respect for our military ? And why do they cut the budgets there ? And Wes, I did not know that Russia and China have the ability to take out our satellites with theirs. And we do not have the same ability? Every day, I learn something new and scarey. What on earth is this world coming to ?
By the way, there is an AIM blog called ” Obama Catching Flak with MSNBC”, and speaking of evil forces,(lol);when you have some extra time, would you please go there and take a look at Cynical’s posts ? I mentioned that I was going to report him for his use of foul language, but the address that I have for AIM do that is not working. Do you have that, or a new address ? He is reminding me so much of TK, and I actually think that cynical and kookwatcher are both “TK” coming back to haunt us. (lol) What are some liberal’s missions in here, anyway? Do they hope to make it less enjoyable for the rest of us to blog? I guess that works to some degree. But they certainly do not believe for one minute that they are going to change our way of thinking with all of their nonesense, do they ? ..(lol)
Well,need to close now and go to work.
Have a great day ! By the way, I hope that you are getting great reports from your doctors these days ! Take good care !
I have dealt with cynical on several occasions; I have a page I need to pull from my archives where he let loose with some extreme vulgarity.
I intended to report him for that, but that was about the time my Sister (56) had to have a Donor Heart, and spent quite a bit of time with her and our families. She is doing quite well, hoping her immune system will rebuild itself.
The current crop of Liberals are from the Baby Boomer time period, most are still peace-niks, and have a dislike for our Military, and tend to think you can solve any situation by talking to the evil dictators in our world. Such as Obama, he is so far to the Left (actually a bit of a Marxist); he is seen as a weak president by most all countries…which puts us in danger during these troubling times. He still refuses (as does the lap-dog Media) will not admit that Major Hasan’s shooting spree at Ft. Hood, Tx. killed 13; injured 30…will not admit he is a terrorist.
Even though the government knows about the contacts he has had with the Al Qaeda leader in Yemen, and terrorist comrades here in the U.S.
As for the whole $787 Billion Dollar Stimulus, last I heard, they still have about half…if that is true, why is Congress asking for more? The ONLY JOBS he can prove he has created are the 2,500 created in Government…I truly believe the others are just a scam, such as “Jobs Saved”, it is virtually impossible to count a saved job.
All I know about the rest of the Stimulus Money, I do know he is still giving Billions to the Banks and Mortgage Companies which have already received some in the past, and now need more.
Wes…
Felt sad to read that your sister had such a trying time, but hope that she continues to improve and to be completely healthy very soon.
I have also been reading and hearing all that you mentioned. And I also heard tonight that Nidal Hasan was an advisor to Obama’s Homeland Security Team, which is also very disturbing.
Every week since BHO took the oath of office, there has been something new and disturbing regarding people inside his administration.
I think you are right about the baby-boomer peace-niks. There are places where they are referred to as “New Agers” too, I think.
Thanks for the post ! Have a good night!
Thanks Diane, we are all praying for her speedy recovery.
As for Major Hasan, some damning emails have now been released, which confirms it was a terrorist action. He has been in constant communications with the radical Muslim imam Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen.
This Administration reminds me of one of the Peter Principals, “Each and every employee will eventually rise to their level of incompetence.” You can start with the President, and work your way down the food chain.
Many in our Government do bad, and do it badly.
Why would they quickly after the Ft. Hood incident announce that Hasan will be tired in military court, and KSM in civilian court !!! Dah !!
BHO and his admin. are doing everything they can to push the US citizens to their brink of anger. So far we are holding it in with class and patience and faith in democracy. When it explodes then the admin. will say “see we were right, these people are dangerous crazy extremists”?
The first stimulus was wasted to buy votes of obscure special interest groups. It should have been spent on building low income (subsidized) housing so our many citizens will not become homeless; and what a huge spur it would have been to labor, construction materials, appliances, etc. And spent on building factories here or expanding successful US industries. There must be something these many highly paid experts can figure out that can be built in this country.
November 16 at 4:21 pm | #1 | Link
Stimulus fraud took place in one of the smallest towns in the State of Texas, Blooming Grove, population: 858
A month-long roofing project that received less than $30,000 in stimulus funds and involved six part time workers. Upon completion, they were asked how many hours they spent completing the job. They has worked a total of 450 hours.
This was erroneously reported as creating 450 jobs.