Infuriating numbers

The White House has claimed today that the stimulus – no wait, only $150 billion of the $787 billion – has created 350,000 jobs, but has also saved about 300,000 more. But really, the White House goes on to claim, they’ve probably created closer to 1,000,000 jobs. At least that’s what can be gathered from “tens of thousands of reports from state and local [stimulus] recipients.”

Let’s put aside that unemployment is at a 26 year high (9.8% reported) and think about one number: $230,000. That’s how much it costs to create each of these 350,000 (or 1,000,000, or whatever) jobs. Mind blowing.

Equally mind blowing is the chart to the left. From Recovery.org, it shows how the stimulus money has been spent so far. Evidently, less than one third of the money has been spent. One third. Why is it taking so long to spend? What, exactly, is it being spent on? What is going to be done with the 70% that is left?

I thought $787 billion was the magic number that was going to save the economy, and that is why “emergency” legislation was rammed through Congress and signed by President Obama. Do you think anyone on the Hill is saying, “Maybe we should have signed off on $150 billion and reevaluated a few months later?” Nah.