Rick Perry says the 2009 stimulus 'created zero jobs' 12SEP11

CHRISTIAN rick perry, r Texas, has no problem with lying to further his bid to be the repiglican / tea-bagger nominee for president. This from PolitiFact....

"The first round of stimulus ... it created zero jobs."

Rick Perry on Monday, September 12th, 2011 in the CNN/Tea Party Express debate

Rick Perry says the 2009 stimulus 'created zero jobs'

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Texas Gov. Rick Perry criticized President Barack Obama's new jobs plan during a Republican presidential debate Sept. 12, 2011, saying his previous effort "created zero jobs."

WOLF BLITZER: "Gov. Perry, the president in his new plan has a lot of tax cuts, payroll tax cuts, middle-class tax cuts, tax credits for hiring veterans, tax credits for hiring long-term unemployed people. Are those things you would support?"

RICK PERRY: "And he's going to pay for them all with raising your taxes. That is the issue. He had $800 billion worth of stimulus in the first round of stimulus. It created zero jobs, $400-plus billion dollars in this package. And I can do the math on that one. Half of zero jobs is going to be zero jobs."
PolitiFact has regularly checked job claims about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, so this one caught our ears.
Zero?
Republican Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts said in February 2010 that the stimulus bill "didn't create one new job." He earned a Pants on Fire.
Florida Republican Gov. Rick Scott said in September 2010 during his successful campaign for governor that the stimulus bill had "not created one private sector job." We smelled smoke. (We even found Billy Weston, a Florida Republican who personally credited the stimulus for his new job with a private Riviera Beach pharmaceutical manufacturer.)
So, what's the evidence?

The White House has posted on its stimulus website a listing of jobs funded by the stimulus, breaking it down by state and congressional district. Just for the quarter April 1 to June 20, 2011, the country had a reported 555,029 full-time equivalent jobs funded by the Recovery Act.

As our colleagues at PolitiFact Virginia have pointed out, in a report released March 18, 2011, the president’s Council of Economic Advisers estimated that between 2.5 million and 3.6 million jobs were created or saved by the stimulus through the fourth quarter of 2010.

Separately, the council’s report cited four independent analyses by the Congressional Budget Office and three private economic analysis companies. Here’s what the groups found:

• CBO: Between 1.3 million and 3.6 million jobs saved or created.

• IHS/Global Insight: 2.45 million jobs saved or created.

• Macroeconomic Advisers: 2.3 million jobs saved or created.

• Moody’s Economy.com: 2.5 million jobs saved or created.

Note the language "created or saved," which means not every one of those more than a million jobs count as "created," as Perry said.

But certainly more than zero. Ask Billy Weston.

Perry said "the first round of stimulus ... created zero jobs." We say Pants on Fire.

About this statement:

Published: Monday, September 12th, 2011 at 11:15 p.m.
Subjects: Economy, Jobs, Stimulus
Sources:
CQ Transcriptswire, "Republican presidential candidates participate in a CNN-Tea Party Express GOP Presidential Debate," Sept. 12, 2011 (subscribers only)

PolitiFact, "Obama says Congressional Budget Office found the economic stimulus has created up to 1.6 million jobs," Dec. 14, 2009 (Half True)

PolitiFact, "Obama says stimulus is responsible for 2 million jobs created or saved," February 17, 2010 (Half True)

PolitiFact, "Scott Brown says stimulus 'didn’t create one new job,'" February 18, 2010 (Pants on Fire)

PolitiFact Florida, "Rick Scott says the stimulus didn't create a single private sector job," Sept. 17, 2010 (Pants on Fire)

PolitiFact Virginia, "Cantor says stimulus 'failed to get people back to work,'" June 2, 2011 (False)

White House website on stimulus spending, accessed Sept. 12, 2011

Council of Economic Advisers, "The economic impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009," March 18, 2011

Written by: Becky Bowers
Researched by: Becky Bowers
Edited by: Bill Adair

Solar Panels on the White House and in the Desert, 36 Billion Gallons of Biofuels, and Cleaner Trucks 29OKT10

UPDATES on renewable energy, conservation, and high speed rail. Click the links for more information.....

Building a clean energy economy in this country is one of President Obama’s top priorities.  As National Energy Awareness Month - a national effort to underscore how central energy policy is to our national prosperity, security, and environment – draws to a close, I wanted to highlight some of the events and announcements from the Administration that are helping us build a clean energy economy.
We’re installing solar panels on the White House, building the largest solar energy power plant in the world on our public lands, and proposing the first-ever greenhouse gas and fuel efficiency standards for heavy-duty cars and trucks.  All told, the Administration held and made over 140 energy-related events and announcements this month.  Below are just a few of the highlights, but you can see the full calendar of events here.

• Solar Power and the Clean Energy Economy. President Obama kicked off the month by highlighting a revolutionary new solar power plant in California that will employ 1,000 people and power nearly 140,000 homes.  The plant is possible because of the President’s investments in the clean energy economy.
• Empowering Defense through Energy Security. The Department of Defense and the Navy hosted events to discuss how they can turn their energy use from a strategic and operationalliability to a key strength for the men and women of our armed forces.
• Solar Panels on the White House. At the Green Gov Symposium in Washington, DC, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality Nancy Sutley announced that solar panels and a solar water heater will be installed on the roof of the White House residence this spring.
• Cleaner Trucks, Buses and Vans. The Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency announced the first-ever proposed national standards for greenhouse gas emissions and fuel efficiency for heavy-duty trucks, vans and buses. 
• Ramping Up Solar Power on Public Lands.  In October, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced a series of six new solar power projects on public lands including the first-ever solar power plant on public lands and the largest solar power plant in the world.
• You Asked, Chu Answered. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu answers your questions on making your home more energy efficient.
• 36 Billion Gallons of Biofuels. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack outlined the steps USDA will take to reach a national goal of producing 36 billion gallons of biofuel a year in the United States by 2022, with 21 billion gallons coming from advanced biofuel production.
• Building More Sustainable Communities. The Department of Transportation, Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Housing and Urban Development joined forces to support communities who are providing Americans more housing choices, make transportation systems more efficient and reliable, and support vibrant neighborhoods that attract businesses.  This is good for our communities, our environment and our economy.
• Preparing for and Responding to Climate Change. The Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force released a report with recommendations that will help strengthen the Nation’s capacity to prepare for and respond to the risks associated with climate change. 
• Historic Investments in High Speed Rail. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced that 54 high-speed rail projects in 23 states will receive a combined total of $2.4 billion to continue developing America’s first nationwide program of high-speed intercity passenger rail service.  These investments will ease our reliance on foreign oil and reduce our nation’s carbon pollution.

Since taking office, President Obama and his Administration have invested over $90 billion in clean energy technology through the Recovery Act, advanced new fuel-economy and greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars, light trucks and heavy duty trucks, and lead by example by cutting the federal government’s own carbon footprint.  But there is still much work to be done.  We will continue to invest in clean energy technologies and energy efficiency to create jobs and compete in the global marketplace.

Sincerely,
Carol Browner
Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change

Latest Reports from Recovery Act Recipients on Recovery.gov 30OKT10

SOME WILL CALL THIS PROPAGANDA, but this is an attempt by the WH to explain how many jobs are being created by the Recovery Act. Click the header to get the full report including information on your state....for the people of Ohio and Wisconsin, your governors elect have just pissed away hundreds of millions of dollars in Recovery Act funding because they don't want jobs in your states created by government investment....see my earlier post NEW GOP GOVERNORS KILL $1.2 BILLION IN HIGH-SPEED RAIL JOBS 6NOV10

This from the White House

The independent Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board just posted the latest round of reports from recipients of Recovery Act dollars on Recovery.gov.  These reports provide an up-close snapshot of how a portion of Recovery Act spending was put to work creating jobs and driving economic growth last quarter.  Thanks to these reports, you can see when certain projects started, where they’re taking place and how many people are being directly paid to work on them with Recovery Act dollars.
But when looking at these reports, it’s important to know what you are seeing – especially when it comes to the roughly 670,000 jobs recipients reported last quarter as part of this process.
Just 20 Percent of Spending
While there is already an unprecedented amount of public information available on Recovery.gov, Congress asked that for a portion of spending - specifically in areas like infrastructure projects and education spending – we go a layer deeper and collect these reports directly from recipients on how they are putting Recovery Act dollars to work.  So while these new reports posted today offer an extraordinary level of detail, they only cover about 20 percent of Recovery Act spendingto-date.  That means the job counts that come with the reports don’t include things like:

• jobs from Recovery Act tax relief, including significant business tax grants being used to fund clean energy manufacturing projects across the country
• jobs from Recovery Act aid like Pell Grantsand food assistance (some of the biggest and most direct job creators because the money is quickly put back into the economy)
• jobs from Recovery Act small business loans

Only Salaries Directly Paid with Recovery Dollars
Second, keep in mind that recipients are only required to report on the jobs where salaries are being directly paid using Recovery Act dollars – not the overall job impact of their project.  So that means the job counts don’t include things like:

• jobs created further down the supply chain by a Recovery Act project.  For example, new hires at a plant supplying asphalt for Recovery Act road projects or new hires at a wind blade manufacturing plant supplying a Recovery Act wind farm.
• jobs created at businesses benefiting from Recovery Act projects.  For example, the fast food worker hired because of the growing lunch rush due to a Recovery Act project underway across the street.

Doesn’t Include Jobs from New Education Funding
Third, while it’s clear from these reports that the Recovery Act is still supporting hundreds of thousands of education jobs nationwide, it’s no longer the only initiative funding education jobs.  This summer, as states continued to deal with ongoing budget shortfalls, the Administration worked with Congress to secure additional education funding through the Education Jobs Bill.  States are just beginning to put those new funds to work as their Recovery Act education funding winds down and we expect to see a ramp-up in jobs reported as a result of the Bill in the months ahead – but the jobs created or saved from the Education Jobs Bill are not included in these reports.
Honest Efforts, But Not Perfect
And finally, keep in mind that these are no ordinary government-released reports.  They come directly from the recipients of Recovery dollars themselves -- people like local government employees, community organization administrators and small business owners who don’t count jobs for a living.  While these are honest efforts to be as accurate as possible, we know they’re not perfect.  But they are an important part of our continued commitment to providing unprecedented accountability and transparency of the Recovery Act at work.
So with all of that said, just how many jobs is the Recovery Act responsible for?  According to leading independent economists, when you account for the full job impact of the Recovery Act – including direct, indirect and induced jobs – and factor in every dollar of spending – including tax relief and aid to individuals, the Recovery Act is actually responsible for about 3 million jobs nationwide.  (To see what that means for your state, check out page 49 of this report.)
We’re continuing to work every day to create even more jobs - but it’s clear from these new reports that Recovery Act investments are having a meaningful impact for families and communities across the country.
Ed DeSeve is Special Advisor to the President for Recovery Implementation

New GOP Governors Kill $1.2 Billion In High-Speed Rail Jobs 6NOV10

THE STUPIDITY OF THESE DECISIONS IS BOTH BREATHTAKING AND NOT UNEXPECTED. Both states have high unemployment, these projects would create jobs both in the construction of the rail lines, the trains, and in the operation of the lines and support services , provide a much needed alternative to air travel and the projects are paid for by the federal government. They are delivering to their electorate just what they promised (see my earlier post 'ARE TEA-PARTIERS BEING TAKEN FOR A RIDE?' 30OKT10). They are ideologically opposed to government investment for creating new jobs. I guess they are waiting for the wealthy in this country to begin creating jobs with their bush era tax cut money they have been receiving during this recession.....

Govs. elect John Kasich (R-OH) and Scott Walker (R-WI).

Republicans who were elected on Tuesday are beginning to deliver on their campaign promises to kill America’s future. Within hours of declaring victory, the incoming tea-party governors of Wisconsin and Ohio stood fast on pledges to kill $1.2 billion in funding for high-speed rail in their states. The funding, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will revert to the federal government for investment in other states — unless Republicans in Congress are able to kill that, too. Walker warned he would fight President Obama to keep the Milwaukee-Madison link killed “if he tries to force this down the throats of the taxpayers.” Kasich — who called the high-speed rail project linking Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati “one of the dumbest ideas” he’s ever heard — used his victory speech to announce, “That train is dead“:

Scott Walker, the incoming governor of Wisconsin, for instance, vowed on Wednesday to carry out a campaign pledge to kill a proposed high-speed rail link between Milwaukee and Madison, part of a larger project to create a high-speed rail corridor across the upper Midwest, from Minneapolis to Chicago. The project was to be fully paid for with $810 million in federal stimulus funds. Mr. Walker said he wanted the money spent on roads, although under the terms of the grants, such a use of the funds is prohibited.
The newly elected Republican governor of Ohio, John Kasich, who ousted Ted Strickland, a Democrat, has also reiterated a campaign pledge to kill a $400 million stimulus-funded rail project in his state. “Passenger rail is not in Ohio’s future,” Mr. Kasich said at his first news conference after the election. “That train is dead.”

In addition to their ideological opposition to creating new jobs through government investment, both Walker and Kasich question the reality of climate science, like other new Republican governors threatening clean energy projects across the nation.

Report Shows The Recovery Act Creates Jobs and Changes Lives for the Better 20OKT10

MORE proof the Recovery Act is working, not as fast as all as us would like, but it has created more jobs than the greedy rich who want to keep their bush era tax cuts for themselves though the lies and deception, the propaganda from the gop and tea-baggers is that these people need their tax cuts to create jobs (yeah, jobs overseas because they haven't been creating jobs here!).
 
Posted by Tom Vilsack on October 20, 2010 at 04:02 PM EDT 
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is a driving force in job creation and economic renewal in rural America.
Earlier today, I released a report (pdf) outlining how funds allocated to seven programs administered by USDA Rural Development have sparked economic growth,  created or saved over 300,000 jobs, and funded projects in almost 3,000 counties. USDA staff approved 95,000 loans, made 2,500 grants and assisted 2,000 rural businesses with loan guarantees.  We also assisted 93,000 American families close home loans, either by guaranteeing a loan from a lending institution or making a loan through our direct program.  We approved Internet projects that will provide an estimated 7 million people, many of them in remote areas including Tribal lands, access to improved state-of-the-art broadband service.

Secretary Vilsack meets with construction workers at a plant site in Berlin, MD. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is providing construction jobs across the nation. September 20, 2010. (by U.S. Department of Agriculture)

Those are significant numbers, but as I travel the country, I am most impressed by the individuals who tell me how their lives are being changed, directly or indirectly, because of the Act.  In Port Angeles, Washington, 147 workers have jobs because a Business Loan guarantee allowed a plywood plant to reopen after a three year shutdown.  Older job seekers in Tennessee are receiving computer training and developing new work skills thanks to a computer lab funded with a Rural Business Enterprise Grant.  A firm in Gering, Nebraska, saw demand for its homes rebound after USDA partnered with lending institutions, the city and a development firm to provide local residents with quality homes.  Through the Recovery Act, USDA has funded over 850 water projects to improve public health and environmental quality; over 560 public safety facilities; 312 cultural and educational facilities including 196 library projects; and over 180 healthcare facilities. 
These efforts will continue to drive job creation for the next several years, but as importantly, the buildings, broadband and water systems, taken together, supply the economic fabric for business expansion by private companies.  The Recovery Act is a continuing success, and today’s report confirms that.
Read the report (pdf).
Tom Vilsack is Secretary of Agriculture

The Republican Swindle About 'Obamacare and Stimulus' 20OKT10

PEOPLE need to wake up and pay attention to what is really going on, and to what the consequences of a republican majority in Congress will do to the country. People need to question what kind of religion (republicans are big on claims of faith) approves of deliberately deceiving and manipulating people for the benefit of the greed of a minority of the populace, and of deliberately bearing false witness against their political opponents for the benefit of the greed of a minority of the populace. If the republicans gain control of Congress the poor, working and middle classes will suffer and the economic recovery will slow if not stop. Don't be deceived, the gop and the tea-baggers do not have your best interest in mind....they lust for power and wealth, and you will pay for it if they win! If they win and take us back to the failed bush policies BOHICA (bend over, here it comes again!!!!)!!!!!!
 
If you happen to be a swing voter who's considering the Republican slate next month, you're being tricked. That's not to say you're an idiot, but the Republicans are doing an excellent job masking over what they really stand for, and millions of Americans seem to be falling for it.
The Republican strategy for this midterm election is simple: Treat voters like easily manipulated hoopleheads. The GOP and its various apparatchiks are spending untold millions of dollars, much of it from anonymous donors and, perhaps, even some illegal foreign donors, in order to play out this nationwide swindle. They're investing heavily on the wager that Americans are so kerfuffled by the slow-growth (but growth nevertheless) economy that they're willing to buy any line of nonsense as an alternative solution.
Regarding that nonsense, just about every GOP solution and every GOP idea reveals either a hilariously obvious contradiction or an utterly transparent hypocrisy. Say nothing of unchecked awfulness like Southern Strategy race-baiting or bald-faced lies. But it doesn't seem to matter much because they've buried most of it under heaping piles of inchoate outrage and fear. Just like always. It's not unlike the 2000s all over again. They're engaging in the same bumper sticker sloganeering and myopic agitprop, but with updated content for 2010.
If you've seen any of the Republican TV spots this cycle, you're probably familiar with the focus-group-tested duet of fear: "Obamacare and Stimulus." For example, that infamous John Raese commercial featuring two not-West-Virginian West Virginians in full "hicky" regalia discussing why they're voting Republican. Among the reasons: "Obamacare and Stimulus." No specific reasons why those items are evil, they're just two scary things the hicky guys are pissed about.
And why aren't there any specific gripes cited along with those two items? Because the actual gripes are ridiculous.
Let's start with "Obamacare," then hit "Stimulus" presently.
The Republicans are trying to tell us that the health-care-reform bill is a hugely expensive trespass against freedom and liberty. This obviously refers to the price tag and the individual mandate. What they don't mention is that "Obamacare" will actually achieve several very significant goals.
1) The health-care-reform bill will help working and middle class Americans to afford quality health insurance via hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies. For example, families of four earning $54,000 will see their insurance premiums reduced by around $10,000 per year. That's a lot. Who in their right mind would turn down a government check for $10,000? Every year. That's a full semester of state university tuition, among other things.
2) Contrary to the "Obama-is-spending-too-much" meme, the bill does not increase the deficit. According to the nonpartisan CBO, the bill cuts the deficit by $130 billion over ten years. Put another way, all that scaremongering about the cost of the bill is just that: scaremongering. The bill pays for itself and then some.
3) There are no enforcement mechanisms for the super-duper terrifying individual mandate. If you choose not to buy insurance when the mandate takes effect in 2014, and are consequently fined $695, there is no means of actually enforcing the payment of that penalty. No liens, levies, no jail, no Obamacare Goons swooping into your house like America-hating Kenyan ninjas. Nothing will happen to you. Nothing. So, you know, chill out about the mandate.
The question about "Obamacare," then, is very simply: Why are the Republicans against reducing the deficit by $130 billion, and why are they against more accessible and affordable healthcare? I have no idea, other than they're taking the childish opposite position of what was passed (despite the deficit reduction and subsidies for the middle class, etc.). Oh, and they call it "Obamacare," which is spooky and one letter away from being "Osamacare." Scary, but entirely without substance.
Oh, and speaking of the deficit, the Republicans are lying to voters about the Democratic handling of the deficit as well. It turns out the Democrats and the Obama administration cut the deficit this year. Cut it. The 2009 Bush-approved budget was $1.416 trillion and the 2010 Obama-approved budget was $122 billion less. Meanwhile, the Republicans are admitting to increasing the deficit by $4 trillion by making the Bush tax cuts permanent. And they won't say what they plan to cut from the budget in order to pay for it. Once again, we're back in the early Bush years with so-called fiscal conservatives engaged in big, irresponsible spending without any way to make up the shortfall.
Actually, the only spending cuts that appear to be on the table are the Social Security checks, the Medicare reimbursements and the veteran's benefits that will stop when the Republicans gleefully shut down the government. (Any senior citizen who votes Republican is voting for their Social Security and Medicare checks to stop -- indefinitely. Just thought I'd mention that.)
Circling back, it's important to repeat: President Obama and the congressional Democrats cut the deficit. Fact: The first Obama budget was billions less than the final Bush budget. And, in the process, President Obama's policies have pushed the DJIA from 6,000 to 11,000; his policies have turned Bush-era job losses into job creation; and pulled the nation from the brink of another Great Depression.
Again, why are the Republicans against all of this?
By the same token, why are they against the stimulus? They really won't say other than to screech about how expensive it was. But, before we go further, read the paragraph about the deficit again. The Democrats cut the deficit. And then factor into the mix that $288 billion out of the $800 billion cost of the recovery act was composed entirely of tax cuts. Tax cuts! As a matter of history and taken as a lump sum, this was the largest American middle class tax cut ever. So it's not a stretch to suggest that the Republicans are suddenly against the largest middle-class tax cut in American history.
Despite the attempt to turn a derivation of the positive word "stimulate" into a negative, there's very little about the stimulus that actually sucked, other than the fact that it wasn't big enough. Beyond that, Republican voters need to ask themselves if the tax cuts were bad -- or maybe was it the new roads and infrastructure that helped to create jobs, or was it the money that was spent to keep the states out of bankruptcy and police, teachers and firemen from losing their jobs? What's awful about any of that?
Then they need to ask themselves why Republican politicians like Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), along with dozens of other Republicans, actually petitioned and received from the Obama administration millions in stimulus dollars? Some of them even posing with giant novelty stimulus checks and literally campaigning on the wads of money they received from the stimulus. Pete Sessions, in fact, wrote to Secretary Ray LaHood and emphasized that the funds would literally "stimulate the economy" in his district. Naturally, Sessions turned around and campaigned against the stimulus. He thinks you won't notice.
Elsewhere, Newt Gingrich and others are trying to deceive voters by insisting that it's "liberal math" for an investment to earn a return -- for, say, a one dollar investment to grow into $1.74. Since when do Republicans believe that wise investments are "liberal math?" Specifically, Newt was talking about government spending on food stamps as a means of stimulating the economy. Based on simple math, one dollar in government money spent on food stamps creates $1.74 in economic stimulus, according to Moody's. Why? Because food stamps help Americans to buy things. Whereas the Bush tax cuts, for example, are a poor investment, only earning 32 cents for every dollar spent. Why? Because rich people tend to save their tax cuts rather than pumping that money into the marketplace.
Back to our refrain: Why are the Republicans against smart investing?
Yeah, Obamacare and the Stimulus. Destroying America from within, right?
It's worth noting here that this same Republican deception runs across other issues as well. Republicans are suggesting they'll protect individual liberty, while shrinking government small enough to fit into your bedroom or your uterus. Or they're running on the Constitution, while also having their hired thugs handcuff and detain a reporter in a flagrant violation of the First Amendment. Hell, some Republicans are running for U.S. Senate while opposing the 17th Amendment that established popular elections of senators. Wrap your head around that one.
Sure, there are still many things the Democrats have yet to unravel after 30 years of Reaganomics. But, despite their obvious faults, they're moving in that direction. And they're being as honest as politicians can be with their intentions. The Republicans, meanwhile, are running on some sort of Mobius Loop of backwards logic and flimsy, if not totally destructive, policy positions.
With less than two weeks to go, the sooner voters wise up to this Republican flimflam, the better off we'll all be.

Setting the Spending Record Straight 12OKT10

TOO bad the Wall Street Journal isn't objective enough to call the wealthy Americans who want the government to continue their bush era tax cuts to task for not creating jobs here in the U.S. while they have been receiving these tax cuts during the current economic crisis. Instead they choose to promote the greed that brought about this crisis, and to use their paper to spread the lies and deception of the gop and tea-baggers right before the November elections.
 
The Wall Street Journal today ran an editorial bemoaning the increase in federal spending between FY 2008 and FY 2010.
What it doesn’t factor in, or provide context for, is the chain of events that led to these increases.
First, a large driver of federal spending was the onset of the economic collapse in late 2008 as automatic aid to people hit hard by the downturn, such as unemployment insurance and food stamps, kicked in. With more people temporarily eligible for these mandatory programs and less revenue coming in, the deficit increased substantially in FY 2009, which began on October 1, 2008.  In fact, on January 7, 2009 -- before President Obama was sworn in -- the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued its Economic and Budget Outlook for Fiscal Years 2009-2019. In that document, CBO projected that government spending would rise from 20.9 percent of GDP in FY 2008 to 24.9 percent of GDP in FY 2009.  In reality, government spending in FY 2009 turned out to be roughly what had been predicted a year earlier (24.7 percent). That is to say, this big increase of government spending occurred because of the economic meltdown the Administration inherited and the accompanying automatic increase in programs that assist those most hurt by it -- and this was already fully baked into the fiscal cake when the President took office.
Second, also in response to the recession, we needed to help close the huge gap between what the economy could produce and what it was producing in order to prevent a second Great Depression and even more devastating job losses. That’s why economists from across the spectrum supported a significant stimulus measure, and why the President signed into law the Recovery Act.
While the Recovery Act has become a subject of intense debate, it clearly has brought our economy back from the brink. Instead of four quarters of economic contraction, we now have had four quarters of economic growth. Instead of losing 750,000 jobs a month, we’ve now had nine months of private sector job growth. Recovery Act investments not only saved the jobs of thousands of teachers, firefighters, and police officers, but are also laying the foundation for economic growth in years to come as new roads, bridges, power plants, and rail are built. The Recovery Act added to government spending, but it was essential and beneficial to the nation’s economy.
While measures like these were needed to stave off recession and strengthen the economy, we also must restore fiscal sustainability over the medium- and long-term. However, doing so is made much more difficult because of past fiscal irresponsibility -- the previous Administration’s failure to pay for two large tax cuts and the Medicare prescription drug benefit.
What is required of us now is to make the tough choices to put our fiscal house in order.
The President has put forward a budget that contains more than $1 trillion in deficit reduction. He has put in place a three-year freeze on non-security discretionary spending -- in nominal terms based on levels that do not include any Recovery Act funding -- and vowed to enforce it with his veto pen. He convened a bipartisan fiscal commission to devise a plan to get our budget in primary balance and our country on a long-term, sustainable course, and looks forward to hearing back from them in December. Looking to the long term where the growth of health care costs is the single biggest driver of increased spending, the President signed into law the Affordable Care Act, which will reduce the deficit by more than $100 billion in its first decade and more than $1 trillion in the second.
The other side’s response to our fiscal imbalance is to make it worse by supporting tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of households -- cuts that will increase our deficits by nearly $700 billion and do nothing at all to stimulate economic growth.
What should worry those concerned about government spending and our fiscal situation are not slanted arguments about how we got here, but plans like these that will put us deeper into a hole.

Kenneth Baer is the Associate Director for Communications and Strategic Planning at OMB

DOT Online Map Collects Voices of the Recovery Act; Workers Encouraged to Upload Their Own Video Stories 6OKT10

COUNTERING the lies and deception of the gop and tea-baggers, many of whom have tried to take credit for stimulus projects while condemning stimulus funding, this is from Transportation Sec Ray LaHood, a Republican member of the Obama administration. 

 

Posted by Secretary Ray LaHood on October 06, 2010 at 11:21 AM EDT

Cross posted from the Department of Transportation's blog.
I'm really pleased today to present a web experience honoring the men and women who are doing the heavy lifting to renew America's transportation infrastructure. With our interactive map, viewers can see all of the "Voices of the Recovery Act" videos from our YouTube channel on a single screen.
Each of these videos features a worker whose job was saved or created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. In their own words, they talk about their Recovery Act projects and how they've built or repaired infrastructure, and how their projects jump-started economic activity in their communities.

On our new web app, each orange cone represents a video by an American worker.

From John Tracey in Maine to Alison Barber in Colorado to Bill Montgomery in California, tens of thousands of workers have put Recovery Act dollars to good use on more than 14,600 highway, road, transit, bridge, airport, and small shipyard projects nationwide.
Thanks to the Recovery Act, these good people, who would have been unemployed otherwise, are at work today on more than 13,900 needed projects currently underway. And in our video series you can hear them share what that has meant to them in tough economic times for the construction industry.
As Vice President Joe Biden said, "'Voices of the Recovery Act' is one more way in which the American people will be able to see their tax dollars at work helping to turn the economy around and put the country back to work.”
I encourage you to visit our online map, and listen as these workers tell their stories.
And, if you have a story to tell about how a Recovery Act transportation project has helped you find or keep a job, upload your video to YouTube and email us a link at recoveryvids@dot.gov.
Ray LaHood is the Secretary of Transportation

Very Reasonable Places Your Stimulus Dollars Went 25AUG10

THIS is from HuffPost, click the header to go to the article to see just where some of the stimulus money has gone, to boost the economy and put people back to work...
 
Republican leaders insist, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that President Obama's $800-billion-or-so stimulus package from last year hasn't accomplished anything. (This is driving top White House economic adviser Jared Bernstein absolutely crazy.)
Progressive groups -- and most leading economists -- say the problem with the stimulus was that it didn't do enough, because it wasn't nearly as big as it should have been.
Lost amid those arguments is what exactly the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act did accomplish -- which, by comparison to almost anything except the massive output gap it was supposed to fill, is a lot.
On Tuesday, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the act added between 1.4 million to 3.3 million during the second quarter of 2010.
In addition to $288 billion in tax cuts, the Recovery Act funded all sorts of worthy projects that created jobs, backstopped a number of safety-net programs, and made huge investments in infrastructure, energy independence, mass transit and other public goods.
Here are 11 projects that got stimulus money. Do you think they deserved your tax money?