Fact Checking Obama's Job Spin

Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: President Obama has the audacity to claim that his latest stimulus bill would create 2 million jobs. That came from an analysis by Mark Zandi of Moody's. But when pressed for details, Zandi admitted, "I didn't know when I did that simulation how the president proposed to pay for it."

Moreover it was only a one year projection for 2012. Zandi added, "Beginning in 2013, and certainly into 2014, the plan is a drag on the economy because the stimulus starts fading away," while Obama's tax increases remain in effect. Nevertheless, Obama continued to repeat his "2 million jobs" claim during his campaign bus tour through the swing states of North Carolina and Virginia.

As a result, the folks at FactCheck.org decided to take a look at Obama's jobs spin. Here is their conclusion: "President Obama exaggerates when he claims 'independent economists' say his jobs bill 'would create nearly 2 million jobs.' The median estimate in a survey of 34 economists showed 288,000 jobs could be saved or created over two years under the president's plan."

Senate Again Rejects Obama's "Jobs" Bill
For the second time, the Democrat-controlled Senate has rejected Obama's so-called "jobs" bill. Last week the Senate shot down Obama's massive $450 billion stimulus bill. Undaunted, Obama and Reid vowed to break the bill up and pass it in pieces.

First up was a $35 billion bailout of state and local government workers. Why did that small sliver of the bill take precedence over the other 92% of it? Well, according to Harry Reid, "It's very clear that private-sector jobs have been doing just fine; it's the public-sector jobs where we've lost huge numbers, and that's what this legislation is all about."

Unfortunately for Harry, his public employee union bailout failed on a 50-to-50 vote with three Democrats joining all Senate Republicans in opposition.

There is an important point to keep in mind here. Obama and his Democrat allies are quick to suggest that Republicans are voting against teachers and first responders. That is false. What Republicans object to is yet another bailout/takeover by Big Government.

Teachers, firefighters and cops are obligations of local and state governments, not the federal government. If local governments can't meet their budgets they should cut back or raise taxes. Washington is spending record sums of money and incurring record deficits. Clearly we cannot afford the government we have now.

A lot of money for state and local workers was included in Obama's $800 billion stimulus bill in 2009. It was supposed be temporary. Now Joe Biden is raising the specter of rape and murder if we don't keep funding this "temporary" program. As Ronald Reagan was fond of saying, "The closest thing to immorality on earth is a government program."

More Green Jobs / Stimulus Waste
Here's another reason to resist the siren song of Big Government stimulus spending. In 2009, Fisker Automotive received a $529 million loan from the federal government in exchange for the promise of creating so-called "green jobs" by producing electric cars at a shuttered GM plant in Delaware.

Two years ago, in announcing the half billion dollar loan at the Delaware plant, Vice President Joe Biden said, "Folks, we're making a bet. We're making a bet on the future, we're making a bet on the American people, we're making a bet on the market, we're making a bet on innovation." As it turns out, by trying to manipulate the market, Biden made a bad bet against the American taxpayer.

ABC News reports that Fisker has just announced it will manufacture its cars in Finland, not Delaware. And just like Solyndra, there are allegations of crony capitalism and political paybacks involving Al Gore and major Democrat donors.

That's bad enough. But it's far from certain that the taxpayers will even get their money back. What kind of market exists for Fisker's $97,000 electric car? So far "Government Motors" has only managed to sell 4,000 of the $41,000 taxpayer-subsidized Chevy Volt.

This is what happens when Big Government makes bets with your money. Taxpayers almost always end up as the biggest losers.
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Gary Bauer is is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families.

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Tags: Fact Checking, Obama, job, jobs, Keeping His Job, public sector jobs, teachers, firefighters, police, Green Jobs, Stimulus Waste, Fisker Automotive, Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!