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Obama's 'Jobs Saved' Claims Are Pure Hokum

Ex-Bushie: Media won't call White House on its unmeasurable metric

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Jun 9, 2009 8:46 AM CDT

(Newser) – President Obama confidently declared yesterday that the stimulus plan had already “saved or created” 150,000 American jobs and would “save or create” another 600,000 by this summer. Which is pretty surprising, former Bush official William McGurn writes in the Wall Street Journal, because the economy’s lost nearly 1.6 million jobs since the stimulus passed. But that’s the magic of the “saved or created” metric, which doesn’t actually measure anything.

“The number is pure fiction,” complains fellow former Bush hand Tony Fratto. “If we had tried to use something this flimsy, the press would never have let us get away with it.” Obama has no way of counting how many jobs have been “saved”—the figure is based on macroeconomic estimates. As Democrat Max Baucus observed when grilling Tim Geithner, “You created a situation where you cannot be wrong.”

[Images (3)]

[Quotes (2)]

President Barack Obama listens to Vice President Joe Biden during a meeting with Cabinet members, Monday, June 8, 2009, in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Barack Obama returns to the White House, June 7, 2009. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner addresses a gathering at the Project Hope Community Building in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, May 27, 2009. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

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The expression 'create or save,' is an act of political genius. You can measure how many jobs are created between two points in time. But there is no way to measure how many are saved. - Greg Mankiw, Harvard economist and former Bush adviser

If the economy loses two million jobs, you can say yes, but it would've lost 5.5 million jobs. You've given yourself complete leverage where you cannot be wrong. - Max Baucus

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 18 comments

northeast

Jun 11, 2009 4:33 AM CDT

I can simply reiterate what they pointed out, which is that Obama is pulling numbers out of his ass. He MIGHT have saved any number of jobs, be we don't have any standard for determining if that's the case. To claim otherwise is completely false.

RobN

Jun 9, 2009 10:19 AM CDT

Even the Democrat is pointing out that these formulas are ridiculous and yet all anybody here can do is divert attention from the substance of the article by jumping on the FOX is Evil bandwagon. Too bad, since this could be a really interesting topic to discuss but I guess it's easier not to have to deal with it.

AnnieChrist

Jun 9, 2009 7:24 AM CDT

righthing, what's with the obsession over the male anatomy? I can only surmise you have just received your free week's supply of extenze capsules. Because, if you believe pox news, you'll believe anything.

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Obama's 'Jobs Saved' Claims Are Pure Hokum