Stimulus Hasn't Reached States That Need It Most

Wall Street Journal thinks 100K figure is way off

(NEWSER) - The Obama administration says a $10 billion portion of its 2009 stimulus directly prompted the creation of 100,000 jobs in alternative energy, but the claim is difficult to measure. Trouble is, such assessments are based on mathematical formulas and reports, not straightforward counts. Indeed, the Congressional Research Service urged "skepticism" in the matter; now, the Wall Street Journal finds the number of jobs created to be "far fewer." It doesn't provide a total, but rounds up example after example of projects that didn't deliver as promised. More»

But problem may be too big to fix

(NEWSER) - As he announced the appointment of Alan Krueger yesterday, President Obama promised a speech outlining his new jobs agenda next week—but behind the scenes, Obama and company haven’t actually agreed on that agenda yet, the Washington Post reports. The president is considering a number of options, including a tax credit for companies hiring new workers, an infrastructure bank, clean-energy tax cuts, and revamping the unemployment system so that it pays companies to hire out-of-work people. More»

Critics who say it's failed are off base: David Leonhardt

(NEWSER) - It may not “yet feel like much of a recovery” to jobless Americans, President Obama concedes, but it’s thanks to the massive economic stimulus package passed a year ago “that a second depression is no longer a possibility.” Obama celebrated the anniversary of the recovery act today with a reminder that it had saved or created around 2 million jobs. And David Leonhardt seconds the president's claim. The “best-known economic research firms” all agree with the president’s jobs numbers, he writes in the New York Times . More»

President's miscalculations include scale, momentum

(NEWSER) - Scott Brown’s Senate victory in Massachusetts is the final nail in the coffin of the Obama administration’s first-year political strategy, John F. Harris and Carol E. Lee write for Politico . The miscalculations cover “three major counts":

• Believing 2008 was a game-changer: The Obama team thought the "election represented something seismic." But "the assumption that Obama would be swimming mostly with the current rather than often against it on issues such as health care, financial regulation and global warming was naive in retrospect."

Irate GOP calls measure 'son of stimulus'

(AP) - President Obama's Democratic allies in the House have muscled through a year-end measure—with a price tag of $174 billion—aimed at creating jobs through a second round of stimulus spending. The 217-212 vote reflected considerable uneasiness among Democrats over the prospect of voting for more debt-financed spending as the government runs mammoth budget deficits. Republicans were united in their opposition to the bill. More»