Comments on: Let’s Save or Create Even More Jobs!

By: DLS

DLS — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:00:49 +0000

I wasn't kidding about the "jobs forum" (actually, an "economic forum").

Let's just hope this isn't just a pale imitation of the Clinton economic "round table" at Little Rock years ago. (Hmmm. How much in tax increases, and what new taxes, does this nation so greatly "need"?)

Never mind that it's an effective admission of failure, and of other problems.

(Real help, or out-of-touch-elite, public-opinion-manipulative, "symbolic"-BS PR?)

http://features.csmonitor.com/economyrebuild/20...

And meanwhile, let's not see other meddling...

http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/...

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_ge...

http://www.freep.com/article/20091112/BUSINESS0...

By: Track Stimulus Spending In Iowa | Fairfield Voice

Track Stimulus Spending In Iowa | Fairfield Voice — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:00:14 +0000

[...] Let’s Save or Create Even More Jobs! (themoderatevoice.com) [...]

By: DLS

DLS — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:09:57 +0000

“Accountability is simply too much to ask for.”

Don't expect it at the “jobs summit.” If anything, expect the private sector to be blamed for unemployment.

By: DLS

DLS — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:56:45 +0000

More on current state (and worst-state) woes:

http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/uploadedFil...

http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/uploadedFil...

By: DLS

DLS — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:50:31 +0000

Apparently, when Obama returns from his trip to eastern Asia, he'll host a big meeting that will encourage, enlist, or conscript the private sector to do what he promised and failed to provide from the stimulus effort, the creation and saving of millions of jobs. It's time for the private sector "to do its part."

Never mind real issue, about federal failure, as well as the failure of states long in need of reform of what is happening in a number of states to cost jobs and be counterproductive to recovery.

http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/news_room_d...

By: DLS

DLS — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:30:52 +0000

“I'm sure he's got scores of economists who can vouch for him”

Krugman, as often as needed…

By: dgfunk

dgfunk — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:16:24 +0000

Thank God we will never know what would have happened if the stimulus bill had not passed.

By: Dr J

Dr J — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:57:38 +0000

Likewise devout Christians are disinclined to go looking too hard for the garden of Eden or for proof that prayer works. Like John Morely said, “Where it is a duty to worship the sun it is pretty sure to be a crime to examine the laws of heat.”

By: ProfElwood

ProfElwood — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:22:47 +0000

"what is really important: the quantity of people that have been helped."

You're almost there. It's the quantity of HIS people (contributors and voters) that have been helped.

Next up: Shocking allegations that some federal educational programs don't work as well as advertised.

By: EEllis

EEllis — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:53:49 +0000

And no teenaged girls were forced to dress as a prostitute to find out this info. I guess thats a step up.

By: adelinesdad

adelinesdad — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:31:10 +0000

You're right Dr. J, all of these fancy numbers just get in the way of what is really important: the quantity of people that have been helped.

By: Dr J

Dr J — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:27:16 +0000

Did he actually ask economists to estimate a number, or did he just add up the self-reported numbers?

Of course there is no serious effort to tally the jobs, Dad. Nor will there be. Nor will there be a call for one from the left.

Accountability is simply too much to ask for.

By: adelinesdad

adelinesdad — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:11:58 +0000

"I'm sure he's got scores of economists who can vouch for him"

But that's my question. Did he actually ask economists to estimate a number, or did he just add up the self-reported numbers? I'd at least have some respect for the first approach (although the range of numbers that economists would come up with would be wide, I suspect), but the second seams like something a second-grader would think up ("How many more children were born because of the child tax credit? Let's ask the parents!")

I should point out at least one reason why just counting up the numbers is flawed: If I were a business owner, and I got a big check from the government, and then later I was asked, "how many jobs did you create with that money?", there would be more than just a little temptation to fudge on the up-side. If I tell them I created no jobs, I might think there would be less chance of getting any more big checks from the government anytime soon. So there's at least one reason (even if all of the reporting inconsistencies that have been reported could be resolved) why relying on self-reported numbers is fundamentally flawed.

By: Dr J

Dr J — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:38:09 +0000

AD, I don't think you're getting into the spirit of the thing. It's not about how many jobs were literally saved or created, it's about feeling good that we stimulated the economy.

By: ProfElwood

ProfElwood — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:31:57 +0000

Although I haven't done a bit of research (I'm getting tired), it's all a shell game, since no one can track the damage done to the economy when the money has to be extracted from it, and even that point in time can't really be pinned down. As far as stooping so low, you do understand that he's a politician, right? He didn't invent anything new here. I'm sure he's got scores of economists who can vouch for him, although they each would come up with a different method of calculating that number, were they not allowed to talk to each other.

By: adelinesdad

adelinesdad — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:15:06 +0000

I agree that the white house has vastly overplayed its hand regarding the “saved or created” numbers. However, I need some clarification: My initial impression was that the numbers the white house put out where based on some complex economic formula, and not just adding up self-reported numbers. Yes, I know that amounts to an educated (if that) guess, but at least that's better that self-reported numbers. So, my question is: can someone provide some evidence that the white house relied solely on these self-reported numbers? I'm not an Obama fan, but honestly I have a hard time believing he could be that dumb or stoop so low (take your pick on which one it was).

By: ProfElwood

ProfElwood — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:39:34 +0000

Since the government can't create wealth, it all amounts to pulling water from the bottom of the tank, pouring into the top, and announcing, with great fanfare, that they're filling up the tank.

By: JeffersonDavis

JeffersonDavis — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:34:56 +0000

I personally don't like to hear the government say “create jobs”.
That's not their job in the first place.

They can save all the jobs they want. But the creation of actual jobs belongs in the hands of commerce, not government.