Amidst Questions About Their Numbers, White House Says Stimulus Will Save or Create 600,000 Jobs in the Next 100 Days

This recovery belongs to Obama. He said his Presidency will be judged by the results of his policies and he is dead right.

It doesn't matter how the White House spins this the fact is this plan is not fueling job creation. This business about "saving jobs" is so nebulus that his own people don't know what it means.

Even the faithful are starting to question the direction of this country -most still hate Bush and are fast to remind us just how much they hate him but these changes are tough to swallow much less believe in. The Bush argument is worn out at this point; Obama owns this recovery.

Bottom line: either the Stimulas plan or the other initiatives by this administration and Congress start producing real economic stimulas or this Congress and ultimately this President are down the road. Today Obama is predicting unemployment will hit 10% - in another 60 days he will be predicting 11%, then 12%, potentially more. (BY the way, he told us when the was selling the Stimulas plan that it would never get higher than 8%)

No question this President can bob and weave with the best of them. His marketing staff is capable of reaching into the ether and making up numbers and impact and they are good at selling it. It is a tough sell regardless and they might think they are pulling it off but unless this job meltdown turns around all the spinning in the world is not going to save this Congress and this Administration.

Let's just say it right up: the Emperor has no clothes.

That's what you get when you sign on to a 1037 page document WITHOUT READING IT.
What did you expect from arrogant and irresponsible behavior???? This administration is a joke.

...Will Save or Create 600,000 Jobs...

And where will these jobs be?

IN THE BLOATED, ALL-CONTROLLING SOCIALIST FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, of course.

Bureaucrats are needed to run the nationalized American finance industry, the nationalized American banking industry, the nationalized American auto industry, the soon-to-be nationalized American healthcare industry and to control ALL ASPECTS of American life.

The loony-left d-crat socialist "Road to Hell" will be paved by millions of bureaucrats.

If you think things are bad now because your house isn't worth anything, just wait until your money isn't worth anything. You can't just print up money and spend like crazy. This guy is another Jimmy Carter and I can't believe no one is seeing it. I feel for anyone who has kids, because the direction this country is going, the future won't be pretty.

Wait a minute. I thought the Stimulus was suppose to save 3,000,0000 jobs, remember? Now its down to "saving" 600,000?

Over 6 million jobs gone, Probably 9 million or more out of work, that's the Legal citizens, and not all on the unemployment dole out too. The situation is dire,and he thinks he might "save or start" 600,000 jobs? What a drip in the bucket. There needs to be Major action Now! No FDR here! Instead of focusing on Lincon ( who already freed the slaves, by the way) Obama should of been focusing on getting people back to work and Keeping Jobs in America! Obama may be our 1st multirace President, but so far, that's the only accomplishment!

Idahogirl – Sorry I couldn’t respond earlier . I’ll rather go by a different analogy to describe the Stimulus. The Stimulus is rather like a project but in this instance a massive and complex national project. A project can be broken down in two broad categories: design and execution. At the design stage (the first few months of the Stimulus), everything is being organised and put in place administratively with relatively little being carried out. The upcoming months will be the period when the massive spending and investments will be executed at an exponential rate. In fact, 1 billion dollar is already being allocated each day for Stimulus projects.

In layman’s terms, the Stimulus is needed for the simple reason that with the failure of the financial system, businesses and consumers were less willing (uncertainty) and less able (banks failures and failure to provide credit) to produce and spend in the economy implying that companies sold less goods and services than usual and so the companies had to laid out workers who in turn bought less and so the cycle goes (and this might just as well have led to a depression).

What the stimulus is meant to do, and is doing, is to incite and give businesses and consumers the confidence to keep on producing and spending respectively for the upcoming spending in the economy it is to generate exponentially. Initially by giving tax breaks, benefits, spending to maintain teaching and social services jobs and then spending on stimulus projects contracts given to companies which are then encouraged not to lay off workers. All these with the consequent multiplier effect in the economy.

Companies and consumers effectively bought to this idea once the Stimulus bill was enacted and kept on producing and consuming respectively in anticipation that upcoming Stimulus spending will maintain a stable economic environment from which recovery is possible. Hence the reason why the stock market and consumer and business confidence started rising. This effort was accompanied by the bank bailout and efforts to provide credit to consumers and companies.

It is effectively because the Stimulus Package is real, a commitment of 781 billion dollars by the US government for real economic projects, that consumers and businesses bought to the scheme and started acting in a positive manner in anticipation of its positive impact in the upcoming months (the Stimulus Package direct impact should enter in full force by the fourth quarter). In fact, many economists have even argued that the amount provided for the Stimulus should have been much more higher.

As a final note, I’ll argue that irrespective of party creed, it will seem to me that the criticism levied against the Stimulus is much more of a “political vogue” (and has nothing to do with “realistic” economics) naïvely taken up by the media which tend to operate on the basis of “two sides to any story” . The milestone which any such critical arguments has to overcome is to answer the question: how could a depression be avoided and a recovery started after the failure of the financial system.

Arkie Vet - don't be silly, recovery does not happen in a vacuum using one industry segment. I gave an example of education at the core of our stimulus to support new clean tech sector jobs.

Oregon is also spending on a wide range of other projects such as transportation - light rail - industrial land access improvements, and infrastructure like water and sewer upgrades for a projected population growth - new taxpayers attracted by Oregon's unique standard of living, an educated workforce, and family wage jobs. Companies from around the world are planning to build here - electric cars, sportswear, bioscience, healthcare, and software.

Par of what's attracting them to invest here? We are also spending heavily on social development. Japan’s 90s recession seems to argue for spending heavily in that direction. A 1998 report by the Japan Institute for Local Government (a nonprofit policy research group) found that every 1 trillion yen - that's about $11.2 billion - spent on social services added 1.64 trillion yen in growth. Financing for schools and education delivered an even bigger boost of 1.74 trillion yen.

Oh, and by the way, we have zero state sales tax. Like I said, things are not black and white with stimulus spending. Complaining about spending won't make it stop - the one thing we voters can do is to make sure the spending is pointed in the right direction.

ALUCEO-- Again I complement you on a very convincing sounding argument.. but let me break down what you just said into layment's terms..

The positive affect of the stimulus has far less to do with what it actually is capable of accomplishing by its own merits and far more to do with the impact it has on the "mood" of the country.. in other words, its only positive affect is the feeling it instills that we "are doing something" positive. even though it actually does no such thing (apparently). And, at this point in time you go on to contend that its true benefit currently is the continued "good feeling" it provides as stimulus whether or not it actually accompished anything tangent.

In other words it has worked and continues to work simply because some of us think it is working..it doesn't have to actually DO anything as long as we think it does, that alone is enough to turn the economy around..

By the way, the stock market was over 13,000 when the mortgage industry crashed.. it dropped to below 7,000 and to date is struggling to maintain itself above 8,500. Not exactly a meteoric rise or a restoration by any means..

idahogirl --"By 2025 this area is projected to create between 41,000 and 63,000 direct clean-tech jobs - similar to the number of high-tech jobs currently available in our High Tech corridor, the Silicon Forest."-- So, in your opinion the stimulus is working because it will create 41,000 to 63,000 jobs within the next 15 years???
Not my idea of success.. I doubt very seriously that most of the people in your state can wait 15 years for the job market to turn around...

If your state has a current population of 3.7 (2005 figures) and an unemployment rate of 12%.. that means you have 440,000 unemployed.. so, using your best estimate of 63,000 jobs created, and by using your own figures.. than ks to the success of the Obama Stimulus (which you say works better for your state than others), your state will see its unemployment rate drop from 12% to 9% ove the next 15 years.

Arkie Vet and KR - sorry for the delay in answering - I'm at work and my business is picking up! Yes, Oregon is scheduled for massive investments such as INTEL to update a microchip facility + the largest solar manufacturing plant in the country. Those ARE long term jobs.

Sure, Oregon is #2 in unemployment because the state economy traditionally relied on Forest Products. Tax cuts alone cannot make those old economy jobs reappear. Oregon spent its own Stimulus Money on jobs training as the centerpiece for economic growth. Community colleges now train kids for careers as wind technicians and renewable energy - starting pay is $17 to $24 per hour + benefits - we are also offering the first MBA course in the nation focused on clean-tech innovation. We are training for what will be the country's largest solar manufacturing plant in Hillsboro.

By 2025 this area is projected to create between 41,000 and 63,000 direct clean-tech jobs - similar to the number of high-tech jobs currently available in our High Tech corridor, the Silicon Forest.

To me, the key is how your State is spending the Stimulus Money - look a Japan in the 1990s. They spent and spent on Bridges to Nowhere. Japan's recession dragged out for a decade. IMO, it's valuable to become involved at the local level because every single state is different - I can only report that here in Oregon the stimulus is working.

For anyone who still wants to beleive that spending type stimulus packages are better than tax cuts, please follow the BOL charts and see for your self.
Here is a snyposis:

Under Carter, taxes were raised and government spending increased across his term. While unemployment was held at bay by the spending and remained at around 7-8 % throughout his presidency, the cost to the economy of his policies were enormous. Mortgage rates were at 11% inflation was over 12% by the end of his term. this continued period of instability lead to the last significant recession (1980 to 1982) encountered by the US. The unemployment rate went from 7% to 10.4% during reagans first year in office (Carter's last budget wa in effect) in March 1983 as unemployment continued to climb, Reagan passed the first tax cut in several decades. this cut had the following results on unemployment:
March 1983 - 10.3%
July 1983 - 9.4%
Dec 1983 - 8.3%
Dec 1984 - 7.3%
Dec 1985 - 7.0%
Dec 1986 - 6.7%
Dec 1987 - 5.7%
Dec 1988 - 5.3%
Doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that this is continued and sustained growth.

Bush senior again raised taxes in 1988 (after promising not to - "read my lips, no new taxes" became the broken promise that cost him the next election).

This tax hike caused unemployment to begin creeping back up between 91 and 92 until it broke the 7% barrier again.

Enter the Clinton Administration - Since tax rates had already been bumped, Clinton used the additional revenue along with an extremely robust economy (thanks to the dot.com revolution which caused an 80% increase in the strock market) to hold unemployment throughout most of his administration.

By the end of his final year, the dot.com industry was leveling and a lot of the fly by night companies were folding. Enter Bush junior in 2001 and then 9/11. The Clinton economy which had boomed in the 80s was now tailing.. added to that were fears sparked by 9/11 and before Bush had even passed his first budget, 6.8 Million jobs had been lost.

March 2002 - the unemployment rate that had been as low as 4.1 under Clinton now rose to over 6%..not near as bad as Carter, but bad enough to cause a mild recession. Bush junior cut taxes in 2003 and by the end of the year, it was at 5.7% - down from the high of 6.3%. by 2006 it had dropped to 4.4%.. nearing Clintons best numbers. By 2007 the mortgage crisis began taking its toll and unemployment has been steadily rising ever since..
Obama's "spending stimulus" like Carters has had no positive affect in its first 5 months.

bottom line..

Tax cuts work within 1 year and are shown to sustain the economy over extended periods of time.. Stimulus spending creates a lethargy within the economy that continues to tear it down over time increasing both unemployment and inflation.

Is this what we want??

Another thing do you realize that they picked Ed Whitacare (former CEO of AT&T) to head up the "new" GM? Coming from a former employee of AT&T I can tell you AT&T has been losing money for years and failed to innovate just barely keeping up with the competiton under his watch and absolutley hemmoraging money and THIS is the guy they want to head up General Motors now? How many of you still have AT&T land-line phone service? LOL!!!!

Idahogirl -- By the way, I just did a little research on your state to see how that whole infrastructure spending and new job creation was working for the state that was going to "lead us out of this recession" Your state is currently at 12% unemployment - the second worstin the US and only better than Michigan (isn't that the state where Obama is "saving" the auto industy?). Anyhow, if your state has teh type of economy that is MOST helped by Obama's type of stimulus, then why are you guys doing worse than almost everyone??

"... providing stop gap jobs while building real High Tech family wage jobs like Wind Turbines and Microchips."

I see this thrown around a lot and I'm not questioning validity except in that, what does this mean? Is there a wind turbine factory going up in Oregon or something? Microchip factory? I ask because there are already factories building these things and at least in Oklahoma, they cancelled their big wind farm because of protest from the land owners. Even some local environmentalists were trying to kill it because birds were getting chopped up by them or something. What is a "wind turbin" or "microchip" job?

"Today we are projected to lead the nation in new job creation out of this recession."

Hate to say it but it was also projected unemployment wouldn't exceed 8%. Projections is the wrong term, probably the more appropriate term is "optimistic" prediction. Not really trying to be snide, just that we buy into these terms when thats not really what they represent.

Idahogirl --"Not everyone agrees that correction happens "Timely" enough without financial assistance, including my State government."-- please don't mis-intrepret my post.. I agree with the portion of your statement that I reposted above. My point was that any stimulus package that concentrates on spending but does not place a significant amount of that spending in the pockets of the State cofers it purposts to assist in an immediate and Timely" manner is wasted money. True your state may benefit more than others from this type of spending, but if the spending in most cases does not "kick in" til 2010 or 2011, how much does it help you now? At least with tax cuts, the overall increase in spending is immediate. While your particular state may not find it to be a cure for their problems, it is a far less expensive and far more expededious way to get you on the right track than infrastructure spending that is targeted for two or three years down the road.
Federal aid may be necessary, but it does little to create jobs alone since federal aid places more money in the pockets of consumers but does nothing to promote business growth which is where teh new jobs come from.

I am interested in where you got your information that your state would "lead the way " out of the recession. Wind energy and even microchips are excellent long term answers to employment questions, but are not going to provide any significant job increases within the next 5 to 10 years. While i support the development of alternative energy sources to reduce our dependancy on foriegn oil, I think that is a program that may create long term benefits but do litle in the short run..

the only way to truly guage the effectiveness of any policy is to watch it unfold. That said, I invite you to review unemployment numbers from period in our history in which tax cuts were provided to pull up a lagging economy. You will find that in all cases, positive results were seen within a couple of months and the total affect was realized in less than one year.
Take a look at where you state was in Feb, where it is now, then look again in Aug, and Oct... then decide fro your self if this "stimulus" actually helped anything.

I know a great way to save & create 600,000 jobs. First impeach Obama, undo everything he has done (get all the bailout money back from banks and GM and give it to small businesses and struggling citizens) and remove congress and do away with lobbyists. Doesnt that sound like a good plan?

600,000 new jobs in 100 days. What would be the best website to apply for the new job openings and when does it start

Now we have Obamanomics!!!!!

We now look at everything in 100 day windows of time.

We rave constantly about a Phantom Statistic....the "SAVED" job. There is no defintion for a saved job & no mechannism in place to report such a Phantom number.

- If you have your job for en entire year, you job would be "saved" 3 times under Obamanomics!!!!

If we had the so-called transparency that this adminstration claimed we would have, there would be no need to waste time & money to produce a 100 day report on the "Stimulator". This is supposed to be readily and easily viewed online.

- Instead we have Joe "Don't Mess With Me" Biden created fairy tales.

It is way past time for the reporters in the media to put a stop to all this fantasyland garbage. You guys should be calling Obama, Biden, Gibbbs and anyone else who goes on the record using the term "saved jobs"!

How come so many of us can't believe O's numbers? O has been compared to God by a liberal newsman. That means we do not believe in God. Shame on all of us.