TOPICS
TOPICS
GOP lawmakers question stimulus job creation statistics
Six House Republicans are demanding that President Obama share the administration's methodology for calculating the number of jobs saved or created through the economic stimulus package.
The White House Council of Economic Advisers has said it used a macroeconomic model to show that the stimulus saved or created 150,000 jobs during the first 100 days of Recovery Act implementation, and will save or create 600,000 more by the end of the summer. This model, the council said, used a "conservative rule of thumb" that a 1 percent increase in gross domestic product would correspond to a bump of about 1 million jobs.
But the congressmen -- Reps. Darrell Issa, Calif.; Jim Jordan, Ohio; Patrick McHenry, N.C.; Jason Chaffetz, Utah; Jeff Flake, Ariz.; and Brian Bilbray, Calif. -- said the administration is not being transparent about its calculations. In a letter to Obama on Thursday, the lawmakers asked the administration to disclose its methodology fully to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
"It appears that you simply rely on creative models to produce speculative macroeconomic forecasts of the national employment effects of stimulus spending," the lawmakers wrote. "Mr. President, you've repeatedly promised an unprecedented level of transparency and accountability for stimulus spending. Selectively harvesting convenient economic data and divining inventive formulas to create positive results does not fulfill this promise."
They also expressed concern over estimates of jobs saved, saying as far as they can tell, no government agency, private sector group or economist knows how to reliably calculate and track such statistics.
"The creation of a metric that is not measurable allows your administration to advance job claims that are not subject to public scrutiny," they wrote.
Jared Bernstein, chief economist for Vice President Joe Biden, defended the administration's methodology in May, calling it "absolutely tried and true."
"There's simply no other way to make this kind of estimate," Bernstein said. "You have to have an estimate of what would have occurred in the absence of your stimulus plan in order to come up with the jobs that you've created or saved. Every macro model, whether it's Federal Reserve or private forecasters, engages in these kinds of exercises."
Issa said on Thursday that he fully expects the administration to respond to the lawmakers' request.
COMMENTS
- Just stop all this Democrat Republican bashing and lets do whats right for the people for once all our leaders over the past 30 years have had greedy ambitions filling the pockets of their buddies while the rest of us slowly loss our lifestyle. We are slowly killing our children the country we are leaving them is going to give little hope to achieve for the majority of them. True a select few will do fine in this techy age but those that still need to make money the old fashioned way (Hard Work) wont have any hard work to do all the factory jobs are in foriegn countries. If you dont have hope you have nothing. Lets reverse some of this before its to late. So what if the world calls us isolationist I call it survival. We need to bring manufacturing and all the spin off industries back to this great country so our children have a future remember you cant retire on welfare then again maybe you can!! BAD PLAN and shame on both parties. The people want one thing and all the polititians do something else go figure what ever happen to majority rules. STOP Posted July 22, 2009 2:53 PM
- What amazes me the most is those who like to look back and point fingers but claim they are looking forward and investing in the future? It's seems that the Barrack Hussein Obama fans only know to blame the previous administration for everything and when they can't blame then they compare with them. It may be that the GOP intelligence in Iraq was flawed. We've recognized that a long time ago; it’s time to get over it. Today we're talking about this administration’s wasteful spending on so called "investments" (such as condoms from Nancy P. for all) that seem to be leading us nowhere. We’re talking about this administration’s transparency that so far has been as dark and obscure as the night. We’re talking about a socialist agenda that is leading us to a path of no return, and one that will reverse what all previous leaders, and not just our founding fathers, but those efforts of folks like Martin Luther King – a man who fought for liberty and not libertinism. We’re talking about the ability to risk and invest in what one believes a profit can be made without having the Bureaucrats become pocket-pickers, stealing every penny they find in it. So, I would encourage all American citizens to pay attention with what is going on now (or maybe not going on) and where we are heading tomorrow; President Bush left office six months ago, President Barrack Hussein Obama promised change we could believe in and hope. Let us concentrate on what is right or wrong with this administration and let’s ask this President to deliver real change, keeping our rights to freedom and free enterprise, our right to life, and freedom of religion; our right to keep what we’ve earned and the right to help those that we choose to help. That is what the great United States of America is really all about. May God Bless America. Paul Posted June 16, 2009 7:03 AM
- I think they are vastly exagerated - if not outright lies. Of course, if you count all the illegal aliens, particularly in construction, that it put to work......... Kathy Posted June 16, 2009 9:39 AM
