Friday, October 30, 2009
Biden Touts 1 Million Jobs Created - Are you Sure?
Flanked by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, and Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat, Biden said that he could confidently claim: "We have created over a million jobs."
The vice president conceded, however, that the administration's rapidly assembled numbers and the stimulus-tracking Recovery.gov website were only an approximate picture of the country's employment situation.
"We know this is not 100 percent accurate," he said. "Further updates and corrections are going to be needed."
But, he continued: "My message today is we're on track."
Earlier in the week, the White House parried charges in an AP article that it had inflated job-creation numbers by approximately 5,000 jobs in a study purporting to show the earliest stages of stimulus spending had created or protected some 30,000 positions. - Politico Story
Not only are they not 100% accurate, the last report showed they were wrong or inflated by some 20%. That means that if he claims nearly 1 Million it is more likely somewhere around 800,000. Not bad really. We only lost several Million in that same time frame so creating much less than what you lose is OK in the Obama White House.
30 Lawmakers Probed in Ethics Investigation
A leaked document shows that House ethics investigators are probing the activities of nearly three dozen lawmakers — an ethical dust storm that will empower the Republicans and could imperil efforts to get health care reform through the House next week.
The House ethics committee said Thursday that it was opening two new investigations — one into the foreclosure scandal of Rep. Laura Richardson (D-Calif.) and one involving financial questions about Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and her husband.
But shortly after the committee met, chairs Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Jo Bonner (R-Ala.) interrupted proceedings on the House floor to say that an internal document on secret committee proceedings had been leaked to The Washington Post — and that it would name the names of many other members who had drawn the attention of either the committee or the Office of Congressional Ethics.
According to the Post, the document identifies more than 30 House members.
Much of the investigative interest swirls around lawmakers' relationship with the PMA Group, a now-defunct lobbying firm that pumped campaign contributions to members and obtained earmarks for its defense clients.
Reps. Jack Murtha (D-Pa.) and Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.) had been implicated in the PMA case previously, but the leaked document showed that investigators are also interested in Reps. Jim Moran (D-Va.), Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), Bill Young (R-Fla.) and Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), according to the Post.
The Department of Justice is also looking into allegations that Paul Magliocchetti, a former Appropriations Committee staffer and founder of PMA, used “straw men” donors to improperly funnel campaign funds to Murtha - Politico Story
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Report Shows White House Inflated Jobs Created Figure for Stimulus
The government's first accounting of jobs tied to the $787 billion stimulus program claimed more than 30,000 positions paid for with recovery money. But that figure is overstated by least 5,000 jobs, according to an Associated Press review of a sample of stimulus contracts.
The AP review found some counts were more than 10 times as high as the actual number of jobs; some jobs credited to the stimulus program were counted two and sometimes more than four times; and other jobs were credited to stimulus spending when none was produced.
For example:
- A company working with the Federal Communications Commission reported that stimulus money paid for 4,231 jobs, when about 1,000 were produced.
- A Georgia community college reported creating 280 jobs with recovery money, but none was created from stimulus spending.
- A Florida child care center said its stimulus money saved 129 jobs but used the money on raises for existing employees.
There's no evidence the White House sought to inflate job numbers in the report. But administration officials seized on the 30,000 figure as evidence that the stimulus program was on its way toward fulfilling the president's promise of creating or saving 3.5 million jobs by the end of next year.
Republican critics say they don't understand how some stimulus projects will create any jobs, reports CBS News chief White House correspondent Chip Reid; for example, half a million dollars to study social networks like Facebook, and $219,000 to study the sex lives of female college freshmen.
The reporting problem could be magnified Friday when a much larger round of reports is expected to show hundreds of thousands of jobs repairing public housing, building schools, repaving highways and keeping teachers on local payrolls. - CBS News Story
White House's TARP on Steroids Proposal
Lawmakers from both parties are attacking a White House proposal that would grant the federal government sweeping powers to wind down financial firms – an authority one Democrat derided as “TARP on steroids.”
With Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner listening in a House hearing room, bailout-weary lawmakers are spending Thursday morning picking apart a proposal by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) that seeks to grant this “resolution authority” to the government, similar to the authority the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has over U.S. banks that become insolvent.
“Let’s not adopt ‘TARP on steroids,’” Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) said in a release before the hearing started.
Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) slammed the bill’s proposal that when the government has to front money to cover the costs of winding down a dying firm, other big financial firms will pay the bill via a fee assessed after the fact.
Gutierrez argued that the firms should pay into a fund, “Now, today, not after the fact.”
“They should pay for future insurance policy payouts. The fund should be set up just in case their behavior … raises its ugly head again,” he said.
Rep. Spencer Bachus of Alabama, the ranking Republican on the committee, complained that Frank released the draft text Tuesday afternoon, less than 48 hours before the hearing, giving neither members nor witnesses enough time to digest its contents. - Politico Story
White House Trying to get Out of FOX Mess?
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and Michael Clemente, Fox News' senior vice president for news, met at the White House for about 20 minutes on Wednesday morning, sources said.
Gibbs reached out to Clemente on Monday, the sources said.
The contents of the meeting remain private. A Fox source said that the marching orders are to “continue doing what we’re doing – reporting the news, asking tough questions and providing analysis/opinion on shows like O’Reilly, Beck and Hannity. - Politico Story
My guess is that the White House found out that this is a fight it can't win. They are trying to find a way out without getting egg all over their face. Too Late!!!!
White House Attack on FOX News starts to Unravel
Asked by CNN's Campbell Brown whether Fox had an ideological slant, Jarrett replied firmly: "Of course they're biased. Of course they are."
But the top aide quickly walked that statement back when Brown pressed her to judge MSNBC's political leanings.
"You know what, this is the thing. I don't want to — actually, I don't want to generalize all Fox is biased or another station is biased. I think what we want to do is look at it on a case-by-case basis. And when we see a pattern of distortion, we're going to be honest about that pattern of distortion," Jarrett said.
"What the administration has said very clearly is that we're going to speak truth to power," she continued. "When we saw all the distortions during the course of the summer, when people were coming down to town hall meetings and putting up signs that were scaring seniors to death, when we've seen commercials go up on television that were distorting the truth, we're actually calling everybody out. This isn't something that's directed at Fox." - Politico Story
White House Fires Back at Edmunds for Analysis of Cash for Clunkers
The White House fired back Thursday to a report that claimed taxpayers paid $24,000 per vehicle sold under the government's "Cash for Clunkers" auto program, calling the study a "faulty" analysis that "doesn't withstand even basic scrutiny."
In a blog posted to the White House Web site, White House director of new media Macon Phillips disputed a report by the automotive information firm Edmunds.com, which raised questions on the overall effectiveness of the government plan.
"This is the latest of several critical "analyses" of the Cash for Clunkers program from Edmunds.com, which appear designed to grab headlines and get coverage on cable TV," wrote Phillips. "Like many of their previous attempts, this latest claim doesn’t withstand even basic scrutiny."
"Edmunds also ignores the beneficial impact that the program will have on 4th Quarter GDP because automakers have ramped up their production to rebuild their depleted inventories," he wrote.
The Edmunds report found that of the nearly 690,000 vehicles sold under the program, only 125,000 of the sales could be credited directly to the Cash-for-Clunkers program.
The rest of the sales would have happened anyway, despite the government program, the report said -- raising questions over its effectiveness.
The report also said that the average cost for a vehicle in August 2009 was only $26,915 -- minus an average cash rebate of $1,667.
Cash for Clunkers -- officially known as the Car Allowance Rebate System -- was a $3 billion program intended to provide economic incentives to Americans to purchase a new, more fuel efficient cars when they traded in an older, less efficient vehicle.
The program was touted for giving a boost to auto sales while increasing the sales of more fuel-efficient vehicles.
Edmunds.com was quick to respond to the White House's criticisms, saying, "instead of shooting the messenger, government officials should take heart from the core message of the analysis: the fundamentals of the auto marketplace are improving faster than the current sales numbers suggest."
"Apparently, the $24,000 figure caught many by surprise. It shouldn’t have. The truth is that consumer incentive programs are always hugely expensive when calculated by incremental sales -- always in the tens of thousands of dollars. Cash for Clunkers was no exception," the firm said in a press release Thursday. "The White House claims that our analysis was based on car sales on Mars and that on Earth, the marketplace is connected. We agree the marketplace is connected. In fact, that is exactly the basis of our analysis." - FOX News
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Obama Kids Get Swine Flu Shot - While We Wait fo Supplies
A spokeswoman for Michelle Obama, Katie McCormick Lelyveld, tells the Associated Press that Sasha, age 8, and Malia, age 11, got the shot from a White House doctor last week after it became available to schoolchildren in the Washington area.
President and Michelle Obama are going to wait to get the H1N1 shot until members of higher priority groups have received their shots. The whole family, however, has gotten the seasonal flu shot. - CBS News
If you ever wondered what Nationalized or Government Run Health Care would be like, well here it is. The Swine Flu outbreak is a perfect demonstration of how it would work.
They all knew it was coming, vaccine was promised. Well it is here and there is little to no vaccine. Long lines and the Government is picking and choosing what classes of people get the shot. While in my area, the shots haven't been available just the nose spray. They are now shutting down all the clinics and it is only being offered to certain people. Hey, why not, the Obama kids must fit that program.
Government run health care at it's finest.
Deadly Attack on UN in Afghanistan
Gunmen attacked a guest house used by U.N. staff in the Afghan capital of Kabul early Wednesday, killing at least seven people including three U.N. staff, officials said. A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility, saying it was meant as an assault on the upcoming presidential election.
Heavy gunfire reverberated through the streets shortly after dawn and a large plume of smoke rose over the city following the attack in the Shar-e-Naw district. Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman said seven people were killed, including some attackers.
U.N. spokesman Adrian Edwards confirmed that three U.N. staff were among the dead and one was seriously wounded. He said 20 U.N. staff were known to be registered there but he was unsure whether all were there at the time of the attack. - ABC News Story