I'd Call That a Bargain / The Best I Ever Had
According to the Obama administration, they can now prove that the stimulus created 30,000 jobs! And they promise to flesh out the "rough calculations" that will add another million jobs to the total. The Hill has the good news:
The first direct stimulus reports showed that stimulus contracts saved or created just 30,083 jobs, prompting more Republican criticism of the $787 billion package.
The data posted Thursday was the result of the government's initial attempt at counting actual stimulus jobs. Obama administration officials stressed that data was partial—it represented just $16 billion out of the $339 billion awarded— but they said it exceeded their projections. "All signs—from private estimates to this fragmentary data—point to the conclusion that the Recovery Act did indeed create or save about 1 million jobs in its first seven months, a much needed lift in a very difficult period for our economy," said Jared Bernstein, the chief economist for Vice President Joe Biden. According to the White House recovery office's rough calculations, the 30,083 jobs number projects out to a total of 1.2 million jobs saved or created by the stimulus through September.