The government was caught lying about how many jobs were supposedly “created or saved” by the misnamed American Recovery and Reinvestment act, otherwise known as the $787 billion “stimulus package.” And even with their grossly inflated numbers, the jobs are likely some of the most expensive in human history.

In a review of the government’s count, the Associated Press discovered errors with one in six jobs out of over 30,000 attributed to federal contracts under the stimulus program. Widespread errors and misleading standards for reporting combined with other factors led to an almost 20 percent discrepancy.

“Even in its limited review, the AP found job counts that were more than 10 times as high as the actual number of paid positions; jobs credited to the stimulus program that were counted two and sometimes more than four times; and other jobs that were credited to stimulus spending when none was produced,” the news agency reported, citing specific recipients that gave existing workers raises and reported it as jobs saved, contractors that had employees counted multiple times and a myriad of other errors.

For example, a business in Colorado receiving government handouts claimed to have added more than 4,200 jobs. The real number was less than 1,000. A contractor in Texas that kept 22 workers to fulfill federal contracts had each one counted four times. And a Georgia day care center that used the money to give its employees raises reported that it had “saved” 129 jobs.

The White House tried to minimize the severity of the investigation results, with spokesman Robert Gibbs telling reporters that "we're talking about 4,000, or a 5,000 error." But even as the Obama administration defended the figures, it promised to release a correction later in the week and said it had already identified some of those errors earlier.

Other independent investigations of the government’s tracking have revealed massive errors as well. "The data is rife with mistakes," explained Craig Jennings, the senior federal fiscal policy analyst at OMB Watch. "When you put out data that hasn't yet been checked, it undermines transparency, because you are putting out wrong information."

The blatant inflation of the numbers has also called into question the broader job figures set to be released by the government. “The errors could be magnified Friday with the release of data expected to show the creation or preservation of hundreds of thousands of jobs,” noted the Los Angeles Times.

A report released by the administration on October 30 claimed the program had created or saved at least 650,000 jobs, with $339 billion spent so far. That translates into more than $500,000 per job allegedly saved or created. And the new figures are likely to be riddled with problems as well.   

"There will be a lot of discrepancies in the data," said Tim Dowd, the chief executive for a company that tracks government spending called Input. "Those discrepancies will grow significantly,” he added, claiming that it was not because of malicious intent but due to the “complexity."

Not mentioned by the Associated Press or the White House is that most of these jobs are likely just temporary. Also overlooked are the jobs that were destroyed in useful sectors as a result of the forced transfer of wealth. How much productive investment was lost as a result of the program will never be accounted for by the government. The private sector has lost over 3 million jobs since the stimulus was approved. 

But if government spending truly led to economic prosperity, why not spend $787 trillion instead? The logic is absurd, since the government must confiscate wealth from the productive economy to “create or save” any jobs. The stimulus program is a massive fraud — extortion designed to increase the size of government and further shackle U.S. citizens and the American economy to astronomical levels of debt.

"Regardless of how many jobs the government claims to create, the economic facts are that the government cannot create anything without destroying something else in the process," wrote Tad DeHaven, a budget analyst with Cato Institute. "An untold number of current and future jobs will disappear or never be created because of the wealth extracted from the economy to pay for the stimulus scheme." He called the release of job figures "political theater" and noted that the spending will ultimately lead to a decreased standard of living.

These job numbers are indeed nothing more than a public relations gimmick aimed at drumming up support for failed and unconstitutional government programs. The American people should be furious. And any monies not yet doled out should be promptly returned to taxpayers with a formal apology. 

Alex Newman is an American freelance writer and the president of Liberty Sentinel Media, Inc., a small media consulting firm. He is currently living in Sweden and has spent most of his life in Latin America, Europe, and Africa. He has a degree in foreign languages and speaks Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Italian and a little Swedish and Afrikaans. In addition, he earned a degree in journalism from the University of Florida, with emphasis on economics and international relations.

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RP said:

... If the numbers reported by government were correct (which they are not), then each saved or created job cost $521,500 EACH! To pay for this $339 BILLION expenditure, every man, woman, and child in the United States had to lay out $1,115. Is it practical for a family of four to lay out $4,460 so that some one down the street can get a paycheck for $520,000? The truth is, the $339 BILLION expenditure of funds is accurate. The 650,000 job number is wildly HIGH. So the situation is worse than proclaimed. Bear in mind that the $4,460 expenditure for a family of four is a NEW expense, over and above the current (ongoing) tax load and other NEW expenses... TARP, Cash for Clunkers, Pakistani border security, etc. Payment for all these programs is not right now. The government has so generously opened a loan, in your behalf, on which interest is already accruing. You do not get to benefit from the proceeds of this loan, but you (or you children, or grandchildren) WILL be responsible for its repayment.

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October 30, 2009
Votes: +6

DDW said:

I wonder if anyone is really surprised That our corrupt-to-the-core and out-of-control rogue fedgov is lying to us? I wonder how much money would be saved by shutting down all the unconstitutional bureaucracies, cutting the politicians unearned incomes down to the "minimum wage" they so dearly love as well as completely cutting out all perqs and inflated, outrageous and insulting retirements? It is THEY who should be out of work, not the private sector. Get rid of them all; every last one of them. Put them ALL out on the street. The sooner, the better.

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October 30, 2009
Votes: +4

Still Free said:

In "GovSpeak" 1 + 1 = X (anything BUT 2) Of course "The government was caught lying" ... that is what they do best. If Fedgov does not like the numbers, they just adjust the figures upward or downward. That way the numbers are always reflected favorably to Fedgov's side of a particular issue. So of course, it was found that "more than 10 times as high as the actual number of paid positions...jobs credited to the stimulus program that were counted two and sometimes more than four times..." Sounds like the same "government math" that was used to count the votes. And none other than Al Gore received a chunk of Stimulus Money to fund a new car company, a company that is not even located in the United States. Can it get any worse? Yes, it can. Join us in the battle to save America. "My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge." Hosea 4:6

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October 31, 2009
Votes: +3

SCHNORCHEL said:

Marxism in Practice The bottom line is from two paragraphs in this article, as follows: But if government spending truly led to economic prosperity, why not spend $787 trillion instead? The logic is absurd, since the government must confiscate wealth from the productive economy to “create or save” any jobs. The stimulus program is a massive fraud — extortion designed to increase the size of government and further shackle U.S. citizens and the American economy to astronomical levels of debt. "Regardless of how many jobs the government claims to create, the economic facts are that the government cannot create anything without destroying something else in the process," wrote Tad DeHaven, a budget analyst with Cato Institute. "An untold number of current and future jobs will disappear or never be created because of the wealth extracted from the economy to pay for the stimulus scheme." He called the release of job figures "political theater" and noted that the spending will ultimately lead to a decreased standard of living. This is what Karl Marx meant in his Communist dictum: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need."

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November 01, 2009
Votes: +3