Ironic - Biden doesn't lie, he simply makes stuff up

Oh what a difference a year makes ...





Biden: We Can't Recover All the Jobs Lost

Stephanie Condon
June 25, 2010
CBSNews.com
 
 
Vice President Joe Biden gave a stark assessment of the economy today, telling an audience of supporters, "there's no possibility to restore 8 million jobs lost in the Great Recession."


Appearing at a fundraiser with Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.) in Milwaukee, the vice president remarked that by the time he and President Obama took office in 2008, the gross domestic product had shrunk and hundreds of thousands of jobs had been lost.

"We inherited a godawful mess," he said, adding there was "no way to regenerate $3 trillion that was lost. Not misplaced, lost."

Claims for jobless benefits fell by the largest number in two months last week, but were still high enough to signal weak job growth. Meanwhile, the Senate on Thursday failed to pass an extension of unemployment benefits.

Biden said today the economy is improving and noted that in the past four quarters, there has been 4 percent growth in the economy. Over the last five months, more than 500,000 private sector jobs were created.

"We know that's not enough," the vice president said.

Last week the White House put out a Recovery and Reinvestment Act update claiming that between 2.2 million and 2.8 million jobs were either saved or created because of the stimulus as of March 2010. In signing the Recovery Act into law on Feb 17, 2009, Mr. Obama said the measure "will create or save 3-and-a-half million jobs over the next two years."


Let's look back a little, to July 11, 2009:  Obama Says Economic Stimulus Plan Worked as Intended.  His $787 billion stimulus bill has worked as intended.  Interesting given things have gone from bad to worse since July 2009.    The program was enacted in February 2009.


Yet Mr. Obama stated that his program helped state governments save jobs (imagine - probably twenty million imaginary jobs you cannot verify).  February 2009 to February 2010 = 13+ months.  March 2010 to June 2010 = 3+ months.  Total 17 months.  Mr. Obama said that the measure “was not designed to work in four months -- it was designed to work over two years.”  Two years = 24 months.  We have 7 months left to see the magic.


Yet, Obama also told us that his spending plan will “accelerate greatly” through the summer and autumn, creating “thousands more infrastructure projects” that will lead to additional jobs.  In July the spending would accelerate greatly and continue through the summer of 2009 and into the autumn.  Did we see expansive spending - yes, but no positive effect on the economy as yet.


Mr. Biden stepped into the fray, as he so often does and inserted his foot, then his leg ... “Remember, we’re only 140 days into this deal.  It’s supposed to take 18 months.”


Mr. Biden, we are at 17 months now.  You have 1 months.  Most certainly because you were so specific I believe we should hold you to that certainty.

Let's keep pondering the unponderable ...

Valerie Jarrett had the most conservative count, saying “the Recovery Act saved thousands and thousands of jobs,” while David Axelrod gave the bill the most credit, saying it has “created more than – or saved more than 2 million jobs.” Press Secretary Robert Gibbs came in between them, saying the plan had “saved or created 1.5 million jobs.”


* Vice President Joe Biden on Friday: The stimulus "is responsible for over 1 million jobs so far."

* White House senior advisor Valerie Jarrett on Oct. 18: The stimulus "really staved off a disaster and we saved millions of jobs around the country."

* White House release June 2, 2009: "Just over 100 days in, over 150,000 jobs have been created or saved."

* White House senior advisor David Axelrod on June 7, 2009: "The stimulus itself has produced hundreds of thousands of jobs."

* Vice President Biden on June 2, 2009: The stimulus is "an initial big jolt to give the economy a real head start."


Amazing.  More than 1.5 million jobs created or saved plus more to follow, except now Biden tells us they can't bring back all the lost jobs.  Except Mr. Biden, 2 million is pretty close to the number lost.












 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Biden