More *stimulating* numbers

Lets talk about numbers....everyone else is going it

Apparently, the recession is receding!!!

The Commerce Department, in its first estimate of third-quarter gross domestic product (which measures the total goods and services output WITHIN the US border) on Thursday, said the economy grew at a 3.5 percent annual rate, the fastest pace since the third quarter of 2007, after contracting 0.7 percent in the April-June period.

The dollar rose against the yen

Governmental declines (housing, unemployment) are reported at a far better rate than expected
Consumer spending went up (read that again in case we don't see it happen again). Consumer spending accounts for 2/3 of our economic activity in the US, and it "surged" this quarter.

This "surge" (namely in residential investment) is said to be mostly because of government stimulus programs. But one area that Obama "promised" and didn't deliver was in job delivery. I remember thinking during his campaign, if he says something is going to create 4 billion jobs on more time, I'm going to vote for the pensioner-of-war....

Then the billions of jobs went down to tens of thousands.
But now, even that number was overstated.

In an article by AP News: 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.
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.
Here are some of the findings:
--- Colorado-based Teletech Government Solutions on a $28.3 million contract with the Federal Communications Commission for creation of a call center, reported creating 4,231 jobs, although 3,000 of those workers were paid for five weeks or less.
--- The Toledo, Ohio-based Koring Group received two FCC contracts, again for call centers. It reported hiring 26 people for each contract, or a total of 52 jobs, but cited the same workers for both contracts. The jobs only lasted about two months.
The AP's review identified nearly 600 contracts claiming stimulus money for more than 2,700 jobs that appear to have similar duplicated counts.
--- Barbara Moore, executive director of the Child Care Association of Brevard County in Cocoa, Fla., reported that the $98,669 she received in stimulus money saved 129 jobs at her center, though the cash was used to give her 129 employees a 3.9 percent cost-of-living raise. She said she needed to boost their salaries because some workers had left "because we had not been able to give them a raise in four years."
--- Officials at East Central Technical College in Douglas, Ga., said they now know they shouldn't have claimed 280 stimulus jobs linked to more than $200,000 to buy trucks and trailers for commercial driving instruction, and a modular classroom and bathroom for a health education program.
--- The San Joaquin, Calif., Regional Rail Commission reported creating or saving 125 jobs as part of a stimulus project to lay railroad track. Because the project drew from two pools of money, the commission reported the jobs figure twice, bringing the total to 250 on the government report. Spokesman Thomas Reeves said the commission corrected the data Tuesday.


We should have known that the cookie-cutter stimulus plan was going to come out a little messy. People always say "follow the money" but jobs are going to when and where it is most economical and efficient. And not even Obama can predict or dictate exactly what that is going to look like.