Tag Archives: american recovery and reinvestment act

Counting Conundrum

Posted on January 12, 2010

We’ve been questioning the Obama administration’s claim that the stimulus bill would "save or create more than 3.5 million jobs" since the president began saying it. In February, we pointed out that although several economists made such a projection, they all said there was a lot of uncertainty surrounding these …
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Whoppers of 2009

Posted on December 24, 2009

Although 2009 was not an election year, it kept us exceptionally busy, and led to millions of visits to our site. In this year-end summary, we offer some of the worst examples of the falsehoods we encountered during the first year of the Obama administration. The list of howlers includes the false claim that the stimulus bill would dictate …
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Obama’s Economic Speech

Posted on December 8, 2009 , Corrected on Dec. 11, 2009

We’re always alert for signs that the president (any president) is overselling his programs. Here’s what we heard in President Obama’s speech on Tuesday announcing new efforts to create jobs: He highlighted a Congressional Budget Office estimate that “up to” 1.6 million jobs …
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Extras: Allentown, Palin, E-mails

Posted on December 7, 2009

This round-up of political tidbits includes an ad pegged to the president’s visit to Allentown, Sarah Palin on Obama’s birth certificate and more chain e-mails. Working Where in Allentown? When President Barack Obama traveled to Allentown, Pa., Friday morning to discuss job creation, the Republican National Committee welcomed him with …
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Stimulus Jobs, Re-revisited

Posted on December 1, 2009

Reports from journalists and the Government Accountability Office last month about problems with the data on Recovery.gov cast doubt on the site’s claim that more than 640,000 jobs had been created or saved by the Obama administration’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Meanwhile Obama upped the ante, putting the figure at …
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Extras: Gore, Dogs, Health Insurance and Bunkmail

Posted on November 25, 2009

Our pre-Thanksgiving round-up of bits and pieces of political bunk includes Al Gore, a fancy new dog park and chain e-mails that refuse to die. Gore’s too hot Al Gore overstated a key fact about geothermal energy during a recent appearance on "The Tonight Show": Gore, Nov. 13: Two kilometers …
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Recovery Stats Get Rougher

Posted on November 19, 2009

We reported yesterday that the federal government’s Recovery.gov Web site, which purports to track jobs created or saved with stimulus money, was citing new jobs in nonexistent congressional districts. Today a new report from the Government Accountability Office brings news that phantom districts aren’t the only problem. GAO found almost …
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Real Jobs, Fake Districts?

Posted on November 18, 2009

The Obama administration’s Recovery.gov Web site is supposed to compile data on actual, real-life jobs filled by companies and states that have received real money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (a.k.a. the stimulus). But the site claims that jobs exist in congressional districts that don’t. This is a …
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Canadian Straw Man

Posted on July 17, 2009 , Updated on August 10, 2009 , Corrected on July 20, 2009

Two ads from related independent groups make claims about an overhaul of the health care system, saying Congress wants a government-run health care system. One ad claims that “Washington wants to bring Canadian-style health care to the U.S.” But the health care bills moving through Congress don’t call for a single-payer system like Canada’s …
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