ABC's Gibson Toes White House Line About How It Will 'Save or Create' Jobs

The May 11 broadcast of ABC's "World News with Charles Gibson" cited a report from the President's Council of Economic Advisors claiming the stimulus would "save or create"1.5 million jobs by the end of 2009.

But there's a problem with the Obama administration's math according to a May 11 post on the Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) blog titled "1.9 Million Jobs Lost Under Obama - No Matter How You Slice it."

"According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the total number of jobs nationwide fell from 134.3 million at the end of January to 132.4 million at the end of April" ... "Meanwhile, Obama and his economic advisors have resorted to the invention of highly questionable new metrics such as the number of "saved" jobs and - making its debut today -- the number of ‘job-years' created."

Kartch's post also pointed out the Sen. Max Baucus, a Democrat from Montana, debunked the concept of a "saved" job in a March 4 hearing that featured testimony from Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

"You created a situation where you cannot be wrong," Baucus said. "If the economy loses 2 million jobs over the next few years, you can say yes, but it would've lost 5.5 million jobs. If we create a million jobs, you can say, well, it would have lost 2.5 million jobs. You've given yourself complete leverage where you cannot be wrong, because you can take any scenario and make yourself look correct."

[I.e., the play continues...]

READ MORE