"Jobs Created or Saved" in Imaginary Congressional Districts

Obama Administration claims about jobs that were "created or saved" by the stimulus package have always been suspect. Now ABC News has found that some of these jobs are in Congressional districts that don't exist.

For example, the Recovery Board website listed thirty jobs created with just $751,402.00 in the 15^th Congressional District of Arizona. The problem is that Arizona has only eight Congressional districts.

Other examples include:

"In Oklahoma, recovery.gov lists more than $19 million in spending -- and 15 jobs created -- in yet more congressional districts that don't exist.

"In Iowa, it shows $10.6 million spent - and 39 jobs created -- in nonexistent districts.

"In Connecticut's 42nd district (which also does not exist), the Web site claims 25 jobs created with zero stimulus dollars."

Obama administration officials are claiming human error, pointing out that the Recovery Board is dependent on information provided by other entities such as state governments, other federal agencies, and universities. That seems to beg the question as to why the information was not double checked before being placed on the Internet.

Congressman David Obey, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, who was heavily involved in passing the original stimulus package, is said to be particularly irate.

The fraudulent data being put out by the Obama administration goes beyond just phantom Congressional districts. The Washington Examiner is reporting that roughly ten percent of the jobs the Obama administration is reporting as having been "created or saved" are imaginary.

Why the slipshod reporting? The reason has to go beyond the run of the mill government incompetence. The nearly eight hundred billion dollar stimulus package is turning out to be the greatest government boondoggle in history. The Obama administration promised that if the stimulus package were passed, the unemployment rate would not go above eight percent. As of October, the official unemployment rate is 10.2 percent and when one includes discouraged workers and those who are underemployed, the real unemployment rate is over 17 percent.

Instead of stopping, rethinking the stimulus solution, and going with another plan (like tax cuts), the Obama administration seems to be going with the tried but rarely true method of obfuscation and spin. The Obama administration is somehow hoping that people will believe their phony statistic and not their lying eyes.

That's the problem. When people are starting to wonder where their next house note is coming from, when the bills are piling up and the collection agency is ringing the phone off the hook, the last thing they want to hear is boasts about "jobs created or saved." They want actual jobs in actual places, not phantom jobs on a website that don't exist. The Obama administration is not delivering.

Sources: Exclusive: Jobs 'Saved or Created' in Congressional Districts That Don't Exist, Jonathon Karl, ABC News, November 16th, 2009

75,343 Bogus jobs 'created or saved' by the Stimulus, David Freddoso and Mark Hemmingway, Washington Examiner, November 12th, 2009