Marathon Pundit: More stimulus lies: Michigan

Sunday, November 15, 2009

More stimulus lies: Michigan

Michigan's economy has been in a free-fall for several years. The Great Lake State has the nation's highest unemployment rate. More than any state, Michigan needs jobs.

But Barack Obama's stimulus, which was supposed to have kept the nation's unemployment rate below eight percent, is a failure. The unemployment rate is now over ten percent, in Michigan it's at 15.3 percent. So I find it pretty ironic that Michigan's Democratic governor, Jennifer Granholm, has her name attached to this Obama ~~economic stimulus~~ campaign sign.

The Detroit Free Press, in suberb analysis piece, takes a look at the "saved or created" jobs lies in Michigan:

Detroit reported on a grant award -- $10 million for work on 14 improvement projects in the city -- saying 342 jobs had been saved or created, despite none of the money actually reaching the city yet. Last week, city officials told the Free Press those were only projections -- not jobs saved or created.

The White House Recovery Office warns against projecting jobs. It wants an accurate reflection of jobs created or retained to date.

There were other exaggerations.

The Ingham County Health Department reported 97.49 jobs retained, but an official with the agency said without the funding, six jobs would have been lost. The Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan in Sault Ste. Marie, which provides services to member American Indian tribes, reported 99 jobs created or saved thanks to $46,000 in cost-of-living adjustments for Head Start employees. An official with the tribal council said she believes no jobs would have been lost without the government money.