$111 million in stimulus, 55 jobs, B-

Vince524

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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...ficial-disappointed-city-used-stimulus-funds/


Excerpts from Fox News:

More than a year after Congress approved $800 billion in stimulus funds, the Los Angeles city controller has released a 40-page report on how the city spent its share, and the results are not living up to expectations.

"I'm disappointed that we've only created or retained 55 jobs after receiving $111 million," said Wendy Greuel, the city's controller. "With our local unemployment rate over 12 percent we need to do a better job cutting red tape and putting Angelenos back to work."

"I would say maybe in a grade, a B- in creating the jobs," Greuel told Fox News. "They have started to spend those dollars but it took seven months to get some of those contracts out. We think in the city that we should move quickly and not in the same usual bureaucratic ways

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39230385

And this From MSNBC:

Despite lingering unemployment, audits released by the Los Angeles city controller found that two departments that received $111 million in federal stimulus dollars have only created 55 jobs so far.

Greuel, who is expected to examine other city agencies that received federal stimulus dollars, told the Times she spoke with Santana on Thursday and said that he did not dispute the data in her audit.

_______________________________-

OK, so here's my question: $111 = 55 in created or saved jobs = a B-........ What kind of curb are they grading themselves on? And why couldn't my teachers throughout my life have used the same kind of curve?
 
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Wayne K

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I'll create 111 jobs with 55 million

ETA: and steal 50 million of it
 

Paul

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Yes, but these are 'super' jobs.
A group of 55 agents, known as the 2 million dollar persons.
They can leap tall buildings and run as fast and loose as a fox news story, but can't see the wood for the trees.


nor hear the sound of distant laughter.
 
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Vince524

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Methinks they would have done more good by launching the money into the city with one of those tee-shirt launchers.

(Hey, I got to use the word methinks in the same sentence as tee-shirt launchers! I can cross that off my bucket list!)
 

ColoradoGuy

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From the August, 2010, report of the Congresional Budget Office:

On that basis, CBO estimates that ARRA’s [i.e. the stimulus bill]
policies had the following effects in the second quarter
of calendar year 2010:

  • They raised real (inflation-adjusted) gross domestic
    product (GDP) by between 1.7 percent and
    4.5 percent
  • Lowered the unemployment rate by between
    0.7 percentage points and 1.8 percentage points
  • Increased the number of people employed by between
    1.4 million and 3.3 million
  • Increased the number of full-time-equivalent jobs by
    2.0 million to 4.8 million compared with what would
    have occurred otherwise

Carry on
 

Xelebes

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Remember, that 111 million dollars was also used to cover other costs like the materials and the equipment rental for all the infrastructure projects they undertook.

55 jobs at ~100 000 dollars each (salary and benefits) is 5.5 million. Cost of materials can easily be ten times that much.
 

clintl

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It also created some jobs at the companies that sold the materials, which it appears LA is not counting, from what I can tell.
 

robeiae

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Meh. This whole "creating jobs" line is really starting to get under my skin.

But as far as this particular report goes, it looks pretty weak, insofar as it's only about what has specifically been spent so far from those allotted dollars, as near as I can tell. It's not saying that the monies have done no good, it's saying that the monies have yet to be fully utilized. Two very different things.
 

ColoradoGuy

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Meh. This whole "creating jobs" line is really starting to get under my skin.

Agreed. I prefer the GDP data.

But as far as this particular report goes, it looks pretty weak, insofar as it's only about what has specifically been spent so far from those allotted dollars, as near as I can tell. It's not saying that the monies have done no good, it's saying that the monies have yet to be fully utilized. Two very different things.

You're a bright guy, Rob, but I'm sticking with the CBO's opinion.
 

Wayne K

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They could have give a million dollars per person, and that would be 111 people who would never need a job again.
 

Torrance

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Is all of the money gone? Is 55 jobs all they got out of it? The blurbs from both MSNBC and Fox were too nebulous. As for the "spin", it seems that the two propaganda arms (both right and left) in media, agreed on the numbers.