Created or Saved or Imagined

As polls show rising numbers of Americans growing frustrated about the Obama administration's inability to stimulate (or allow) job growth, the Whitehouse is striking back with a "new analysis" which claims that the stimulus has created - or invisibly "saved" - millions more jobs than previously thought. Hooray!

As there's no scientifically accurate way to count "jobs saved" (people who would have lost jobs, but didn't), critics are understandably suspicious of the government's self-congratulatory finding of 3.6 million jobs created or saved. In fact, according to the most accurate reality-based numbers available, the massive governmental spending has created only 682,370 jobs...of which, 4 out of 5 went to people who are now working for the government.

Additionally, the new analysis points out that for every $1 the government is spending on jobs, the private economy is spending $3...which is offered as proof that government spending stimulates business.

But there is no cause-and-effect relationship established between what the government is spending and what private industry is spending (other than the fact that the "government money" has all been taken out of the private economy). Washington is simply trying to grab credit for what the business community is doing on its own.

But there IS a demonstrable cause-and-effect relationship behind the fact that the business community is currently sitting on $1.8 trillion dollars of capital which is not being reinvested in our economy because of fear and uncertainty about what the Obama administration will do to hurt business next.

So in the end, our "new analysis" is that Obama and company really are having a huge impact on business and jobs. And none of it is good.