Changing Their Tune? White House Says They Don’t Create Jobs

August 8, 2011

After Ramming Through an $800 Billion Failed Stimulus and Calling for More, Democrats Are Backtracking on Their Job Creation Promises

Preparing for a sub-par jobs report last Friday, the Obama administration made the eyebrow-raising admission that “the White House doesn’t create jobs”—a clear attempt to “pivot,” so to speak, away from taking responsibility for President Obama and the Democrats’ economic policies.
Sure enough, jobs numbers released last week fed into growing questions about the lagging pace of economy recovery.
Amidst this flood of bad economic news, the White House’s attempts to shirk responsibility and peddle excuses conveniently ignores that supposed job creation was the justification for the Democrats’ nearly trillion-dollar stimulus package.

BACKGROUND

Preparing for a sub-par jobs report last Friday, the Obama administration made the eyebrow-raising admission that “the White House doesn’t create jobs”—a clear attempt to “pivot,” so to speak, away from taking responsibility for President Obama and the Democrats’ economic policies:

WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY JAY CARNEY: “Well, the White House doesn’t create jobs. The government together — White House, Congress — creates policies that allow for greater job creation…” (“Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jay Carney,” The White House, 8/4/2011)

Sure enough, jobs numbers released last week fed into growing questions about the lagging pace of economy recovery:

“BENEATH JOBS REPORT SURFACE LIES SOME UGLY TRUTHS”: MORE DISCOURAGED WORKERS. “Let’s start with the reality that fewer people actually were working in July than in June. … So the drop in the unemployment rate is fairly illusory—stick all those people back in the workforce and you wipe out the job creation and the drop in unemployment.” (Jeff Cox, “Beneath Jobs Report Surface Lies Some Ugly Truths,” CNBC, 8/5/2011)

LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYMENT HITS RECORD HIGH, 40.4 WEEKS: “The average duration of unemployment rose for the third straight month and is now at a record 40.4 weeks—about 10 months and now double where it was when President Obama took office in January 2009. The total number unemployed for more than half a year now stands at 6.18 million, 130 percent higher than when the president’s term began.” (Jeff Cox, “Beneath Jobs Report Surface Lies Some Ugly Truths,”CNBC, 8/5/2011)

JOB CREATION “BARELY SUFFICIENT TO ACCOMMODATE NORMAL POPULATION GROWTH.” “The net new jobs created in July exceeded the dismal number reported in June, but the total was barely sufficient to accommodate normal population growth.” (Motoko Rich, “U.S. Posts Stronger Job Gains Amid Fear,” The New York Times, 8/5/2011)

TOTAL EMPLOYMENT IN U.S. AT LOWEST POINT IN 28 YEARS: “In a sobering note, only 58.1 percent of the population is working, lower than at any point in 28 years.” (Motoko Rich, “U.S. Posts Stronger Job Gains Amid Fear,” The New York Times, 8/5/2011)

ECONOMY WOULD HAVE TO CREATE 272,000 JOBS/MONTH TO GET BELOW 8% UNEMPLOYMENT BY ELECTION DAY 2012. “The benchmark for the unemployment rate to get below 8% by Election Day was 255,000 jobs per month going into today’s report (see the memo), but with another mixed report, that number has risen once again to 272,000 jobs. Given the difficulty of reaching that number on a consistent basis going forward, HPS is also beginning this month to track progress toward a more modest 8.5 percent unemployment by Election Day 2012. This would require the creation of 220,000 jobs on a monthly basis going forward.” (Matt McDonald, “Jobs Day Beats Low Expectations,” Hamilton Place Strategies, 8/5/2011)

Amidst this flood of bad economic news, the White House’s attempts to shirk responsibility and peddle excuses conveniently ignores that supposed job creation was the justification for the Democrats’ nearly trillion-dollar stimulus package.

PRICETAG FOR OBAMA’S STIMULUS RISES; LATEST ESTIMATE IS $821 BILLION.(David Jackson, “Obama Stimulus Has New Price Tag,” USA Today, 2/24/2011)

OBAMA IN JAN. 2009: STIMULUS “JOBS WE CREATE WILL BE IN BUSINESSES LARGE AND SMALL”: “The jobs we create will be in businesses large and small across a wide range of industries,” Mr. Obama said. “And they’ll be the kind of jobs that don’t just put people to work in the short term, but position our economy to lead the world in the long term.” (Jeff Zeleny and David M. Herszenhorn, “Obama Again Raises Estimate of Jobs His Stimulus Plan Will Create or Save,” The New York Times, 1/10/2009)

OBAMA SAID UP TO 4.1 MILLION JOBS WOULD BE “CREATED OR SAVED” BY HIS STIMULUS. (Michael A. Fletcher, “Obama Says Stimulus Will Redound to Private Sector,”The Washington Post, 1/10/2009)

AND THEN OBAMA JOKED ABOUT HIS FAILED STIMULUS … HA HA?: “Obama smiled and interjected, ‘Shovel-ready was not as … uh .. shovel-ready as we expected.’ The Council, led by GE’s Jeffrey Immelt, erupted in laughter.“(“Obama Jokes at Jobs Council: “Shovel-Ready Was Not as Shovel-Ready as We Expected,” Fox News, 6/13/2011)

BUT OBAMA SAID CONTINUING HIS SPENDING SPREE WAS A “WIN-WIN-WIN-WIN”: “We should be able to agree on investing in the research and technology that leads to new ideas and new industries. … It is a win-win-win-win proposition.” (“Remarks by the President at Cree, Inc., in Durham, North Carolina,” The White House, 6/13/2011)

OBAMA WAS PUSHING NEW “INVESTMENT” (READ: SPENDING) AS CURE TO ECONOMIC ILLS JUST TWO MONTHS AGO: “Cantor said the president pushed them on his theme of investment in the future, but Cantor said ‘to a lot of us that’s code for more Washington spending, and that’s something we can’t afford right now.'” (Russell Berman, Sam Youngman, and Molly K. Hooper, “Ryan to Obama: Leadership Should Come from the Top,” The Hill, 6/1/2011)