What's Really In The CBO Report on the Stimulus?

Matt Margolis

Before Democrats and Obamabots start claiming that the latest CBO Report, which claims as many as 2.1 million jobs were “created” because of the stimulus, one has to look beyond the headlines and at the actual text of the report.

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First, some of the reported jobs might have existed in the absence of the stimulus package.

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One factor that could make the reported figure too high is that recipients’ reports may include some employment that would have occurred without ARRA.

Perhaps the most telling thing is a footnote  on page one.

The number of jobs and other information compiled from recipients’ reports are shown at http://www.recovery.gov. A year of full-time-equivalent employment is 40 hours of employment per week for one year.

Oh really? Recovery.gov? The same site that has been criticized for being full of inaccurate data? The same site that reports on phantom jobs in phantom districts? Back in November, ABC NEws reported the following:

The White House’s Web site claims that more than 640,000 jobs have already been saved and created by the ” $787 billion stimulus program.

The reports used to come up with that number are riddled with errors. In addition to the jobs in non-existent congressional districts reported Monday by ABC News, in real congressional districts, there are also problems, lots of them.

Moore’s Shoes in Campbellsville, Ky., claims nine jobs were created from an $890 grant for nine pairs of work boots for the Army Corps of Engineers.

Head Start of Augusta, Ga., claimed 317 jobs with a $790,000 grant, but it was really just a one-time raise to its 317 employees.

So it’s no wonder the CBO Report doesn’t exactly reflect any confidence in the accuracy of it’s findings.  By it’s own admission data was limited, and there’s no way to tell how the economy would have performed without the stimulus. Of course, the biggest factor, I think, is that the source of their data, recovery.gov, is full of false figures designed to make the stimulus appear to be producing positive effects on the economy.