Varney absurdly claims public sector jobs saved by the stimulus “weren’t in jeopardy”
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on July 17th, 2010 4:50 am by HL
Varney absurdly claims public sector jobs saved by the stimulus “weren’t in jeopardy”
On Fox & Friends, Stuart Varney attempted to discredit the estimates of jobs saved or created by the stimulus by claiming that they are “all theory” and that public sector jobs saved by stimulus funds “weren’t in jeopardy.” In fact, thousands of jobs were in jeopardy due to state budget shortfalls, and the White House’s estimates of job creation are similar to independent estimates.
Varney makes absurd claim that jobs “weren’t in jeopardy” due to state budget shortfalls
Varney: “Those jobs weren’t in jeopardy.” On the July 16 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends, guest Stuart Varney attempted to discredit job creation estimates by the White House by claiming that public sector jobs threatened by state budget shortfalls “weren’t in jeopardy.” From Fox & Friends:
DOOCY: We also know that when they say “saved or created,” that metric simply has never been used before and they’re making that up.
VARNEY: How do you prove it? How do you prove that we saved this job? How on earth do you prove such a thing? That’s political spin.
KILMEADE: Is the easy answer is that if you give the states this money, they are able to keep teachers employed , they are able to keep workers employed. Is that the way you save a job?
VARNEY: Assuming that those jobs were in jeopardy in the first place. Were we really going to lay off 10,000 teachers or what ever it was? Those jobs weren’t in jeopardy.
Varney: Job creation estimates are “all theory.” Also during the segment, co-host Alisyn Camerota told Varney that “The CBO backs up some of what the Vice President said. I think the CBO said – which is nonpartisan – Congressional Budget Office says 2 million jobs. So maybe this is just a PR problem. Maybe the jobs really have been created but the public just doesn’t know it.” Varney responded “No, no, it was a theory. They didn’t go out and count the jobs. They stuck information into a computer model…That’s all theory. What we do know for a fact is that since the stimulus plan was passed, a net 2.5 million jobs have been lost from the US economy.”
Stimulus funds credited for creating or saving numerous public sector jobs
CEA: COPS stimulus grants “will keep an additional 4,699 police officers on the streets.” In its July 14 quarterly report on the stimulus’ economic impact, the Council of Economic Advisors article about the White House’s stimulus figures stated that while “exactly how many jobs” the Recovery Act has created “is a matter of dispute,” “a growing body of independent economic analysis suggests the law has boosted jobs and kept people off the unemployment line.”
