{"id":2185,"date":"2009-05-14T15:26:37","date_gmt":"2009-05-14T19:26:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/?p=2185"},"modified":"2009-05-14T18:33:35","modified_gmt":"2009-05-14T22:33:35","slug":"ap-stimulus-not-stimulating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/05\/14\/ap-stimulus-not-stimulating\/","title":{"rendered":"AP: Stimulus not Stimulating"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0 AP’s Matt Apuzzo yesterday examined<\/a> Vice President Joe Biden’s first quarterly report of the Stimulus plan and found the picture to a bit more cloudy than the White House claims:<\/p>\n

Capturing the full effect of the stimulus at this early stage is difficult, but the administration has set high bars for success. In championing those successes, however, the White House plays a little loose with the facts.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

BIDEN SAID: First-time home buyers are “driving increased activity in the home sales market,” while mortgage and title companies are hiring more workers because of the first-time home buyer tax credit included in the stimulus bill.<\/p>\n

THE FACTS: The report cites anecdotes from a New Orleans business journal to back up the claim. It’s true, buyers are taking advantage of the $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credits. The IRS said more than 567,000 tax returns claimed the credit in just the first weeks of the program. But that hasn’t provided an immediate turnaround in the market.<\/p>\n

Since February, sales of existing homes have fallen 3 percent and new home sales are down .6 percent.<\/p>\n

And the number of jobs in the real estate industry has declined by about 20,500, according to the Department of Labor.<\/p>\n

There are signs that the housing market is improving. But the numbers suggest that if the market bottomed out, it did so in January, before the stimulus was passed.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

BIDEN SAID: Employment agencies are placing more workers in jobs, and demand is up since February.<\/p>\n

THE FACTS: The report cites an interview with an employment service manager quoted in the same New Orleans business article. The anecdote may be true, but it’s impossible to extrapolate that any further, even just to New Orleans. The city has lost more than 200 jobs since February. Overall, Louisiana lost 16,085 jobs over the same span, according to the Department of Labor.<\/p>\n

Read the rest…<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Alright first off the White House has to make optimistic statements on the economy for valid political reasons… Simply put if they strike to pessimistic a tone it could undermine public confidence and further weaken the economy.<\/p>\n

Anyway with that in mind Biden’s report stikes me as being overly optimistic particarly in light of 637,000 new jobsless claims, a rise in wholesale prices<\/a> and a drop in oil prices<\/a> based in part on the increasing U.S. unemployment numbers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0 AP’s Matt Apuzzo yesterday examined Vice President Joe Biden’s first quarterly report of the Stimulus plan and found the picture to a bit more cloudy than the White House claims: Capturing the full effect of the stimulus at this early stage is difficult, but the administration has set high bars for success. In championing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[26,7],"tags":[84,462,454],"class_list":["post-2185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-economy","category-politics","tag-joe-biden","tag-obama-administration","tag-stimulus-plan","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfpI7-zf","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1708,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/19\/congressman-mccotter-slams-stimulus-yes-voters-for-protecting-aig-executive-bonuses\/","url_meta":{"origin":2185,"position":0},"title":"Congressman McCotter Slams Stimulus “Yes” Voters for Protecting AIG Executive Bonuses","author":"Jeff","date":"March 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm about ready to make Rep. Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan my adopted Congressman: \"Facts are hard things to disprove.\u00a0 Every single Democrat in this House that voted for that bill voted to approve and protect those AIG bonuses.\u00a0 Every single Democrat in the Senate that voted for that stimulus bill,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Economy"","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/economy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2481,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/07\/07\/will-obama-push-for-a-weaker-dollar\/","url_meta":{"origin":2185,"position":1},"title":"Will Obama Push for a Weaker Dollar?","author":"Jeff","date":"July 7, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Ugh, this is not good... former Clinton trade official and current member of the Obama administration's economic advisory panel Laura Tyson said in Singapore today that the $787-billion plan Congress passed in February \"will have a positive effect, but the real economy is a sicker patient.\" She went on to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Economy"","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/economy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1497,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/02\/13\/a-commonsense-stimulus-plan\/","url_meta":{"origin":2185,"position":2},"title":"A Commonsense Stimulus Plan","author":"Jeff","date":"February 13, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Michelle Muccio offers a simple commonsense stimulus plan: I like it, suspending payroll taxes for a year would have a far more immediate effect than anything in the plan being rushed through congress. Personally, my idea of a stimulus plan would be: Make the Bush Tax cuts permanent. Cut the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Economy"","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/economy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1388,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/01\/27\/house-republicans-ready-to-walk-away-from-stimulus-negotiations\/","url_meta":{"origin":2185,"position":3},"title":"House Republicans Ready to Walk Away From Stimulus Negotiations?","author":"Jeff","date":"January 27, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The Politico is reporting that House Republicans Leader John Boehner and Whip Eric Cantor are urging caucus members to oppose the Democrats pork laden economic stimulus bill when it comes to the floor on Wednesday. President Barack Obama is coming to the Capitol this afternoon to curry favor with congressional\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1419,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/01\/29\/smoot-hawley-rides-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":2185,"position":4},"title":"Smoot-Hawley Rides Again???","author":"Jeff","date":"January 29, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The Washington Post has a detailed report on protectionist language in the Democrat's pork laden stimulus bill that could trigger a trade war: The stimulus bill passed by the House last night contains a controversial provision that would mostly bar foreign steel and iron from the infrastructure projects laid out\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Economy"","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/economy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2316,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/06\/09\/wsj-obamas-jobs-numbers-are-pure-fiction\/","url_meta":{"origin":2185,"position":5},"title":"WSJ: Obama’s Jobs Numbers Are Pure Fiction","author":"Jeff","date":"June 9, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"William McGurn has must read Op Ed in today Wall Street Journal detailing the fiction of the Obama Administration's jobs \"saved or created\" statistics: Tony Fratto is envious. Mr. Fratto was a colleague of mine in the Bush administration, and as a senior member of the White House communications shop,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Economy"","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/economy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2185\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}