PRESS RELEASE
The Fraud of the Obama Stimulus: No Jobs
July 2, 2009 (EIRNS)—FDR wouldn't recognize it. Since President Barack Obama's and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's great "stimulus"—the Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009—was signed by Obama on Feb. 19, total investment in public works construction in the United States has gone down! It seems Obama and the White House are so focussed on declaring the "Recovery" part of the Act (for their favorite markets), they've skipped the "Reinvestment."
This fact was further confirmed when the BLS released its figures on July 2. Through June, 2.4 million jobs are now officially lost, net, since Obama signed his "stimulus" bill Feb. 19; and 3 million lost since he took office.
Spending on public construction—bridges, airports, roads, transit, dams, schools, hospitals, etc. built by Federal, state, and local governments—actually fell in May, and has fallen for the entire three-month period March-May since, Obama signed Pelosi's "stimulus." And for total construction investment, ditto: down 0.9% in May, and down 0.4% for the three months of "stimulus." Public construction has fallen for eight consecutive months, including by 0.6% in May, with the biggest drops in highway, street, airport, and power plant construction.
The impoverishment of the population continued in Obama's fifth month as President. Private-sector jobs were reported by the ADP payroll firm as having dropped by another 475,000 in June; official total jobs figures will be released tomorrow by the government. Auto sales were only 880,000 for the month, and are 4.8 million for the first half of the year, which is 28% below 2008's collapsed levels. Home foreclosures were, again, up 18% above the tsunami level of 2008, and are going at a 4 million-a-year pace.
