There are lies, damn lies and jobs numbers. The reports posted to Recovery.gov notwithstanding, only seven percent of Americans believe stimulus spending has created jobs, according to a new CBS News poll.
Media outlets from Massachusetts to California have looked behind the numbers and discovered there are no jobs there. Hell, in some instances, the congressional districts aren't there.
Recovery czar Edward DeSeve says “the mistakes are relatively few”:
More than 130,000 such reports were filed. You can go to Recovery.gov and look them up by zip code, or search for them on a map. It’s a “real-time” update on your tax dollars at work that is unmatched by any federal initiative, ever, of this scale.
As part of President Obama’s commitment to transparency and disclosure, it’s been a huge success. When you consider the sheer number of reports that had to be filed, processed, and posted; the fact that this had never been done before; and the very short time to check reports and make sure they were right – the data collected and posted is very impressive.
Sure, it’s government work but the data collection is not good enough.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey who slammed the White House for the errors in the recipients’ reports:
The inaccuracies on recovery.gov that have come to light are outrageous and the Administration owes itself, the Congress, and every American a commitment to work night and day to correct the ludicrous mistakes.
Credibility counts in government and stupid mistakes like this undermine it. We’ve got too many serious problems in this country to let that happen.
We designed the Recovery Act to be open and transparent and I expect the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board [aka the RAT board], who oversees the recovery act web site and data to have information that is accurate, reliable and understandable to the American public. Whether the numbers are good news or bad news, I want the honest numbers and I want them now.
Meanwhile, Republicans smell a rat. They are hauling RAT Board Chairman Earl Devaney before the House Committee on Oversight and Government’s hearing, “Tracking the Money: How Recovery Act Recipients Account for Their Use of Stimulus Dollars.”
You can view a live webcast here on Thursday, beginning at 10:00 am ET.
