Speaker Boehner and other Republicans have been citing the cost figure of $278 K per job created under the Recovery Act, aka the stimulus bill.
Boehner got it from a Weekly Standard report, which "arrived at its figure by dividing the cost to date of the stimulus bill, $666 billion, by the low end of the estimate of how many jobs the Council of Economic Advisers reported had been created by the legislation, 2.4 million."
But the Council of Economic Advisors' report also gave a high-end estimate of 3.6 million jobs created, which would lower the cost to $185 K per job.
Regardless, the White House correctly pointed out such math is "flawed," since such "spending didn't just fund salaries, it also went to the actual costs of building things -- construction materials, new factories, and such."
And if you think about it, it's logically impossible to spend $666 billion purely on jobs, jobs, jobs without any administration, materials, or overhead costs. Even simply cutting folks checks from the US Treasury and telling them, "Go out and work!" would entail an added cost.
For more info, I examined the NYT's detailed breakdown of stimulus "spending" and found about 37 percent of it was actually tax cuts for business and individuals. Pure spending was somewhere in the range of $420 billion. For those of you who never saw a tax cut you didn't like, check it out:
$116,200,000,000 New tax credit for workers
$69,800,000,000 Extend ATM for individuals
$14,800,000,000 Extend eligibility Child Tax Credit
$6,600,000,000 Incentive for first-time home buyers
$14,000,000,000 Tax incentive for alt. energy facilities
$4,700,000,000 Increase earned income tax credit
$5,900,000,000 Extension of bonus depreciation
$3,200,000,000 Deduction for banks buying bonds
$3,200,000,000 Tax cut for GM
$1,700,000,000 Energy; tax cuts for individuals
$1,600,000,000 Energy; tax cuts for business
$1,600,000,000 Tax cuts for bus. recognition of debt income
$947,000,000 Tax cut for business - loss carry-back
$829,000,000 Tax break for small bus. stock sales
$415,000,000 Reduce tax holding for S corporations
$231,000,000 Tax incentive to hire disabled
$203,000,000 Tax cuts - industrial dev. bonds
$192,000,000 Tax cuts for individuals - mass transit
$54,000,000 Tax incentive for alt. fuel pumps
$41,000,000 Increased small bus. tax deductions
$246 billion in tax cuts = 37 % of total Recovery Act
Now, I'm sure all you 'Bama hatas will now go out and spread the good news to your conservative buddies: that the stimulus gave almost $250 billion in tax cuts, resulting in 3.6 million jobs, $27 billion in small business loans, and 75,000 national projects.
This is not to mention Obama's payroll-tax cut for employees, enacted in December 2010 and which Democrats want to extend, which lowered Social Security payroll taxes paid by employees to 4.2 percent of earnings, putting $112 billion in workers' pockets over two years.
Over the next campaign cycle, I'm sure we won't hear a darn thing from the lib'rul media about Obama giving Americans more than $350 billion in tax cuts. But now that you know, I'm sure you'll evangelize the truth!
UPDATE (07.14.2011): I've seen the figure $280 billion in tax cuts used, so either my addition was deficient, or my source was not correct. Anyhow, that higher figure only bolsters my argument.
By Jake Tapper
July 05, 2011 | ABC News - Political Punch
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