by Mark Silva
President Barack Obama today will promise to deliver more than 600,000 new jobs this summer with accelerated spending of some of the $787-billion economic stimulus that Congress approved at his urging earlier this year.
The promised boost in employment will not offset the job losses of recent months - with more than 1.6 million jobs shaved from the economy since Congress approved the stimulus plan in February. Unemployment last month reached 9.4 percent, the highest since 1983.
But the president, who plans to meet with economic advisers and his Cabinet at the White House today following his return from a five-day foreign trip, will promise hundreds of thousands of new jobs with an accelerated pace of spending on maintenance projects at military bases, about 1,600 road and airport projects, the hiring of some 135,000 teachers and other school staffers and 125,000 summer jobs for youth under the supervision of the Department of Labor.
""We have a long way to go on our road to recovery but we are going the right way," Obama will say, in a statement prepared for his announcement of stepped-up summer stimulus activity today.
"Our measure of progress is the progress the American people see in their own lives,'' the president plans to say. "And until that progress is steady and solid, we're going to keep moving forward. We will not grow complacent or rest. Surely and steadily, we will turn this economy around.''
At today's Cabinet meeting, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will present a "Roadmap to Recovery,'' an outline for accelerating spending under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act approved in February.
It identifies 10 major projects targeted during the next three months. "As a result of this accelerated pace of activity, over 600,000 jobs are expected to be created or saved by the Recovery Act in the second 100 days - four times the number created or saved in the first 100 days,'' the White House will say in a statement being released this morning..
"We've laid a good foundation in the first 100 days of the Recovery Act and in the next 100 we plan to build on that foundation and accelerate our efforts so we can accomplish even more," Biden plans to say today. "We're going to get more dollars out the door, more shovels into the ground and more money into the pockets of workers and families who need it most."
Republicans remain critical of the stimulus spending plan that passed the House without a single Republican vote and won the support of just three from the GOP in the Senate.
"I think the economy is just as likely to begin to recover on its own, wholly aside from this, before much of this has an impact,'' says Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) "So I'm very skeptical that this massive sort of spending binge that we've engaged in is going to have much of an impact.''
With the passage of the plan, Obama promised that 3.5 million jobs could be created or saved in the next few years. Yet unemployment still has climbed higher than expected, nearing double digits at the start of the summer.
The president's approval rating for his handling of the economy also has slid from 59 percent in February to 55 percent in the latest Gallup Poll, which also found that his disapproval rating on the economy has risen from 30 to 42 percent - even while Gallup's measure of "consumer mood'' has grown more positive since March.
Obama's approval on foreign affairs has risen from 54 percent in February to 59 percent in the latest survey, though the May 29-31 poll on which these rankings are based was conducted before his latest trip to Saudi Arabia an Egypt, where he delivered an address to the Muslim world.
"This latest Gallup Poll shows that the U.S. public has significantly differentiated views on various dimensions relating to Obama,'' reports Frank Newport, editor-in-chief of the Gallup Poll. "Americans have become increasingly less positive about Obama's handling of the economy in recent months...
"The good news for Obama is that the public continues to be quite positive when asked to rate him as a person and to rate his overall job performance -- both of which are presumably summaries of Americans' views of their president across all of the ways in which he could be evaluated,'' he notes. "Obama's favorable rating is higher than were those of Bush or Clinton at this point in the first months of their presidencies, and his approval rating is also higher than those for Bush, Clinton, or Bush the elder in May of their first year in office.''
The poll of 1,017 adults conducted May 29-31 carries a possible margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
These are the targeted projects for accelerated spending, according to the White House:
• Enable 1,129 Health Centers in 50 States and 8 Territories to Provide Expanded Service to Approximately 300,000 Patients - Department of Health and Human Services
• Begin Work on 107 National Parks - Department of the Interior
• Begin Work on Rehabilitation and Improvement Projects at 98 Airports and Over 1,500 Highway Locations throughout the Country - Department of Transportation
• Fund 135,000 Education Jobs Including Teachers, Principals and Support Staff - Department of Education
• Begin Improvements at 90 Veterans Medical Centers across 38 States - Department of Veterans Affairs
• Hire or Keep on the Job Approximately 5,000 Law Enforcement Officers - Department of Justice
• Start 200 New Waste and Water Systems in Rural America - United States Department of Agriculture
• Begin or Accelerate Cleanup Work at 20 Superfund Sites from the National Priority List - Environmental Protection Agency
• Create 125,000 Summer Youth Jobs - Department of Labor
• Initiate 2,300 Construction and Rehabilitation Projects at 359 Military Facilities across the Nation - Department of Defense
Comments
If you are paying people with tax dollars, it is not a new job created. It is an expansion of the federal government.
But that's the plan right. Eliminate the real jobs and make all Americans directly beholden to Obama.
Sheep in this country unite, you will be taken care of. Don't worry about a thing.
"Only the dictatorship of the proletariat and the poor peasants is capable of smashing the resistance of the capitalists."
Vladimir Lenin
Posted by: Greg | June 8, 2009 8:52 AM
The only thing that Obama has stimulated is unemployment.
Unemployment is way higher today than what Obama predicted would be the case if his "stimulus" plan wasn't passed.
By Obama's own numbers, the "stimulus" plan has made the economy worse, not better.
And now he promises more of the same.
As Obama said, "You ain't seen nothing yet."
Posted by: Walt Reuther | June 8, 2009 9:04 AM
Obama is long on promises and dreadfully short on delivery. So far in his presidency, nearly 3 MILLION persons have LOST their jobs, even though he "promised" 5 million new ones. And those are big time "permanent" jobs, teachers, architects, lawyers, construction workers. Not a bunch of make-work summer jobs. All hat and no cattle.
Posted by: Jamal | June 8, 2009 9:08 AM
The Federal Department of Labor has a funny way of counting jobs, both created and retained. Can anyone think that no matter who is in charge, these counting processes somehow make the federal government look better than it could or should.
I would like to see the specifics on jobs lost that have taken the nations unemployment rate to it's highest numbers in 70 years. What types of jobs have been lost? part time - full time (sustained and seasonal) - by the sector - professional, labor (manufacturing & industrial), service industry, education, medicine & law
Then let's compare those numbers lost to the jobs created or retained as a result of the massive stimulus spending. Infrastructure projects (roads and bridges) are full time jobs but not sustained over a long period. I keep hearing "Green Jobs" from the Obama administration but I haven't heard a definition of what that exactly is, might just be any job created depending on how you look at it.
I just hope some of this money is not totaly wasted on political campaigning, rhetoric and propaganda and actually creates long term, viable jobs for Legal Americans (illegal's need not apply)
Posted by: springfield | June 8, 2009 9:11 AM
These fat cat pensioner teacher need more cash like I need a hole in my head. These people are killing me in taxes. Why? Why?
Posted by: JJ | June 8, 2009 9:22 AM
Great, another promise made with no possible way to measure delivery. That's not to say that at some point The Great One or the Ballerina won't declare the goal met and exceeded.
Posted by: Taxpayer | June 8, 2009 9:27 AM
The stimulus has saved the economy.Jobs numbers are looking rosier each month, the overall economic picture is improving.
Americans need to stop listening to the pessimistic press for their stimulus facts...
http://www.political-buzz.com/
Posted by: matt | June 8, 2009 9:28 AM
Take money away from one group, give it to another, count from one side of the occasion, and call yourself Messiah.
This is a nation of suckers.
Posted by: Riley | June 8, 2009 9:45 AM
Funny, all you nuckledgraggers that posted above must have not read the news this morning.....the stock market is on its largest upswing in 25 years. I guess it all depends on what metrics one wants to use to prove their point. Myself, I know the economy will still go down.....way down, and that it was the pug 20 year power control that did this. Obama is fighting an uphill battle on an oil field with bananas strapped to his feet.
Posted by: Xcellentform | June 8, 2009 9:50 AM
These fat cat pensioner teacher need more cash like I need a hole in my head. These people are killing me in taxes. Why? Why?
Posted by: JJ | June 8, 2009 9:22 AM
Why? To teach your children simple social skills that you fail to teach them at home. To educate your children that you lack to follow up on at home.
Posted by: bill r. | June 8, 2009 10:02 AM
Drip..Drip...Drip.....everyday this man is losing more and more credibility with the American people. That's why he is in such a hurry to cram health care down our throats before his poll numbers are in the mid-thirties!!!
Posted by: Joe | June 8, 2009 10:15 AM
Dear Matt,
The stimulus package has not "saved" the economy. Every recession has a cycle and (almost) every economist predicted that this recession would end (or flatten) by July 09. So it would seem to me that the forecasts are pretty accurate. All this has transpired w/o the "Stimulus" money. So your argument is, quoting Mr. Daley, "silly, silly, silly".
Like many others, I believe the money is really going to:
- building a patronage army
- bailing out bankrupt state governments like California and Illinois (please note the lack of Federal oversight here)
- throw more money at unproven Education and Green trials.
- support (ie. buy) failing business models that are "too large" too fail (see patronage army note)
- provide leverage to the Office of the President so that he can keep a weak Congress placated to do his bidding.
So there you have it. Is America great or what?
Posted by: ethan | June 8, 2009 10:16 AM
Everyone remember the threat that if we don't pass the recovery plan. well here is a chart with its progress. It shows how every thing the government does has a opposite effect.
http://michaelscomments.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/stimulus-vs-unemployment-may2.gif
Posted by: rich | June 8, 2009 10:17 AM
I just had some of Matt's kool aid, and I see things in a whole new perspective now. Even though the economy is tanking, what you don't understand is that Obama is "saving" jobs. If the economy sheds 300K jobs in a month, it would have been 600K if not for the Precious One. If anyone presses me on how I arrived at these figures, I will go to plan b and start babbling about George Bush. Any one else want some of this kool aid? It's great.
Posted by: Herbie H. | June 8, 2009 10:27 AM
Taxpayer, it'll be easy to verify it. All that needs to happen is the Messiah himself say these jobs have been created and saved and that is all the proof you need. And the media suckups will report it as fact, with no questions whatsoever. Mark Silva, in fact, gets all his White House copy directly from the White House itself and just regurgitates it no questions ask. But so does NBC and most other media outlets. But all you have to do is believe Obama and it's the truth! Just ask Tim Geithner!
Posted by: John D | June 8, 2009 10:28 AM
By the way, what happened to the $787 billion?
Posted by: mbmom | June 8, 2009 10:35 AM
The strategy is to continue to criticize Obama no matter what he says or does, and eventually the negativity will reonate with enough people. So far it hasn't worked, but they'll keep trying.
Posted by: Michael Connolly | June 8, 2009 10:37 AM
Grrrrrrr.......Messiah, Teleprompter, Obama, Socialism.......Republican Smash!
Its great how you like to call Obama suporters kool-aid drinkers and sheep, when all you are the ones who sounds like parrots squawking about whatever you hear on Fox news.
I love how any sign of recovery is attributed to the "natural cycle of the economy" while any signs of job loss or economic woes are directly a result of Obama's policy. Try thinking a little objectively about the situation.
Posted by: ChiChi | June 8, 2009 10:53 AM
Dear Matt,
You are so full of blatant propaganda it's pathetic. Try reading some real reporting instead of repeating the Obama Youth Squad latest email alert talking points.
NEW YORK (AP) — Investors turned away from stocks ahead of the latest government report card on banks.
Stocks fell Monday, sending the Dow Jones industrial average down by about 100 points. Overseas markets also pulled back.
The government is expected to announce as early as Monday which banks will be allowed to return bailout funds. JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and American Express Co. are expected to get approval to repay their loans, according to The Washington Post.
Other banks that were told by the government last month to raise funds to help protect against a potential worsening in the economy must submit plans Monday about how they are raising that capital.
Related links
Jobless graph story level
Jobless graph
Is the worst over?
Have jobless numbers hit their highest point?
No, we'll see the numbers go higher.
Yes, this we've reached the peak.
I'm not sure.
View current results
Job Search Photos Investors are also booking some gains from the market's three-month rally as concerns linger about the economy. The Standard & Poor's 500 index has surged 39 percent from a 12-year low on March 9. Interest rates on government bonds are higher and oil prices are near six-month highs.
In midmorning trading, the Dow fell 93.48, or 1.1 percent, to 8,669.65. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 8.87, or 0.9 percent, to 931.22, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 23.95, or 1.3 percent, to 1,825.47.
Major European markets fell. In afternoon trading, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 1.1 percent, Germany's DAX index slid 1.4 percent, and France's CAC-40 dropped 1.6 percent. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei stock average finished with a gain of 1 percent.
Investors are also concerned that the Federal Reserve might need to raise short-term interest rates earlier than expected, said Peter Jankovskis, co-chief investment officer at OakBrook Investments.
Jankovskis said the Fed's cutting of short-term rates to almost zero has helped support the banking system and consumers, but the central bank might have to reverse that position now to keep the dollar strong and ensure that foreign governments will remain big investors in Treasury bonds.
"There is genuine concern that maybe the Fed's hand has been forced," Jankovskis said.
David Lutz, a managing director at Stifel Nicolaus said investors could begin pricing in a small interest rate hike, but that rate change eventually could be viewed as a positive sign because it would demonstrate the economy is improving.
Investors will be monitoring Treasury auctions throughout the week as well to determine how much demand there is for low-risk government debt, Lutz said.
In other trading, the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 7.86, or 1.5 percent, to 522.50.
Four stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 165.2 million shares.
Bond prices were mixed. The 10-year note fell to 3.81 percent from 3.84 percent late Friday. The yield on the three-month T-bill, considered one of the safest investments, rose to 0.18 percent from 0.17 percent Friday.
The dollar rose against other major currencies, while gold prices fell.
Xcellentform? you must be a knuckle dragger yourself if you believe the garbage you're spewing.
Posted by: springfield | June 8, 2009 11:09 AM
Oh yeah let's get MORE patronage workers working for ACORN. That way no one has to have a real job. But all can live off the few taxpayers left.
How different is this change from the way the Soviet Union rewarded its stooges at the expense of the people.
Posted by: senator dirksen | June 8, 2009 11:10 AM
Create what jobs?
Jobs like this? http://www.fundforthepublicinterest.org/
Government funded door to door spread of progressive liberalism?
Not to mention we are loosing 500k jobs a month and the Messiah will create 600k over 4 months? Priceless!
Posted by: Nick | June 8, 2009 11:11 AM
More promises! What we need is action and results. The country folks are suffering.
Posted by: Nureet Cohen | June 8, 2009 11:13 AM
"I think the economy is just as likely to begin to recover on its own, wholly aside from this, before much of this has an impact" I like the republican plan, do nothing and wait it out, perhaps everything will be fine, let's just sleep this recession off. The economy is not in a state of being bruised requiring a band aid, it's hemorrhaging, if you don't think that as the government you have the power to do anything, then you will do nothing, and that is what has gotten us into this problem.
Posted by: CAM | June 8, 2009 11:15 AM
Only thing that can honestly be said is that Obamanomics is a big political bag of hyped (relentlessly continued by the bias of the MSM0), hollow liberal/socialists, promises that are now being revealed as an utter failure in creating any long term real job growth. In fact, this massive deficit growth and spending have set the stage for a far worse economic future. And what is this new government "jobs saved" figment of Obama's imagination? No such means to measure this has ever been established, yet the MSM lap it up like a bear on honey. Never before has the federal government become so involved and controlling in the private economics of the US and we will witness, as any government run entity, the hinderance if not outright demise of our economy and future as long as it has its political footprint on the gas that runs it. Hopefully, the American folks will realize this before too much damage is done. Oh, tomorrow you will be asked to send in (an amount to be determined) a prepayment for your new government/union, classic Yugo style Obamamobile (to be delivered on a date to be determined) brought to your own Obama Motors.
Posted by: bubba Porter | June 8, 2009 11:16 AM
What gets me is that taxes have gone down. Most people can literally look at their paycheck and see more money. 35% of $790 billion was in tax cuts.
So I wouldn't worry to much about people complaining about taxes. It's like the tea parties, let the baffoons have their fun, no harm done.
Posted by: Morris | June 8, 2009 11:28 AM
Mr. Obama....
You are full of IT...
I think that covers everything....
Posted by: mom1 | June 8, 2009 11:40 AM
Excuse me!, Mr. President, you promised 4 million jobs during your
campaign, when can we expect you
to deliver ?. All we have received is a bunch of hot air. Well, that and a lot of tax and spend, along with cuts in our
military. Personally I think the job is too big for you,
Posted by: Paul | June 8, 2009 11:49 AM
I went to lunch to today and “created or saved $50”. I chose to eat a soft taco from Taco Bell rather than eat a steak from Ruth's Chris.
Let’s see. Did I really create or save anything, or did I spend $4.56? I’m not so sure. The former sounds like my wife’s day of shopping at the mall.
Does anyone believe this B.S.? Apparently semantics, verbal tricks, straw men, and sleight of hand seem to be what 59.4% of American public count as leadership these days.
Let’s see. Temporary construction jobs, census jobs, and permanent government jobs is a COST to society, not a benefit. Those evil corporations making profits and producing jobs here and overseas – that would be a benefit. Too bad they have to TAKE money from them and us to pay for these other stimulus jobs. Too bad corporations and taxpayers in some cases are taking their toys and moving out to greener pastures. Bye-bye manufacturing. Real jobs are evaporating.
Dude this is very similar to Atlas Shrugged, except that business owners are not on strike, they are leaving or folding. There are still places to go.
Obama will likely call it “profit seeking contingency operations”. I will just call it "economic disaster".
Posted by: Don | June 8, 2009 2:49 PM
These fat cat pensioner teacher need more cash like I need a hole in my head. These people are killing me in taxes. Why? Why?
Posted by: JJ | June 8, 2009 9:22 AM
Why? To teach your children simple social skills that you fail to teach them at home. To educate your children that you lack to follow up on at home.
Posted by: bill r. | June 8, 2009 10:02 AM
It's part of the compact that we make with teachers. We don't pay them much when they're working, but we do promise them a secure pension. We don't pay them now, but we do pay them later.
Posted by: DaveB | June 8, 2009 3:05 PM
Ahhh, Morris, that "tax cut" was pretty negligible, not enough to help people or spur the economy. If Obama really wanted to spur the economy he would asked for a tax holiday for the rest of the year and lowered taxes on businesses. Instead, he is seeking to raise taxes on businesses. Not a formula for an economic recovery.
Posted by: John D | June 8, 2009 3:41 PM
Summer boost + 135,000 education jobs = 0 jobs. No school in the summer means no jobs 'til august at the earliest..
Posted by: I gotta Feevah | June 8, 2009 4:01 PM
Here's another blow to Joe Taxpayer. This is not how to create jobs for sustainable living. Want to see more of the government knocking down Joe? It's clean, true, and FUNNY.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G88c-Et5gug
Posted by: Joe Taxpayer | June 8, 2009 4:20 PM
John D, those "tax havens" that Obama wants to eliminate tend to be pretty prosperous places: Switzerland, the Cayman islands, etc. How about making the U.S. a tax haven? No tax on business, on so-called "unearned" income, etc. If business has to pay Americans high wages compared to those overseas, how about giving businesses a hand in keeping jobs here?
"You can't be for employment and against employers." - Paul Tsongas, one of the few Democrats who ever made any sense.
Posted by: DaveB | June 8, 2009 5:38 PM
Xcellentform,
The 'stock market' is SURELY to be on an upswing after it's MASSIVE fall. To make such a statement shows that not only are you NOT a student of history but either a sacarist republican or a leftist fool.
The stock market also had a major rally right before the great depression....I digress.
What IS troubling about the economy is the massive debt that Obama is creating to stimulate it. To be sure there were a great deal of payouts to his voters, investors, and campaign managers...lets just hope this doesn't bankrupt everybody.
Anyway, I didn't vote for Obama, but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. America has always been strong as a people despite the bad decisions often times made by its leaders, I can only hope this opportunity afforded to Barack humbles him and presses him to make the best decisions that will help everybody in this country move up in class rather than tearing people down.
Posted by: Batboy | June 8, 2009 5:52 PM
The U6 or real rate of unemployment is now 16.4%. Search for U6 and you'll see the latest government table. Love how like they like to use the U3 rate which does not include workers that are no longer looking for work or those that are working part time and cannot find a full time job. Welcome to the next Great Depression starting in 2010
Posted by: Steve | June 8, 2009 6:16 PM
Obama and his administration can say any number of jobs were added due to stimulus - but there is no way to prove it's true
Posted by: nancy | June 8, 2009 6:51 PM
Let's look at what teachers get paid - at least in Illinois. You can decide if overpaid or underpaid
http://www.championnews.net/salaries.php
Posted by: Terry | June 8, 2009 9:27 PM
Responding to Fox news allegations that he was a Marxist,,Barack Obama decided to come clean.Whipping out his fake nose,mustache and glasses,he replied "Yeah,I'm down with the brothers."
Posted by: James Reyes | June 8, 2009 10:12 PM
95% of the economic forecasters in February understated the projected unemployment rate for the 2nd quarter-they weren't 'Obama's economists' as some wise guys like to write, but so called experts who prove to be no more accurate in their forecasts than the average person on the street. However, the naysayers have really taken the opportunity to use those forecasts to stick their own feet into their own mouths. The unemployment rate was moving at a trajectory since early 2007 that would have put it easily at 11% by now IF it were not for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. That's right and there isn't one short term thinker among the doubters who can disprove that conclusion. It is as logical or more so than the defeatist comments coming from the losers' club. The Council of Economic Advisors is not due to release its first status report on jobs until August. Take a deep breath all you who cling to the right edge of the political spectrum. Your arguments make you look more ignorant than you already are.
Posted by: Tim | June 9, 2009 12:02 AM