“Saved or Created” Jobs in Colorado
[Guest post by DRJ]
Have 7,200 Colorado jobs been “saved or created” by the Stimulus? It depends on how you look at it:
“Stimulus spending by state agencies during the last three months of 2009 preserved or created the equivalent of about 7,200 full-time jobs in Colorado, state officials said Friday.
“The impact on the state is enormous,” said Don Elliman, chairman of the Colorado Economic Recovery and Accountability Board.
About 70 percent of the jobs were positions retained in higher education and the state prisons by using federal stimulus dollars to backstop the state budget, the report showed. That leads to questions about whether the state would have really cut positions from prisons and universities — putting criminals on the street and turning students away from education — rather than looking hard for other efficiencies.
State Rep. Kent Lambert, R-Colorado Springs, and a member of the Joint Budget Committee, said the money is simply a temporary way to preserve government jobs and avoid hard choices rather than a way to jump-start the economy.”
The initial report covered “saved or created” state jobs. Federal officials will release data on local and non-profit job savings and creation this weekend.
— DRJ
Yeah, “saved or created” state jobs, make-work jobs and “non-profit” jobs.
Not one job that provided work in the private sector. In other words government jobs that will be taxed to create more government jobs.
Doesn’t ANYONE in the government see how such a system is self-defeating? Nothing on earth survives by eating it’s own excrement but that’s what this administration intends to do.
Chris (537b52) — 1/31/2010 @ 12:07 amAnd $275 billion of the 850 total is just this, the Fed printing money for state governments.
Maybe a qualified positive but not stimulus.
gary gulrud (75a696) — 1/31/2010 @ 1:40 amWill there ever be a day during this administration
Krusher (ceb4ea) — 1/31/2010 @ 2:37 amthat we are not hit with another socialist “punch”?
These a-holes can’t even save Harry Reid’s job!
Icy Texan (2d4b53) — 1/31/2010 @ 3:31 amThe company I work for laid off several hundred jobs in Colorado during this period given that intermediate economic forecasts show no capacity for improvement and expected tax and compliance expenses continue to rise.
So while it may be a net wash in jobs (which I highly doubt since we’re but one of thousands of employers in Colorado and we alone took a healthy bite out of this “saved or created” nonstandard accounting trick), where’s the money going to come from these new jobs? Ours were paid for by an economy that desired services we offer and consumers globally drove volume to fund them. But these Colorado state employees aren’t paid from economic activity. Instead, the state will have to turn around and tax more. Since payroll taxes are already high and a certain death wish for a politician to increase, it’ll come in more corporate taxes and fees.
Guess what we’ll be doing the next months? More layoffs. Every government job kills several in the private sector and perpetuates a spiral out of control. Quit feeding the beast, it’s killing us out here!
HatlessHessian (cca288) — 1/31/2010 @ 5:50 amI can’t get past the premise that firing a pack of worthless, unionized state employees would really have the dire result the article presumes of “putting criminals on the street” and “turning students away”.
brobin (c07c20) — 1/31/2010 @ 6:15 amSo how do they calculate this, just divide the $$$$ by the average FTE salary? Sheesh.
Every arm of govt down to local school districts is so dependent on money from DC, they howl like mad when it’s threatened or cut off. This just creates more budget dependency. When states whine about “unfunded mandates” it means they want the funds, not for the mandate to go away.
And on it goes. And to everyone who thinks the feds ought to **do** something about this or that, remember all they can do is pass new laws, tax and throw money around. I would love a do-nothing Congress.
cassandra in MT (402af0) — 1/31/2010 @ 6:59 amSince the administration sent out three different representatives to the Sunday talkers last week who promptly claimed three entirely different figures on the hallowed “saved or created jobs,” we can safely assume this is just another asspull.
Dmac (539341) — 1/31/2010 @ 8:14 amThe government can only create public sector job. The best it can do for the private sector is foster the sort of conditions that are conducive to job creation. Those conditions are not normally found – or promoted – in socialist countries.
GeneralMalaise (0a4348) — 1/31/2010 @ 8:44 amThey should stick to GDP and unemployment figures. Less sexy, but also more apt to measure whats going on.
imdw (017d51) — 1/31/2010 @ 9:00 amMeanwhile the Cult of Personality and indoctrination of our youth continues…
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2010/01/atlas-exclusive-obama-organizing-for-communism-and-youth-corps-in-the-public-school-1.html
Recommended reading for the high school yutes… “Rules for Radicals” – Saul Alinsky
GeneralMalaise (0a4348) — 1/31/2010 @ 9:05 amOMG a private organization is recruiting interns in school! It’s socialisms!
imdw (b75942) — 1/31/2010 @ 9:20 amI live in CO. I read the article today. No mention of how much money was “spent” for these jobs. They tried to tout it as jobs created when in the article it is clear jobs “saved”. Jobs that were not in jeopardy anyway. What a mess.
LYNNDH (8d8b19) — 1/31/2010 @ 9:25 amYou really are an idiot, aren’t you, iamadickwad?
JD (8a00f8) — 1/31/2010 @ 9:26 amI saw that earlier, General. With a grandson in 9th and a granddaughter in 10th, it really got my blood boiling.
Re: the stimulus This is the first time in six years of being retired that I have to pay taxes. Maybe O’s taxes haven’t taken effect yet, but something blindsided me. Soon I will have to live in a van down by the river.
PatAZ (9d1bb3) — 1/31/2010 @ 9:30 am“OMG a private organization is recruiting interns in school! It’s socialisms!”
“private organization”, IMDimWit? Do your homework.
GeneralMalaise (0a4348) — 1/31/2010 @ 9:45 am““private organization”, IMDimWit? Do your homework.”
It’s OFA. It’s not the government. It’s private. Though government orgs also do recruit in schools.
imdw (017d51) — 1/31/2010 @ 10:12 amOrganizing For America is “a project of the DNC” and one can well imagine the gnashing of MSM teeth if something similar had been perpetrated by the RNC.
Saul Alinsky? You are out of your freaking, leftist mind, DimWit.
GeneralMalaise (0a4348) — 1/31/2010 @ 10:29 amGeneral – it should not be the least bit surprising that iamadickwad sees nothing wrong with that.
Does that teacher still have a job?
JD (7cda0f) — 1/31/2010 @ 10:43 am“Organizing For America is “a project of the DNC” and one can well imagine the gnashing of MSM teeth if something similar had been perpetrated by the RNC.”
Indeed and the RNC probably also looks for interns. Probably not as many and they probably don’t need to recruit in schools to fill their ranks.
“Saul Alinsky? You are out of your freaking, leftist mind, DimWit.”
Isn’t O’Keefe a fan? Or is that not a problem?
imdw (05d41e) — 1/31/2010 @ 10:49 amAn administrator at a local University here called in to talk radio and said he submitted his *save/created* report as ZERO, as they had already adjusted the budget to assure no lay-offs. He got the form back stating that the answer ZERO was not allowed. Since he had in fact bought new software for 7 admins with stimulus money, he reported 7 jobs *saved*. He was disgusted, and will retire at the end of this academic year.
sybilll (d24813) — 1/31/2010 @ 10:55 amIamadickwad – Do you think it is appropriate for a teacher to give out purely political information to students?
JD (7cda0f) — 1/31/2010 @ 11:19 amThere’s “Lies, Damn Lies, and then there’s Statistics (Gov’t Lies)!”
AD - RtR/OS! (951da8) — 1/31/2010 @ 11:29 am“Iamadickwad – Do you think it is appropriate for a teacher to give out purely political information to students”
This is not purely political. It’s an internship application.
[note: fished from spam filter. –Stashiu]
imdw (33cdc0) — 1/31/2010 @ 11:40 amimdw – Don’t you think it likely that Congress will review these jobs created or saved stories and decide to construct a nuclear power plant in the District of Columbia?
daleyrocks (718861) — 1/31/2010 @ 11:46 am“He got the form back stating that the answer ZERO was not allowed.”
Do you think recipients of stimulus money are required to spend it on things that actually do “save or create” jobs? Seems like something people would put in there.
imdw (688568) — 1/31/2010 @ 12:15 pmIamadickwad is on its daily mission of proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is a passive-aggressive ‘tard.
JD (4277eb) — 1/31/2010 @ 12:24 pm“This is not purely political. It’s an internship application.”
????????????
daleyrocks (718861) — 1/31/2010 @ 12:34 pmIsn’t O’Keefe a fan? Or is that not a problem?
I think it’s hilarious that the Trolls have been displaying their new talking points/threadjacks on every thread that has nothing to do with the subject at hand. Case in point from our awesome douchebag, who never fails to answer that Skinner Bell.
Dmac (539341) — 1/31/2010 @ 12:50 pmHow many cases of Coors Light does it take to save a job?
SteveG (6fa662) — 1/31/2010 @ 5:25 pmSend the Silver Bullet girls over and lets have a beer summit and save some jobs too
I’ll bet that if the actual number of jobs that have been created or preserved were counted up instead of this bogus “equivalent” crap, it would be far, far less than seventy two hundred.
Blacque Jacques Shellacque (efef8c) — 1/31/2010 @ 6:53 pmWhat’s left unsaid is the main purpose that these government jobs were “saved” with the stimulus–that Colorado, among other states, has a massive budget deficit thanks to income and sales taxes dropping through the floor. And guess what–those deficits are still going to be there this year.
That’s why I’m not as worried as some about the impact of the stimulus this year. There might be an uptick for the census hiring, but it will be negligible. The ONLY thing that saves Obama’s ass this year is jobs; even his most optimistic suppoters and courtiers are claiming we won’t see that much improvement this year (being completely wrong on the U3 the first time has the tendency to dampen expectations).
With no discernable improvement in jobs, the states get hosed on income and sales tax revenue, which they badly need to cover their budgets. That means the states will once again be allocating their share of the stimulus pie to the public sector to cover their budget shortfalls, putting to lie Obama’s claim that “most” of the stimulus money would go to the private sector. If the GOP can’t pull out the spending numbers on the stimulus and then hang that albatross on President Princess’ head this year, they don’t deserve to gain seats in Congress.
Another Chris (35bdd0) — 1/31/2010 @ 9:51 pm