So many billions out the door -- and nary a clue about what Americans got in return. That's the tragic-but-too-true story of last February's $787 billion federal stimulus program -- the first major legislative package out of Washington after the Democrats took control of the city.
What a monumental waste.
The Obama folks claim that, as of Oct. 30, stimulus funds "created or saved" 640,329 jobs. They might as well claim 640 billion.
The truth? No one really knows if the package "created or saved" any jobs.
And that's now crystal clear, after reporters checked out the Obama team's claims.
ABC News, for example, reported last week that many of the supposedly saved or created jobs were located in congressional districts that, well . . . don't exist.
Arizona's 15th congressional district, for example, supposedly saw 30 jobs saved or created as a result of some $761,420 in stimulus funds. It's a nice return on investment -- except, Arizona has no 15th CD.
Similarly, New Mexico has only three congressional districts, yet federal funds magically ended up boosting jobs in the 4th, 22nd, 35th and 40th CDs.
The administration blames "human error" -- local officials who supposedly misreported their district locations.
And no one (yet, anyway) is saying the money went south; surely someone will one day figure out what happened to more than three-quarters of a trillion dollars in taxpayer cash.
For now, though, neither the administraton -- nor anyone else -- has any idea whatsoever of how many jobs were created or saved, where they're located or even whether a single one can be chalked up to the stimulus. (Particularly since it's impossible to know how many jobs there would have been without the federal funds.)
What is known, of course, is that the stimulus program was rushed through Congress ostensibly to jumpstart the economy and hold down unemployment.
Obama & Co. said that, with the feds dropping billions here and billions there (who cares where?), the jobless rate would peak at 8%; without it, America was staring at double digits.
Well, guess what? Unemployment now stands at 10.2%.
Oh, yeah -- there's one other thing Americans know all too well: Their pocketbooks are $787 billion lighter.