Gaffe Track

From Alex Moore at death+taxes:

The economic stimulus package enacted in 2008 has created approximately 2.4 million jobs. We know this, in part, because last Friday the Obama Administration’s Economic Advisers Council released a report on the effects of the stimulus package, which said it “has raised employment relative to what it otherwise would have been by between 2.4 and 3.6 million.”

It is possible that the stimulus created fewer jobs than expected, because last year economists predicted that it would create 2.8 million jobs, and now it appears possible that it created only 2.4 million jobs.

This morning presidential Rick Santorum appeared on CNN’s “American Morning” and insisted that stimulus was supposed to create 280 million jobs and instead it had created 240 million jobs—and had therefore cost us the difference of 40 million jobs.

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Bubble, Bubble, Toil & Bullshit

From THE MINNESOTA INDEPENDENT:

Rep. Michele Bachmann was on a tear: In one of her most fiery stump speeches to date, the tea party leader told a South Carolina audience that the tax code was a “weapon of mass destruction,” that President Obama is “babying” terrorists, that the rich pay too much in taxes, that social issues like marriage and abortion cannot be put on the “back burner,” and that Fox News’ Glenn Beck can solve America’s budget deficit.

…snip…

“We are looking at a time of bubbles,” Bachmann said, referring to the housing and tech bubbles. She said that Americans are witnessing a “government bubble.”

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Scott Walker, Koch Addict

From The Washington Post:

You’ve probably heard politicians fret that state governments – or, worse, the federal government – will default on their debts. House Speaker John A. Boehner called the prospect of a federal default “a financial disaster not only for our country but for the worldwide economy.”

And why will it be so bad for the economy? Because the powerful actors who make up the entity we loosely refer to as “the market” – that means everyone from banks to hedge funds to China – will go nuts.

…snip…

So America’s various governmental entities are looking for ways to avoid defaulting on their debt – or at least defaulting on their debt to the powerful. That addendum is important, because one of the strategies that’s emerging is to default on debt to the less powerful, the people who don’t have the power to wreck our economy.

This is a crucial fact about the economy: Power matters. It’s worth more, in many cases, than money. And that’s what’s really at issue in Wisconsin.

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Shooting the Bull

From THINK PROGRESS:

Reps. Eric Cantor (R-VA; 47 years old), Paul Ryan (R-WI; 40 years old), and Kevin McCarthy (R-CA; 45 years old) have authored a self-aggrandizing new book set to be released next month titled “Young Guns: A New Generation of Conservative Leaders.” The book’s marketing campaign comes with a comical ad trailer, featuring a lofty soundtrack and soaring accolades (“They are ready to make history. Together, they are ‘The YOUNG GUNS!’ Innovative, energetic, forging new solutions.”)

But it’s not supposed to be funny! 😆

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