Associated Press

STIMULUS WATCH: Salary raise counted as saved job

By BRETT J. BLACKLEDGE and MATT APUZZO – 22 hours ago

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s economic recovery program saved 935 jobs at the Southwest Georgia Community Action Council, an impressive success story for the stimulus plan. Trouble is, only 508 people work there.

About two-thirds of the 14,506 jobs claimed to be saved under one federal office, the Administration for Children and Families at Health and Human Services, actually weren’t saved at all, according to a review of the latest data by The Associated Press. Instead, that figure includes more than 9,300 existing employees in hundreds of local agencies who received pay raises and benefits and whose jobs weren’t saved.

But officials defended the practice of counting raises as saved jobs.

“If I give you a raise, it is going to save a portion of your job,” HHS spokesman Luis Rosero said.

The latest stimulus report, released Friday, significantly overstates the number of jobs spared with money from programs serving families and children, mostly the Head Start preschool program. The report shows hundreds of the programs used nearly $323 million to provide pay raises and other benefits to their existing employees.

The raises themselves were appropriate — the stimulus law set aside money for Head Start salary increases — but converting that number into jobs proved difficult. The Obama administration told Head Start officials to consider a fraction of each employee as a job saved.

The dollar index is down approx 40% since 2001. It has been crushed, recently, by the loonie, aussie, real, etc.. Looking for protection now? The barn has burnt down.

Maybe a better idea, play contrarian?

What are you talking about.

Protect against dollar decline? Ahead of the curve?

Also remember the next Pres can repudiate any treaty just like GWB did in 2002 with the ABM (Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty) that was signed in 1972 by Richard Nixon.

I wont be the one losing it thats the problem.

Some of the better ones have been the Moon treaty and the Anartica Treaty. Don’t lose it over carbon tax please.