Posted on 09/27/2011 6:34:42 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner didn't dispute a Harvard economist's estimate that each job in the White House's jobs plan would cost $200,000, but said the pricetag is the wrong way to measure the bill's worth.
And he also pointed out, in an interview today with ABC News' David Muir, that there is no other option on the table for getting the economy moving and putting more people back to work.
"You've got to think about the costs of the alternatives," Geithner said when asked about Harvard economist Martin Feldstein's calculation that each job created by President Obama's American Jobs Act would cost taxpayers about $200,000.
"If government does nothing, it does nothing now because they're scared by politics or they want to debate what's perfect, then there will be fewer Americans back to work, the economy will be weaker," he said.
"We can borrow money for 10 years as the government of the United States because people have confidence in this country at less than 2 percent," he said. "The responsible path now is to take advantage of the unique position we're in as a country. People have a lot of confidence in us. Let's take advantage of that now to do things that help growth in the short-term."
Geithner told Muir he believes there is a "very good chance" the Jobs Act will pass because the proposals have seen bipartisan support in the past and the cost of inaction is far too high.
"If the alternative plan is for Washington to do nothing, that's unacceptable," Geithner said. "If the alternative plan is to sit there and say we're going to cut our way out of this by just cutting spending, that would make the economy weaker. Or we're going to sit here and just complain about regulation. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
http://www.autoblog.com/2011/09/26/tesla-reportedly-asks-for-another-loan-from-the-feds/
Geithner really is an idiot. Of course, so are the American people who voted for Obama.
Are you sure this isn’t a parody? John Semmens has punked ABC News?
Can you imagine if the FedGov tried to run a McDonalds? There would be minimum wage employees that cost taxpayers $200,000 a year. There would be dozens of bureaucrats for every location and the top officials would make up to $500,000. They would never make a profit and they would accept food stamps of course.
Geitner and Co. aren’t idiots. They’re amongst the most brazen thieves in history. We’re supposed to think they’re just inept. It’s part of the act.
How out of touch can these ass clowns I’n D C get?
I see stories like this and I wonder, too. But, this is the same WH that told us food stamps are good for the economy along with unemployment checks, a new government program, Obamacare, will cover more people and bring down healthcare costs, ect ect and i believe this story is real based on past history
Well, they’re very convincing!
Politically -True
Economically - 100% wrong
This is political vote-buying and nothing more
Give me $50,000, and I’ll start a Cat D car repair business, hire two people and double the money in a year.
RE: Give me $50,000, and Ill start a Cat D car repair business, hire two people and double the money in a year.
Won’t banks give you a loan for that? With very low interest rates today, you should be able to (emphasis on “should”).
I’ll do it for $190K. There, I just saved $10,000!!!
“...Obama’s American Jobs Act would cost taxpayers about $200,000.”
The $200,000+ per job created is the best spin put on it. The real cost will be much more. A rational leader would do nothing other than taking off the nonsense regulations and get out of the way of the private business sector. The magic of capitalism would create wealth, spur investments in products and production and put many more Americans back to work than any big government program.
What kind of insanity is it when you pay $200,000 dollars to create one job that pays $50,000 dollars, and the job will probably run out in a year.
Somebody in Government is sh1tsimple.
Maybe we'll get a Nobel prize for our bold and innovative solution.
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