Conservative Principles Now

Last year, with Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm standing by his side, President-elect Barack Obama proclaimed the importance of rapidly passing a stimulus package, described his intense focus on job creation, and noted that a new president can have an “enormous impact” on the economy.

This week, The Detroit Free Press reported that Obama’s stimulus package has “created or retained virtually no jobs” in Michigan, despite $1.2 billion in federal spending and the administration’s report that it created or retained 22,500 jobs in the Great Lakes State.

One wonders whether Michigan’s governor would still stand by Obama’s side and how she would rate the success of the president’s “enormous impact,” given that her state is currently suffering from a 15.3 percent unemployment rate.

There’s even more to the story. The Detroit Free Press reports that those who received stimulus funds or who have been promised stimulus funds greatly overstated the number of jobs created or protected. Shockingly, the paper’s analysis also revealed the following:

Three of every four stimulus grants, contracts and loans approved in Michigan created or retained one job or less.

Fewer than 700 awards had received some money, and nearly half of those — 327 — had created one job or less, at a cost per job of $2.7 million.

Some job estimates were wrong: General Motors Co., for instance, reported 105 jobs saved or created for a government purchase of 5,000 vehicles but later said no jobs were saved or created. The City of Detroit reported 342 jobs it now says were projections — not jobs already created or retained.

The news out of Michigan is a local angle to a mounting national story. An ABC News report reveals that the Obama administration altered its stimulus job growth numbers because its estimates are woefully inaccurate.

From ABC News:

The Obama administration, under fire for inflating job growth from the $787 billion stimulus plan, slashed over 60,000 jobs from its most recent report on the program because the reporting outlets had submitted “unrealistic data,” according to a document obtained by ABC News.

But this isn’t the first time this story has come to light. The Foundry previously wrote about the $25 billion in stimulus funds allocated for energy-efficiency that didn’t produce any of the promised jobs.

And in California, 26,156 jobs were reportedly “saved” with 268.5 million in stimulus dollars. In actuality, none of those jobs were in danger of being eliminated.

Given the nation’s 10.2 percent unemployment rate, when will the Obama administration quit playing games with its jobs numbers and be straight with the American people?

While Time Magazine has set up shop in Detroit to chronicle the continuing decay of one of America’s great industrial cities, the Wall Street Journal has found a teachable moment 90 miles northwest in Michigan’s capital city: government cannot tax and spend its way out of deficits and joblessness.

As the Wall Street Journal reports, Michigan’s 15.2% unemployment rate is the worst in the country, with the state having lost 750,000 jobs since 2000. Shockingly, since 2007, two families move out of Michigan for every one family that moves in. Oppressive taxation and out of control spending just might have something to do with it. From the WSJ:

In 2007 Governor Jennifer Granholm signed the biggest tax increase in Michigan history, with most of the $1.4 billion coming from business. The personal income tax—which hits nonincorporated small businesses—was raised to 4.2% from 3.95%, and the Michigan business tax levied a surcharge of 22%. The tax money was dedicated to the likes of education, public works, job retraining and corporate subsidies. Ms. Granholm and her union allies called these “investments,” and the exercise was widely applauded as a prototype of “progressive” budgeting.

The result of the “progressive” budgeting is evident across the state. Aside for soaring unemployment, businesses are shutting doors, homes are falling into foreclosure, and property values have plummeted. Now, as the WSJ reports, Michigan is facing a $1 billion shortfall in projected income (despite higher taxes), skyrocketing deficits and even more taxes, possibly to the tune of $600 million. And this in a state that has received $120 million in federal stimulus funds which have created, so far, a whopping 397 jobs. That’s $300,000 per job.

Businessman Steve Wynn, who recently appeared on Fox News Sunday with Granholm, might have summarized this lesson in governance best when he boldly proclaimed, “Government has never increased the standard of living of one single human being in civilization’s history.” Watch: