Jobs created in non-existent Congressional districts are merely a “side issue” :
President Obama brushed off criticism over his administration’s inaccurate reporting on job creation Wednesday, telling Fox News the accounting is an “inexact science” and that any errors are a “side issue” when compared with the goal of turning the economy around. He said job growth is his No.1 responsibility.
The president was responding to criticism from Republicans, as well as Democratic Rep. David Obey, who drew attention to embarrassing errors on the Recovery.gov Web site that tracks stimulus funding. The site is under fire for claiming a number of jobs were created from the stimulus in congressional districts that don’t exist and accepting unrealistic and inflated jobs data from various sources.
Obama said he understood the “frustration” but said his focus has to be on accelerating job growth.
“I think this is an inexact science. We’re talking about a multitrillion-dollar economy that went through the worst economic crisis since 1933. The first measure of success of the economic recovery is, did we pull ourselves back from the brink? We did,” Obama said. “The question now is, can we make sure we’re accelerating job growth? That’s my No. 1 job. Nobody’s been more disappointed than I have to see how high the unemployment rate has gotten. And I spend every waking hour, when I’m talking to my economic team, about how we are going to put people back to work.”
Meanwhile locally:
Alcoa Howmet is laying off nearly a quarter of its workers at its Hampton manufacturing plant to adjust for an unforeseen sharp drop in orders for industrial gas turbines, the company confirmed Wednesday.
The company, one of Hampton’s largest private employers, informed 250 workers this week that they would lose their jobs by the end of the week.
About 90 percent of the workers who will lose their jobs worked in production; the remaining 10 percent were salaried employees, said Jean Moorman, director of communications for Alcoa Power and Propulsion, a business unit of Alcoa Inc.
The layoffs come just five months after the company announced a $25 million expansion of the plant to increase its production capacity for components of industrial gas turbines, which are used primarily by utilities and large industrial complexes to generate power.
And in nearby Franklin, less than a month ago:
International Paper Co. is preparing to close its Franklin paper mill, leaving in its ashes a city that was built on its fortune and 1,100 workers who will lose their jobs.
When the plant produces its final rolls of paper next spring, it will end more than a century of operation at Franklin’s hulking, iconic mill and leave the city without its identity.
International Paper’s main plant, which sits on about 1,400 acres on the southernmost fringe of Isle of Wight County near the Franklin border, will begin closing portions of its operations within weeks and shutter the entire operation by spring, the company announced Thursday.
The plant’s closure will deal a sharp blow to Isle of Wight, which will lose its second-largest employer and more than a quarter of its tax base. The company is by far the county’s largest taxpayer, doling out $5.7 million in property and equipment taxes in 2009, more than double the $2.3 million paid by Isle of Wight’s second-largest taxpayer, Smithfield Foods Inc., said Commissioner of Revenue Gerald Gwaltney.
Rest easy however my local brethren… Obama spends every waking hour, when he’s with his economic team, talking about how to put people back to work.
Would he lie to you?
Crossposted(*).
