Type 3 Lie

This week the Executive Branch of the U.S. federal government claimed the economic stimulus of February 2009 "created or saved" between 2.5 million and 3.6 million jobs and raised GDP by 2.7% to 3.2% through June 30. (The Wall Street Journal) Rather than using established, accepted, non-partisan data on jobs, the Administration created an arbitrary, non-existent scenario against which they are to be evaluated - what would have happened had the stimulus not passed. Because the scenario is fictitious, it is only a matter of conjecture how many jobs may have been saved or loss. The Administration though has set a maximum threshold of 3.6 million. Given the stimulus was $862Billion, that means our government spent a minimum of $239,445 per job saved or created! Even when choosing to make up data, our government seems unable to do a credible job.

There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.
Benjamin Disraeli, British politician (1804 - 1881)

References:
The Wall Street Journal. "Three Million Imaginary Jobs - WSJ.com." Business News & Financial News - Opinion. Dow Jones & Company, Inc., 15 July 2010. Web. 17 July 2010. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703394204575367421573463984.html.

"Quote Details: Benjamin Disraeli: There Are Three Kinds... - The Quotations Page." The Quotations Page - Michael Moncur's (Cynical) Quotations. Ed. Michael Moncur. QuotationsPage.com and Michael Moncur. Web. 17 July 2010. http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/487.html.