Fresh out of the Obama playbook, the Trump Administration Says Pandemic Aid Saved 51 Million Jobs

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration touted its $660 billion small business pandemic aid program this week as a “wild success,” unveiling data that showed the initiative saved 51 million jobs.

“I’m skeptical of the total number,” said Philip Mattera, a director at Washington-based non-profit Good Jobs First, which focuses on government accountability.

Mattera said one “telltale” sign that some borrowers may have fudged the figures was the 3,728 companies which reported that they retained exactly 500 employees.

As companies were not compelled to provide job retention estimates to apply for the loan, 878,000 companies either reported that no jobs were retained or did not provide a number, a Reuters analysis found. That’s roughly 18% of all loans.

Two Liar Strategies

1. Make it believable
2. Make it so preposterous no one could possibly believe it

Trump clearly chose door number two. 

This reminds me of Obama's Pledge to Save or Create Jobs in 2009.

"Saved or created" has become the signature phrase for Barack Obama as he describes what his stimulus is doing for American jobs. His latest invocation came yesterday, when the president declared that the stimulus had already saved or created at least 150,000 American jobs -- and announced he was ramping up some of the stimulus spending so he could "save or create" an additional 600,000 jobs this summer. These numbers come in the context of an earlier Obama promise that his recovery plan will "save or create three to four million jobs over the next two years."

Obama vs Trump

Obama pledged to "save or create" 3-5 million jobs over two years.

I noted Obama creates 640,329 jobs at a cost of $323,739.83 per job

Trump claims to have saved 51 million jobs in a few months. 

Trump needs a bigger lie because COVID stimulus is about $3 trillion not $660 billion. If Trump saved $51 million jobs the cost was a mere $58,823 per job saved. And that assumes there will not be more stimulus plans.

But 51 million jobs is despite the fact there are nearly 20 million people on state unemployment rolls and another 10 million on Federal programs. 

For discussion of the numbers please see Unemployment is Much Worse Than it Looks