Paper Economy - A US Real Estate Bubble Blog: "Recovery" Jobs Cost Taxpayers Over $80,000 Each!

Saturday, October 31, 2009

"Recovery" Jobs Cost Taxpayers Over $80,000 Each!

The math is trivial... Recovery.gov states that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has already "created or saved" 640,329 jobs as a direct result of $52.1 billion of funds (a.k.a. your tax dollars) payed out in "contracts, grants and loans".

So... $52.1 billion divided by 640,329 = $81,364 per each job "saved or created".

Here is a nice image widget that you can embed in your favorite web page in order to keep track of the governments costly shenanigans ... Ill updated it as the stats at recovery.gov are updated.

Labels: created, fiction, saved

2 Comments:

You might be wondering how it's possible. Obviously, people whose jobs are saved aren't being paid an average of $80,000/year.

The answer is that the bulk of spending goes towards infrastructure projects, and results in capital goods being created. If you're building a road, you need to buy a lot of asphalt and concrete, you need to pay to have it delivered ... but in the end you (the taxpayers) get a road, and that is, arguably, a good thing.

By SD Scientist, at 3:10 AM
@ SD

...Where are these new roads being built, pray tell?

In order for a stimulus to stimulate, it must increase PRODUCTIVITY...

And maintaining current infrastructure will only PRESERVE PRESENT productivity.

If we were talking about building a NEW interstate, or a natural gas distribution system for semi trucks, or a solar energy farm in the desert, then it would contribute to productivity...

But that's not what's happening with the money, now is it?!

By Dave Narby, at 8:45 AM