The Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call noted on May 10, 2010 that even Democrats say the Obama Administration “hasn’t done enough” to prioritize job creation.  “We were told we would focus like a laser after December.  Well, we haven’t exactly been focused like a laser on jobs,” said Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR).  DeFazio went on to describe Administration stimulus spending priorities as “fantasy jobs. Those aren’t real jobs.”  Of the Speaker’s claim last week that Democrats are “all about jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs,” another source was even more brutal: “One liberal House Democrat laughed when asked if he thought of the climate change package as a jobs bill. He described ‘a desperation’ by leadership.”

The facts explain Democrats’ rising “desperation.”  Instead of creating 3.7 million jobs as promised, Democrats’ trillion-dollar 2009 stimulus law has not reduced unemployment but only has added to the national debt.  To track how much, Ways and Means Republicans developed the “Obama Misery Index” (OMI), which measures the combined change in unemployment and debt since President Obama took office.  The latest data shows the OMI has soared by over 60 percent in just 15 months, as 3.3 million Americans were added to the unemployment rolls and debt held by the public skyrocketed by over $2.1 trillion.  In fact, this debt has risen 62 times faster under President Obama than during the rest of U.S. history dating to 1776.

Source: Ways and Means staff calculations, using Department of Labor and Department of Treasury data.
Note: Numbers differ from previous releases due to revisions by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
  

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