Los Angeles Comptroller Discloses $111 Million in Stimulus Creates 55 Jobs, Yet Defends the Program

Wendy Greuel, City Controller of Los Angeles, tells the Huffington Post that an Audit of Federal Stimulus Funds in Los Angeles Shows $111 Million in ARRA Grants Has Only Created 55 Jobs

I released two very disappointing audits today of how the City of Los Angeles has used American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds. The audits looked at the how the two departments that have received the largest amount of ARRA funding so far - the Department of Transportation (LADOT) and the Department of Public Works (DPW) - have used those funds and how many jobs were created. Los Angeles has become the largest City in America to conduct an audit of how ARRA funds have been expended.

DPW has received $70.65 million and created or retained 45.46 jobs, though they are expected to create 238 jobs overall (the fraction of a job created or retained correlates to the number of actual hours works). LADOT has been awarded $40.8 million and created or retained 9 jobs, though they are expected to create 26 jobs overall. Overall, the Departments have received $111 million in federal stimulus funds out of the $594 million the City has been awarded so far and created or retained 54.46 jobs.

I'm disappointed that we've only created or retained 55 jobs after receiving $111 million in ARRA funds. With our local unemployment rate over 12% we need to do a better job cutting the red tape and putting Angelenos back to work.

An Audit of ARRA Please?

Wendy Greuel goes on to defend president Obama and makes a claim "3.3 million jobs nationwide that have been saved or created because of ARRA".

This is one of those stories likely to go viral, not for her misguided defense of Obama, but rather the silliness of the situation in LA. However, the truth of the matter is stimulus efforts don't create any lasting jobs anywhere, and the claim "3.3 million jobs were saved or created because of ARRA" is simply preposterous.

As soon as the stimulus is cutoff every job "saved" will vanish into thin air, not to mention that the number 3.3 million is absurd from the start, even on a temporary basis.

Can I have a legitimate accounting of "ARRA" please? I bet the findings would be as bad as the City Controller of Los Angeles discovered.

On second thought, please cancel that audit request. It will be impossible to get anything close to a legitimate audit.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
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