ABC's Stephanopoulos provides welcome forum for dubious GOP stimulus talking points

[G_j]

of course this is not a surprise, this is ABC after all..

http://mediamatters.org/items/200902150005

ABC's Stephanopoulos provides welcome forum for dubious GOP stimulus talking points

During the February 15 broadcast of ABC's This Week, host George Stephanopoulos did not challenge Sen. Lindsey Graham's (R-SC) claim that "11 percent of the appropriated money in the bill hits in 2009." Stephanopoulos did not ask Graham to support that claim or point out that according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), approximately 15 percent of the total spending in the bill and 23 percent of all spending and tax cuts included in the bill will take effect by September 30, the end of fiscal year 2009. Stephanopoulos also uncritically quoted South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's (R) claim that "For every job the bill creates, American taxpayers will spend $223,000"; Stephanopoulos has previously cited a similar cost per job figure. However, those figures discount tangible benefits of the stimulus package besides job creation -- such as infrastructure improvements and education, health, and public safety investments -- and economists have said that the actual cost per job will be far less than either figure Stephanopoulos mentioned.

According to a February 13 CBO report on the conference agreement for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the approximately $787 billion bill includes roughly $120 billion in outlays or spending projects that will take effect in fiscal year 2009 -- that is about 15 percent of the total cost of the bill. Further, when also accounting for approximately $65 billion in reduced revenues or tax cuts that will take effect in fiscal 2009, roughly $185 billion or 23 percent of the total stimulus package will take effect by September 30, 2009.

In addition to excluding other tangible benefits of the stimulus package, the cost-per-job figures Stephanopoulos cited are inflated for another reason, according to Center for Economic Policy Research co-director Dean Baker and Nobel laureate Paul Krugman. As Media Matters has noted, both Baker and Krugman have pointed out that if the stimulus bill strengthens the economy as predicted, this will lead to higher tax receipts that should be accounted for in cost per job estimates, meaning that the true cost per job is less than $70,000.

..more..

[billybob537]

1. Stephen-opo-louse is a Gop Puppet

[ShortnFiery]

2. George Stephanopoulos has started adoring himself to such an extent that he's become

a caricature of what most of us would envision as the epitome of a smarmy pseudo-journalistic news model.

George Stephanopoulos!?! Do you LOVE America and The American People as much as Reverend Wright has proven repeatedly over the years? :P

What a buffoon! :thumbsdown:

[Mr. Sparkle]

3. I was annoyed that Schumer did not correct these baffoons on the CBO report when watching it.

I mean it has been part of their talking points for the last few weeks and was debunked just as soon as it appeared.