Government Doubts Elected Officials’ Honesty

Jake Tapper, ABC’s Senior White House Correspondent, dug into the government’s reports and statistics about the validity of the effectiveness of the $159 billion distributed as of Sept 30.

Faulty numbers dominate, Tapper concluded, with each job saved or created with economic recovery funds costing the tax payer $160,000 each.

Tapper said that Ed DeSeve, senior advisor to the president for Recovery Act implementation, has been “scrubbing” the numbers so much that his “fingers are worn to a nub.”

"What we have to do is expect that our public officials are honest," DeSeve said. "I know that's a high bar." His current estimate is that each saved or created job costs the taxpayers $92,000 instead while accusing Tapper of “calculator abuse.”

Either way, you can bet that the people working in a “saved” or Recovery Act “created” job aren’t making anywhere near $92,000 per year. So, where is all that money really going? That’s what I want to know.