False Tweet Alert: John McCain

Sen. McCain: Tweeting Falsehoods

John McCain: Unemployment rate: pre-Stimulus 8.1% or 12.5 million Americans/post-Stimulus 9.4% or 14.5 million Americans - jobs "saved or created"??? [Twitter, 6/10/09]

REALITY: The American Recovery And Reinvestment Act Is Succeeding

May Saw 175,000 Fewer Jobs Lost Than Expected, The Lowest Job Loss Numbers Since September 2008.  The Washington Post reported: "With companies in no mood to hire, the unemployment rate jumped to 9.4 percent in May, the highest in more than 25 years. But the pace of layoffs eased, with employers cutting 345,000 jobs, the fewest since September." [Washington Post, 6/5/09; emphasis added]

• "Economists Were Expecting 520,000 Job Losses In May." According to the New York Times: "The economy lost an average of more than 700,000 jobs per month during the first three months of the year as shocks from the credit crisis surged through the broader economy. But the pace of job losses eased to a revised 504,000 in April, a welcome sign that the decline in the job market would not continue forever...Economists were expecting 520,000 job losses in May, and predicted the unemployment rate would reach 9.2 percent." [New York Times, 6/5/09]

AP: "At The White House, Where Saving Jobs Always Was As Much A Priority As Creating Jobs, The Bus Industry Is A Success Story." As reported in the Associated Press, "At the White House, where saving jobs always was as much a priority as creating jobs, the bus industry is a success story. But it also shows how hard it is to account for that success, especially in an industry that keeps shedding jobs despite the stimulus." [Associated Press, 6/7/09]

Business managers can vouch for the success of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act:

Patrick Scully, chief commercial officer at Daimler Buses North America Inc.: "The stimulus has been a plus, but it's just, how do you do the math... You could say, without it things would be worse... I would guarantee you, without this stimulus bill, we would have to curtail our operation." [Associated Press, 6/7/09]

Joseph Gibson, senior vice president for sales at North American Bus Industries: "It helps preserve the jobs that we have... We don't have plans for any massive hiring. Right now we're just trying to maintain stability." [Associated Press, 6/7/09]

Mark Land, spokesman for Cummins Inc.: "It will certainly help... To the extent the stimulus is successful helping get the economy in the right direction, to the extent it helps the economy, helps our market, that's where we're going to benefit... If that allows us to bring a few people back, then it will be fair to say then the stimulus was part of the solution." [Associated Press, 6/7/09]