WaPo's Fact Checker Has Had Enough of Obama's Phony Accounting on the Auto Industry Bailout :: Political News and commentaries

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June 7, 2011

WaPo's Fact Checker Has Had Enough of Obama's Phony Accounting on the Auto Industry Bailout

Barack Obama "Chrysler has repaid every dime and more of what it owes American taxpayers for their support during my presidency." ... etc,
WaPo Fact Check: Three Pinocchios!

Coming from the very liberal Washington Post makes this report all the more relative. As readers will recall, President Obama spent much of last week talking about the success of the auto bailout, but The Washington Post's Glenn Kessler found that his conclusions about its success didn't pass it's Pinocchio test.

Glenn Kessler writes at the WaPo:

What we found is one of the most misleading collections of assertions we have seen in a short presidential speech. Virtually every claim by the president regarding the auto industry needs an asterisk, just like the fine print in that too-good-to-be-true car loan.

[...] The president is straining too hard. If the auto industry bailout is really a success, there should be no need to resort to trumped-up rhetoric and phony accounting to make your case. Let the facts speak for themselves.

Read the whole thing.

In a nutshell, Kessler spells out four examples of things President Obama has said since June 4 on the topic of the auto bailout that aren't completely correct (hat tip - Business Insider) .

Chrysler has repaid every dime to the government: The U.S. government only got 90% back of their combined loans to Chrysler, made during both the Bush and Obama presidencies.
Auto industries adding jobs at fastest rate since 1990s: Bureau of Labor statistics don't back up the government's claims (they say data isn't public for three big auto manufacturers).
GM will bring all workers back lost during recession: GM announced workforce cuts of 68,000 in 2006. It cut 9,600 workers in Q4 2008. 8,600 of those are now back at work, and the others will soon, according to GM.
Washington thought we should "do nothing" to protect Chrysler and GM: Not so clear cut; some questioned Obama's methods, but did not oppose support altogether.

But, but, but ... at least it sounded so good, right!

Posted by Richard at June 7, 2011 2:18 PM

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