Did You Know...

**Written by Doug Powers

During a floor speech on Tuesday, Harry Reid said eight million jobs were lost during Bush’s years in office.

Politifact rates Reid’s claim “liar, liar, pomegranates on fire”:

During Bush’s eight years in office — January 2001 to January 2009 — the nation actually gained a net 1.09 million jobs. (Because there were gains in government jobs, the private sector actually lost 653,000 jobs during that period.)

This isn’t remotely close to what Reid claimed. Reid’s office didn’t respond to our request for information, but we think we know what he was referring to.

From the economy’s peak to its low point, the nation lost 8.75 million jobs. Here’s the problem: The peak for jobs came in January 2008, while the low point for jobs came in February 2010.

This means the starting point for Reid’s measure came seven years into Bush’s eight-year tenure, and the low point occurred about a year into Barack Obama’s tenure.

In other words, Reid had a point in saying that there was a “loss of eight million jobs” — but it didn’t come “during the Bush eight years.” The loss of eight million jobs occurred during a roughly two-year period shared more or less equally between Bush and Obama.

But is any president to blame here? According to Jay Carney, the White House can’t create jobs. Too bad we didn’t know about that before the White House unloaded $830 billion to “save or create three to four million jobs.”

**Written by Doug Powers

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