Obama's stimulus created jobs, whether Republicans like it or not

At a recent debate sponsored by the tea party, Texas Gov. Rick Perry stated that the Obama administration's economic stimulus program resulted in zero jobs. Rep. Eric Cantor has also been quoted as saying essentially the same thing.

So I proceeded to fact-check this statement. I contacted the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, the national trade association for the transportation construction industry, and according to their survey of member contractors, the Recovery Act provided $48 billion for investment in 14,000 shovel-ready improvements to the nation's highways, bridges, airports and transit systems, resulting in a total of about 1.2 million jobs.

Mark Zandi, Moody's chief economist, said if there had been no stimulus program, unemployment would be at around 11.5 percent rather than the current 9.1 percent.

We expect politicians to bend and manipulate the truth from time to time, but the kind of bald face lie put forth by Governor Perry hits a new low.

Jack Kinstlinger, Baltimore