Washington, D.C.--A federal agency charged with enforcing consumer protection laws announced an investigation into the accuracy of Obama Administration claims that a massive federal spending bill passed earlier this year provides "economic enhancement.""We're concerned that some of the public statements made about the stimulus bill go beyond mere puffery," said the head of the Federal Trade Commission. "Unemployment inched much higher than administration officials said it would after the stimulus bill was enacted, and the pace of federal spending has sagged even as the economy appears to be on the verge of recovering without much help from the $787 billion federal spending package."
FTC officials said the administration's "Take it from Obama!" ad campaign -- featuring a guy who's "way, way too happy" about random and inefficient spending decisions -- aroused enough suspicion to warrant "running it up the flagpole."
"We're endowed with the authority to look into the accuracy of these stimulation claims," said officials. "And we're going to determine whether any stiff penalties are in order."
Associated articles: Wall Street Journal; Innocent Bystanders; National Review; Washington Times; CNN Money; Big Government; chart; http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/aug/14/pace-of-stimulus-spending-plummets/print/; http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204731804574385233867030644.html; http://michaelscomments.wordpress.com/2009/11/06/october-job-losses-accelerate-again-10-2/; http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/09/30/success_no_matter_what_98512.html; http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125561746839087509.html#articleTabs%3Darticle; http://johnbtaylorsblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/despite-claims-data-continue-to-show.html; associated video: http://hotair.com/archives/2009/10/30/video-noted-news-organization-blasts-white-house-stimulus-numbers/
