Mark N.: There are not many people, from the left to the right of the political spectrum, who would dispute that statement.

The United Brotherhood of UC Morons covers Faculty as well as administrative staff. Also, we are trying to extend coverage to blue collar UC employees but there is a lot of resistance.

Just out of curiosity, is there any non-ideologically biased way to measure the number of jobs saved by the stimulus package? What would it look like?

Because even if you could track all the money spent and the hiring and (non-)firing decisions that were made as a result, you wouldn’t be counting the jobs lost to the economy by the massive diversion of funds from the private sector to the public sector. You can make a pretty good case that the stimulus is costing an enormous number of jobs from the private sector.

It would look like a white horse.

Except with either wings, or a single horn projecting from the forehead (or both, and be the greatest delight to five-year-olds ‘cross the land).

If they’re counting tenured faculty that are getting a little summer salary or something from some stimulus grant, then yes, they’re probably vastly overcounting.

SMatthewStolte: Just out of curiosity, is there any non-ideologically biased way to measure the number of jobs saved by the stimulus package? What would it look like?

What would it look like? It would be round-ish, with a hole in the middle. There’s one on your computer keyboard, between the 9 and the hyphen.

OK, that’s an ideological position, but the belief that the “stimulus” creates (in the net) any jobs at all is an ideological position itself, born of Keynesianism, and not one that makes a lot of sense.

Consider demand in general. Suppose you literally rob Peter to pay Paul; you take 10 shekels from Peter at gladius-point and give the money to Paul. Paul is now richer and can go buy more, but obviously Peter has less and can buy less.

If the government taxes or borrows or inflates $787 billion to put 13,000 people to work (and those are the number that seem to be floating around), the American public is out that same $787 billion, which it would have used to put at least that many, and more likely 1000 times as many, people to work.

Keynes and Keynesians make a big deal about the difference between consumption spending and savings/investment but personally I think that’s a crock too.

5.Bill Poser says:
I grant that there are ambiguities here, but tenured faculty positions are not uncuttable. One of the conditions under which tenured faculty can lose their jobs is economic necessity. It doesn’t happen often, but universities do sometimes close down entire departments or reduce the number of faculty in them, in the process terminating tenured faculty.

This isn’t true at the University of California.

Tenured faculty have tenure at the University, not at a campus such as UCLA or in a department at a campus.

A couple of years ago, Berkeley closed the Department of Plant Pathology. All tenured faculty were offered positions elsewhere, either at Cal or some other campus.

So unless the entire University of California were closed, tenured faculty have uncuttable jobs, subject to termination for good cause. Budget difficulties do not fall within the limits of good cause.

I’d like to propose the pmorem Economic SuperStimulus Plan.
Under my plan, we will “create or save” over 100 million jobs for under a quarter billion dollars.

We will send a check to each and everyone’s employers, in the amount of $1, to be contributed to their paycheck.

Costs are ~ $135M for payments, and ~$100M for administration.

Glen: Did anyone honestly expect that the Obama Administration’s claims of “jobs saved/retained” by the stimulus boondoggle would have any connection with reality?

Absolutely.

It has a perfect inverse relation to reality.

The California public university system has seen cuts in non-tenured faculty, pay (furloughs), and student enrollment. It’s also my impression that tenured faculty have seen some increase in their teaching loads and administrative duties.

If we look at the way universities and colleges have actually responded to the economic downturn, it’s almost entirely hiring freezes and some dismissals of non-tenured adjuncts and visitors, and in some cases pay cuts (e.g. U. Iowa).

Bottom line: it’s hokum that the stimulus saved tenured professors, in CA or elsewhere.

We learn from this that the UC Office of the President is staffed by morons.

You learn from this that the UCOP is staffed by morons. The rest of us knew that approximately 500 milliseconds after hearing of its existence.

byomtov: We learn from this that the UC Office of the President is staffed by morons.

There are not many people, from the left to the right of the political spectrum, who would dispute that statement.