It’s all about the context …

From the president’s presser this morning:

Our economy is growing. It is strong. This economy’s created millions of new jobs.

Item from BusinessWeek:

JAN. 26 11:09 A.M. ET General Motors Corp., which is planning big job cuts and plant closings as it fights to avoid bankruptcy, said Thursday it lost $4.8 billion in the fourth quarter and $8.6 billion in all of 2005, dragged down by losses in its North American division.

From the Jan. 24 Los Angeles Times:

Ford Motor Co. executives said Monday that the company would close 14 factories, eliminate as many as 30,000 jobs in North America in the next six years and work to make vehicles that customers want rather than force-feed them the big trucks that the company has been most comfortable building.

Although the plan is sweeping, many analysts said it might be too tame to enable the company to reassert itself in the crucial U.S. auto market.

From the president’s presser this morning:

… we’ll talk about the Congress to be wise about how we spend the people’s money …

Item from a New York Times Jan. 25 story about the audit of American financial practices in Iraq:

One official kept $2 million in a bathroom safe, another more than half a million dollars in an unlocked footlocker. One contractor received more than $100,000 to completely refurbish an Olympic pool but only polished the pumps; even so, local American officials certified the work as completed. More than 2,000 contracts ranging in value from a few thousand dollars to more than half a million, some $88 million in all, were examined by agents from the inspector general’s office. The report says that in some cases the agents found clear indications of potential fraud and that investigations into those cases are continuing.

From a 1984 speech by President Reagan:

You’ve all heard of the problems at the Pentagon with spare parts suppliers charging outrageous prices. Well, what you haven’t heard is that this waste was actually uncovered by Department of Defense auditors working for the Inspector General I appointed. We are the first administration which has faced up to these abuses and taken action to correct them.

The progress we’ve made is a good start, but it’s little more than a ripple in the river of waste, fraud, and abuse that’s been rising for years.

From a 2003 San Francisco Gate story:

The Department of Defense, already infamous for spending $640 for a toilet seat, once again finds itself under intense scrutiny, only this time because it couldn’t account for more than a trillion dollars in financial transactions, not to mention dozens of tanks, missiles and planes.

From the president’s presser this morning, discussing aid to Katrina victims approved by Congress:

We’ll continue to work with the folks down there. But I want to remind the people in that part of the world: $85 billion is a lot.

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