During Wednesday's presidential debate, Mitt Romney said that the Obama administration has invested $90 billion into green jobs, and that half of the companies receiving that money have subsequently gone out of business. On Sunday's Up with Chris Hayes, host Chris Hayes graded both those claims false.
"Never mind that $90 billion hasn't even been spent yet," he said. "Never mind that only about $34 billion of it was allocated for that kind of clean energy business loans, and never mind the Energy Department has only approved $16 billion worth of those loans. Never mind the Romney campaign said later he was only talking about businesses that got those loans in the first year, and never mind that only three businesses actually went under. Forget all that, and you are still left with the fact that the most government will be on the hook for those businesses that went under is an estimated $600 million."
"Or, roughly equal to half of $90 billion," Hayes added wryly.
Though Romney is widely regarded as the victor of the first presidential debate, NPR reports that he's "getting dinged more ... by the fact checkers" (in part because he "made more factual assertions"). msnbc contributor Ezra Klein said Romney often attempted to hide within "pockets of vagueness" throughout the debate.