The Obama administration boasts federal stimulus dollars “saved” or created jobs in 13 Iowa congressional districts.

The trouble is the last time I checked Iowa only had five districts. Not sure where the other eight districts are located. Where are they and why haven’t we heard about them before?

The federal Website that tracks stimulus dollars spent, recovery.gov shows $10.6 million spent – and 39 jobs created — in non-existent districts in Iowa.

ABC reports the government site erroneously listed phantom districts in Iowa and several other states, “Jobs ’saved or created’ in congressional districts that don’t exist.”

Not sure if Gotham City, NY., Lake Woebegone, Minn. or Margaritaville, Fla. are among the cities where the administration claims credit for creating jobs.

Administration officials blame the faulty reporting on human error.

Hitting double-digits for the first time in a generation, U.S. unemployment reached 10.2 percent last month, up from 9.8 percent in September.

The October rate is the highest since late 1982. The Christian Science Monitor reports, “After dismal jobs report, unemployment rate could hit postwar high,” the new government data has economists reconsidering their earlier economic projections.

“We have been forecasting a 10.5 percent peak for the unemployment rate in mid-2010; given that it is already at 10.2 percent, this could be too low,” writes Joshua Shapiro, chief US economist for MFR Inc. in New York.

The $787 billion stimulus bill pushed by President Obama and passed by the Democratic-controlled Congress last February is looking increasingly like a failure of sorts. At the time, the Obama administration promised that passing the huge tax and spending bill would keep unemployment from rising above 8 percent.

A recent administration claimed that the stimulus bill had created or saved more than 600,000 jobs (how do you accurately measure how a job is “saved.”) But media analysises of the documentation has found numerous errors that contributed to an inflated count, “White House tally appears to overstate stimulus jobs.”

For example, raises paid to some preschool teachers with stimulus dollars were mistakenly counted as saved jobs.

And a Kentucky shoe store that supplied nine pairs of work boots to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers counted the $800 expenditure as saving nine jobs.

That large of a bang for the buck was too good to be true.

Last week, I noted the unease between the Obama administration and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, “Is the White House at War with the U.S. Chamber.”

The Politico reports today the White House’s attempts to undermine America’s largest business organization may have backfired. U.S. Chamber President Tom Donohue said the attacks have helped the organization raise more money from sympathetic members.

In the Politico interview, Donohue insists the association will “exceed its fundraising for last year by more than $10 million, and the timing of the White House attack could further pad the Chamber’s war chest.”

Is the Obama administration trying to marginalize America’s largest business group?

“The uneasy relationship between the Obama White House and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has steadily eroded over the past several months, with the business group’s opposition to health care and climate change legislation triggering an all-fronts backlash from the administration,” Fox News reports, “White House targets Chamber.” “The administration is now trying to neutralize the Chamber by doing an end-run around the group and dealing directly with its members.”

“Obama and top aides quietly have met with 50 to 60 big-time corporate CEOs over the past few months in an effort to cultivate their support on key issues — the White House denies that it has encouraged any companies to sever ties with the Chamber.”

Liberal groups have highlighted such firms as Apple cancelling their Chamber membership over climate change legislation. Another influential firm, Nike, resigned its seat on the board of directors.

(It’s somewhat hypocritical of Apple and Nike to support the proposed cap-and-trade legislation pending in Congress. Both companies manufacture their products in third-world countries exempt from limits on carbon emissions. The Chamber’s membership also includes many companies with U.S. factories that would face steep costs to stay in business if cap-and-trade would become law.

Obama’s allies are turning up the heat on the U.S. Chamber as well. A group of small businesses in Iowa, called 1Sky, recently issued a news release in which they criticized the Chamber for not supporting climate change legislation.

Has ”Cars for Clunkers” come to the end of the road? The Obama administration says the wildly popular car incentive program would be suspended by week’s end without an infusion of cash, “LaHood: Car rebates will stop unless Senate acts.”

The federal government blew through the first $1 billion in about a week’s time, as thousands of consumers junked their old gas-guzzling cars and trucks for incentives of up to $4,500 to buy new models with better gas mileage.

President Obama is pressuring senators to approve the additional $2 billion to keep the rebate program afloat.

In the last week, Siouxlanders have flocked to local dealerships to take advantage of the one-time incentives. The rush has boosted sales and left many dealers with depleted inventories of popular high-mileage vehicles.

Watch my story in print and online Tuesday on what’s been happening with the story locally. I also am set to appear on KTIV live at 5 p.m. tonight to discuss the current status of the program.

Is there new life for local car dealers that Chrysler and General Motors discarded in their bankruptcy proceedings?

The U.S. House is scheduled to vote today a bill that would require the automakers to restore their franchise agreements as a condition of receiving federal aid. The plan is strongly opposed by both GM and Chrysler, as well as President Obama, whose administration strong armed the bankruptcy reorganizations for the U.S. automakers, ”Obama opposes House plan to protect auto dealers”

Lawmakers complain that the automakers cut dealerships with little notice or explanation, and hurt local economies already reeling from the recession.

Chrysler shut down 789 dealerships, including five in Northwest Iowa, last month. GM GM plans to shutter about 2,400 dealerships, including a dozen or more in Siouxland, by October 2010. Unlike Chrysler, GM has not publicly disclosed its list of dealers being eliminated.

The bill is likely to pass the House, but it faces an uncertain future in the Senate, where Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley has introduced similar legislation. The idea has received a chilly response, however, from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, who said Thursday, ”yesterday that “when you have a bankruptcy, there are winners and losers.”

Update: The House approved the auto dealer measure late Thursday as part of a broader spending bill.

Are you uninsured by choice? Taking a chance that you won’t get seriously ill or injured so you can spend your money elsewhere that otherwise would go toward health insurance premiums?

In the future, if you continued to opt for that choice, you could be facing some hefty fines.

A health care overhaul bill unveiled Thursday by key Senate Democrats would impose fine of about $1,000 on individuals who refuse to buy affordable coverage. Under the draft legislation, families would pay higher penalties than individuals.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the fines will raise around $36 billion over 10 years, “Senate bill fines people refusing health insurance.”

Such a mandate could fall heaviest on young singles, many of whom opt to save money by going without health insurance.

Were political motivations involved in which Chrysler dealers received pink slips earlier this month? Conservative blogger Doug Ross suggests that may have been the case.

Ina preliminary analysis, Ross examined the list of the 789 Chrysler, Dodge or Jeep franchises scheduled to end June 9 as as a result of the government-mandated Chrysler bankruptcy plan. He took all the dealer owners whose names appeared more than once on the list. Using public records, he next checked which ones contributed to political campaigns.

Of those who did, he discovered every one of them had donated heavily to Republican candidates or GOP organizations. Some contributed to then-Presidential candidate Barack Obama’s Democratic rivals, Hillary Clinton or John Edwards. Ross found only one dealer on the closing list who had donated to the Obama campaign, a $200 contributor in Waco, Texas.

His online research included this Scribd list (author unknown). Among the Chrysler owner dealers/GOP contributors cited was Mark Heywood of Motor Inn of Le Mars and Estherville. According to Scribd, Heywood has contributed $6,400 to Iowa Fourth District Republican Rep. Tom Latham; $1,000 to the Republican National Committee; and $200 to Iowa Fifth District Republican Rep. Steve King.

Motor Inn is one of five tri-state area Chrysler dealers targeted for elimination, but the only one with more than one location.

Remember last fall when then Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama lambasted his Republican rival John McCain’s health care plan. Obama and the Democratic National Committee spent millions on TV ads slamming McCain for a provision in his plan that would have taxed employee-provided health plans for the first time.

But now, desparate for ways to cover the nation’s uninsured, some Democrats are considering doing exactly what they once slammed McCain for, “Will Obama tax your health benefits?”

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., the chair of the Senate Finance Committee, said Tuesday lawmakers should consider changing the law that allows any funds spent on employer-provided health plans be excluded entirely from employee’s taxable income.

“That tax provision should be on the table, because it currently is, too regressive. It just skews the system,” said Baucus, who met with Siouxland leaders during their annual lobbying trip to Washington last month. “I do not favor eliminating it. . . But I do think it needs to be trimmed, limited, looked at.”

If you’ve ever applied for a job, chances are you’ve received a rejection letter in the mail. But imagine getting such a letter as a business owner.

That’s essentially what’s about to happen to hundreds of General Motors dealers. The automaker confirmed today that it will deliver letters to 1,000 to 1,200 dealers on May 15, explaining that GM will not renew their franchise agreements when they expire this year or in 2010,

The notices will go to dealers whose stores fail to meet criteria such as sufficient working capital, sales or customer-satisfaction levels, GM spokeswoman Susan Garontakos said, ”GM will notify 1,000 dealers on May 15.”

The largest U.S. automaker, working to shrink operations to match consumer demand, plans to shrink its network of about 6,200 outlets as part of the restructuring plan it presented to the Obama administration.

GM dealers are not waiting for the potential loss of their franchise. They’ve banded together to lobby Obama and Congress, ”Auto dealers fighting back against closures”

The National Automobile Dealers Association has launched an ad campaign challenging the president and the administration’s automotive task force.

“Mr. President, you said you would stand with America’s auto dealers,” says the ad. “So why is your automotive task force demanding drastic cuts in the number of dealers in this country?”

In the tri-state region, more than two dozen new car dealers sell one or more of the brands GM plans to keep under the restructuring plan — Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac. Another brand, Pontiac, would be phased out under the restructuring.