But the media were relatively quiet about that claim when Caterpillar recently announced that not only would it not rehire workers, but was cutting additional jobs.

Caterpillar Inc., the world’s largest maker of construction and mining equipment, announced 22,000 job cuts in January, and later offered early retirement to another 2,000 employees.

On Wednesday, Feb. 11, The Associated Press reported in a widely disseminated story that Obama said “Caterpillar has informed him it will rehire some of the thousands of workers it has laid off in recent weeks if Congress passes an economic stimulus bill . . .

“The president’s travel to pitch the urgency of the stimulus plan was his third day in a row to leave Washington. On Thursday, he goes to Peoria, Ill., to visit a Caterpillar manufacturing plant.”

But on March 17, The Associated Press reported that Caterpillar announced plans to lay off more than 2,400 additional workers.

“In the latest cuts,” AP stated, Caterpillar “said 2,365 support and management workers had been notified of layoffs expected to last at least six months . . . and 89 workers will be let go permanently.

Among the affected workers are 911 employees at the Caterpillar plant in East Peoria.

Caterpillar “also said more layoffs may be needed as the year continues,” according to the AP — which made no mention of Obama’s earlier statement about the company and the stimulus bill.

The professor replied, "I don't have any time to explain it at my office, but if you come over to my house on Saturday and help me with my weekend project, I'll be glad to explain it to you." The student agreed.

At the agreed-upon time, the student showed up at the professor's house. The professor stated that the weekend project involved his backyard pool.

They both went out back to the pool, and the professor handed the student a bucket. Demonstrating with his own bucket, the professor said, "First, go over to the deep end, and fill your bucket with as much water as you can." The student did as he was instructed.

The professor then continued, "Follow me over to the shallow end, and then dump all the water from your bucket into it." The student was naturally confused, but did as he was told.

The professor then explained they were going to do this many more times, and began walking back to the deep end of the pool.

The confused student asked, "Excuse me, but why are we doing this?"

The professor matter-of-factly stated that he was trying to make the shallow end much deeper.

However, after the 6th trip between the shallow end and the deep end, the student began to become worried that his economics professor had gone mad. The student finally replied, "All we're doing is wasting valuable time and effort on unproductive pursuits. Even worse, when this process is all over, everything will be at the same level it was before, so all you'll really have accomplished is the destruction of what could have been truly productive action!"

The professor put down his bucket and replied with a smile, "Congratulations. You now understand the stimulus bill."