Let’s Save or Create Even More Jobs!

The latest tale of woe regarding administration claims of jobs “saved or created” by the porkulous bill comes to us from Massachusetts. The lede to this story pretty much says it all.

While Massachusetts recipients of federal stimulus money collectively report 12,374 jobs saved or created, a Globe review shows that number is wildly exaggerated. Organizations that received stimulus money miscounted jobs, filed erroneous figures, or claimed jobs for work that has not yet started.

The Globe’s finding is based on the federal government’s just-released accounts of stimulus spending at the end of October. It lists the nearly $4 billion in stimulus awards made to an array of Massachusetts government agencies, universities, hospitals, private businesses, and nonprofit organizations, and notes how many jobs each created or saved.

But in interviews with recipients, the Globe found that several openly acknowledged creating far fewer jobs than they have been credited for.

Lest you think Massachusetts is some errant point off the edge of the bell curve, stop by this article by Ed Morrissey with a full list of “liberal media” links to another ten states where these wild eyed exaggerations have failed to hold water under even mild scrutiny. The other late additions are Colorado and Washington state. Here’s just one example of your tax dollars (in the trillions) at work:

Two child-development centers — one in Colorado Springs and the other in Saguache County — reported they had created or saved more than 292 jobs combined. However, the money — totaling about $650,000, or $2,226 a job — was used to give employees cost- of-living raises. Only three new jobs were created.

Boy, it’s sure a good thing we rushed that bill through. Otherwise, who knows how those people would have gotten a raise?