Stimulus saves 419.02 jobs in New Mexico

That's not a typo. According to reporter Jim Scarantino at New Mexico Watchdog, the $787 billion stimulus package has created or saved precisely 419.02 jobs in New Mexico. Does that mean somebody is working 48 minutes per week?

The recovery.gov site is also reporting that $259 per capita in stimulus funds has been received in New Mexico.

The cost of the 419.02 jobs so far created by the 2009 stimulus funds comes to $628,990 per job.

The Obama Administration would have been much better off simply claiming credit for any positive economic signs, while saying that any negative signs would have been worse without the stimulus. Presidents always get far more credit and blame for the economy than they deserve. But by trying to micromanage the stimulus by tracking every hour of work supposedly created by government spending, President Obama has inadvertently confirmed that the only jobs government creates are government jobs, and it does so at a horrifically ineffecient rate. Give me $628,990. I promise I'll hire at least two people for that, and double the effectiveness of the stimulus.