Nov. 9--If all it took to create 50 new jobs was to invest $1,000 in a new Toro lawnmower, well heck, strapped American businesses would have headed to Home Depot a long time ago!

The notion is absurd, of course, but it was actually part of the calculation when the White House reported 640,000 jobs "saved or created" by the expenditure of federal stimulus dollars. Makes you wonder how folks are coming up with these numbers, doesn't it?

In Massachusetts, meanwhile, the Patrick administration has yet to provide a thorough breakdown of the 23,000 jobs "saved or created" by stimulus spending here. Taxpayers deserve an honest accounting, post haste.

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