Over in Minnesota ’s 27^th congressional district, however, it appears to be a bleaker picture for those hoping for a turnaround.  The federal government’s statistics indicate only 2.5 jobs have been created or saved despite the listed expenditure of $3,159,657 of taxpayer dollars.

Then there’s the 13^th congressional district which outperformed them all.  Hard to believe, but the hard working folks in the 13th congressional district generated five jobs from just $42,109 in stimulus spending.

That would certainly come as news to most Minnesotans, since the 14^th, 27^th and 57^th congressional districts in Minnesota do not exist, except on the Obama Administration’s website. Nor does the 00 congressional district listed as spending $404,340 and creating zero jobs.

The North Star state, of course, has a total of eight congressional districts. You’d never know it by logging on to the federal clearinghouse for all things stimulus. The summary page for tracking where the stimulus money is going lists Minnesota as having a total of 19 congressional districts.  Altogether, the eleven extra congressional districts posted received more than $7 million in stimulus spending, creating or saving about 50 jobs.  Such a deal.

Many have raised questions about the creative calculations used to estimate the number of jobs created or saved thus far as a result of the $787 billion stimulus package.  Stories have proliferated around the country of non-existent or over-hyped results, including in Minnesota.   

The glitch in the government’s website only adds to the questions and concerns over the reliability of the stimulus spending jobs data and undermines the credibility of the tracking system.


See the screen shot of the website here: