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<DIV><SPAN class=055214200-25112009><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Many here are
science types, so perhaps you have been as entertained as I have by the claim by
the US government that the 700 billion dollar stimulus bill created or saved
640329 jobs.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=055214200-25112009><FONT size=2
face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=055214200-25112009><FONT size=2 face=Arial><A
href="http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE59T2QP20091030">http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE59T2QP20091030</A></FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=055214200-25112009><FONT size=2
face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=055214200-25112009><FONT size=2 face=Arial><A
href="http://www.recovery.gov/Pages/home.aspx">http://www.recovery.gov/Pages/home.aspx</A></FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=055214200-25112009><FONT size=2
face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=055214200-25112009><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Several things jump
out immediately. Note the six significant digits in that answer. Not
640330 or 640000, but exactly 640329 jobs. The humor of that need not be
emphasized, so obvious is the silliness.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=055214200-25112009><FONT size=2
face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=055214200-25112009><FONT size=2 face=Arial>The thing that I
really found puzzling is that there is a unit missing. When we talk about
the amount of power we used this month, it requires two units, kilowatts and
hours. You need both. To discuss how many jobs the government
created/saved (henceforth abbreviated craved), then the government craved 640329
jobs multiplied by some unstated time unit. Did the
government crave 640329 job-hours? Job-years?
Job-eternities? Can anyone just make up their favorite arbitrary time
unit? How much tax money was spent to crave these 640329
job-milliseconds?</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
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face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=055214200-25112009><FONT size=2 face=Arial>This is just
weird. Am I the only one here mystified that these absurdities are allowed
to stand unchallenged on an official US government
website?</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=055214200-25112009><FONT size=2
face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=055214200-25112009><FONT size=2
face=Arial>spike</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
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face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
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