Almost every examination of the effects of the "stimulus" find few private sector jobs created directly because of it. Why do you think Obama had to invent, for the first time, the bizarre concept of "saved jobs?"

To keep it on a graphic level, we have this chart. Note carefully the categories.

Government data indicate that most of the jobs supported by stimulus spending belonged to public employees at the state and local level, including about 325,000 teachers and school staff.

Subsidizing those jobs avoided layoffs, or state and local tax increases that could have further undermined the economy. But they didn't result in substantial hiring of people who had lost private-sector jobs.

State officials already are warning that job cuts could be in the offing in 2011 once the stimulus money runs out.

Of the $179 billion in stimulus funds paid out last year, $112 billion has gone out in the form of large checks to state governments to plug holes in school, Medicaid and unemployment-benefits budgets, or to increase funding for established programs, such as food stamps, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis.

An additional $700 million was spent on administration, and about $47 billion has left Washington in transfer payments, such as $250 checks for Social Security recipients. Social spending totaling $70 billion is also in the pipeline already, including grants for local organizations carrying out jobs-training programs.