To date, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (i.e. the economic stimulus package) has created or saved more than 640,000 jobs. But instead of focusing on the pertinent debate about how and whether to craft an additional job-creation package, the media and many in Congress are spending their time searching for stimulus accounting mistakes.

Because of accounting errors, the administration discounted about 60,000 jobs from its total (which would have surpassed 700,000 otherwise). Other faulty reports were initially included in the stimulus data, such as 50 jobs created by an Arkansas cemetery’s purchase of a lawnmower and jobs recorded in congressional districts that don’t exist.