Panel: Stimulus Created Or Saved 30,000 Private Jobs

Less interested in the jobs aspect, more interested in this:

In the short term, the most significant thing about the job numbers may be that they exist at all. The government has never before attempted to track the effects, in real time, of a huge government program. The data released by the independent Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board allow taxpayers to see not just where their money is going, but what the government is getting in return and how many people are on the job.

Wooo… trying to evaluate programs.  Welcome to planning 101.