The Knoxville News Sentinel's front-page headline yesterday reported that federal stimulus money had created 10,000 jobs in Tennessee at a cost to taxpayers of $235,912 per job, which is "not affordable."

E.W. Scripps Company, owner of the Knoxville News Sentinel, reported in its 2008 annual report that their cost to shareholders for 6,000 employees was $299,528 per job.

E.W. Scripps Company did not create any jobs in 2008. In fact, management wiped out 487 jobs at a cost to shareholders of nearly $14 million just to get rid of those employees.

Presumably E.W. Scripps and the Knoxville News Sentinel are doing much better on these metrics in 2009 so as to avoid being unfavorably compared to the federal government.