It's so tempting to believe. Here in Racine, where gloom has become a fixture in the employment forecast, we're especially vulnerable to the sunny job creation estimates from the federal stimulus package.

Yet, no matter how soothing it might be to hear that Wisconsin spared or added more than 10,000 jobs, we've got to take a step back and assess these reports with the same objectivity as anything else. It's important to peel back those numbers and find the truth before any champagne corks get popped.

A few nuggets give us the sinking feeling that these figures are more fish story than success story.

First, there's the Colorado business that ran the call centers for viewers with questions about the digital television transition. Its initial job creation estimate was almost seven times higher than reality.

Here in Wisconsin, reports have turned up cases where job estimates are either premature, incorrect or outright exaggerated. In some cases, raises for existing employees appeared on paper as new jobs.

It's a big country. How many more glitches are hiding beneath the surface?

Then there are the oversimplifications. The government report goes out of its way to suggest 325,000 educators are still working in U.S. schools because of the stimulus money. About $28 million was set aside for the Racine Unified School District alone, providing for special education teachers, services for homeless students and more.

Those are valuable programs that deserve attention, but the sighs of relief seem misplaced. For years, school districts have been in tight financial straits, and rarely are teachers the ones left out in the cold.

School boards always find less painful places to cut - administrative positions, extracurricular activities, negotiated benefits, et cetera - or they get an earful from angry parents. What makes the Obama administration think this time would be any different?

Some people were certainly put to work by all of that stimulus money, but these exaggerations call into question whether the nearly $800 billion was cost-effective. Officials say the discrepancies and human errors should be ironed out by early next year.

They should dig deep enough to identify the real numbers. Not the wishful thinking ones.