The latest Indicators column touches on a subject SFR has covered at length: The discrepancy between the estimated number of jobs funded by federal stimulus money, and employment figures compiled by the state Department of Workforce Solutions.

Both sets of numbers have reliability problems of their own. Accuracy aside, knowing where to find this government data is a challenge in and of itself.

Let’s start with the stimulus.

The stimulus—shorthand for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act—is a maddening beast. The dollar sums run into the billions, while the performance and accountability measures defy comprehension.

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The City of Santa Fe just announced that it’ll be advertising the first 7 of 31 new jobs at the Buckman Direct Diversion Project.

“These permanent, high-skills jobs…will be an important part of the Santa Fe economy now and in the future,” said BDD Board Chair, Santa Fe City Councilor and Mayor Pro Tem Rebecca Wurzburger.

There’s just one catch:

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SFR’s current cover story on economic inequality has been bouncing around the econoblogosphere. It’s also getting some attention in the Roundhouse. Apparently, New Mexico Lt. Gov. candidate and state Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino just plugged the story in a budget hearing. That’s according to the New Mexico Independent’s liveblog.

Here’s a visual appendix to the story that lawmakers might find useful. SFR made the following color-coded charts using Internal Revenue Service data for the 2007 tax year. The first shows that New Mexico is a solidly working-class state, with only a sliver of the population claiming even moderate wealth.

Approximately 18,500 New Mexicans reported incomes over $200,000, versus 719,200 who reported making less than $50,000.

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According to today’s Wall Street Journal (subscription required), Thornburg Mortgage’s $11 billion loan portfolio has found a buyer:

Select Portfolio Servicing Inc., a Salt Lake City mortgage-servicing business owned by Credit Suisse Group (CS), won the auction for Thornburg’s portfolio with a winning bid of about $95 million, according to Joel Sher, the failed lender’s Chapter 11 trustee.

If this summary of the Better Business Bureau file on Select is accurate, the sale could be bad news for homeowners who took out loans with Thornburg, which before its bankruptcy last year had a pretty good reputation for customer service:

“Based on BBB files, this company has unsatisfactory record with the BBB due to unanswered and unresolved complaints.

“The BBB processed a total of 136 complaints about this company in the last 36 months, our standard reporting period. Of the total of 136 complaints closed in 36 months, 59 were closed in the last year.”

In an interview for SFR’s new cover story, “Born Poor,” Santa Fe Institute economist Samuel Bowles suggested that the government invest directly in individuals, perhaps by giving everyone a lump sum to use however they wish—say, $250,000.

“It sounds very radical,” Bowles says, “but it’s very consistent with economic ideas.”

It makes as least as much sense as giving hundreds of billions of dollars to Wall Street’s largest banks—some of which helped cause the recession—so that the banks can lend it back to taxpayers at outrageous interest rates.

SFR wondered what people would actually do with a cool quarter-mil, if it dropped in their laps. So, we asked.

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