I wonder how many of those "saved or created" jobs from the stim bill ended up in the manufacturing sector? Not too darn many: The economic recovery is faltering, and Washington is running out of ways to get it back on track. Two bright spots over the past few months -- manufacturing and job creation by private companies -- both slowed in May, according to new reports Wednesday. The data come amid other reports of falling home prices, declining auto sales, weaker consumer spending and a rising pace of layoffs. Stocks tumbled Wednesday on the discouraging economic news, with the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index off 2.3 percent. It was the index's steepest decline since August. [...] Instead of accelerating, the U.S. economy is puttering along at a growth rate of 2 to 3 percent - barely enough to bring down joblessness slowly, if at all. Sorry, but even that anemic growth rate of 2-3% is probably stretching it. Many economists are revising their estimates downward - below...(Read Full Post)