When you spend $787 billion, there's a lot of pressure to show results. So, there's no surprise that success is being proclaimed across the country. States are saying that they've used the federal stimulus package money to create or save more than 388,000 jobs this year. Teachers, construction workers and other professions have realized the upside of stimulus cash according to reports from 33 states and Puerto Rico, with the remainder of the results being released on Friday.

Of course, the numbers "should be taken with a grain of salt," says Ethan Pollack of the Economic Policy Institute. The states were tasked to count the jobs created or protected, but the results have been of dubious accuracy. This doesn't mean the stats can't provide fodder to people on both sides of the aisle.

Columbia Business School's Frank Lichtenberg says the data shows a solid economic impact, and the Obama administration's Council of Economic Advisors believes the stimulus spending has taken care of between 600,000 and 1.1 million jobs.

And, there are those who disagree.

As Congressional Democrats and Bush Administration officials evaluate additional legislative ideas aimed at further stimulating the anemic U.S. economy, one proposal that could gain more traction in the months ahead concerns domestic infrastructure.

The consensus among economists is that the first economic stimulus package will provide only a modest boost (at best) to the U.S. economy, economist David H. Wang told BloggingStocks Tuesday. Further, if many Americans choose to save or invest their $300-$1200 tax rebate, instead of spending it or using it to pay down debt, the stimulus effect will be even less than projected.

That would leave the U.S. economy with a correcting housing sector, record-high oil prices (oil topped $113 per barrel Wednesday), a contracting job sector, an investment banking sector largely seeking to rebuild balance sheets and not lend money, and rising living costs weighing on consumer spending. In other words, Wang said, all of the classic U.S. growth engines, except exports, are likely to serve as contractionary forces through at least the first half of 2008, and most likely for considerably longer.

With the Virginia Tech massacre last year, universities certainly understand the extreme importance of security. As a result, notification systems – which can deal with things like cell phones, SMS, email and so on – are top-of-mind for chief information officers in universities.

The leading provider of notification services for educational institutions is NTI Group. This week NTI Group agreed to sell itself to Blackboard (NASDAQ: BBBB), a leading provider of learning management systems for universities. The deal amounts to about $182 million (there is also an earnout for $17 million).

With Blackboard's large customer base, there should be a large cross-selling opportunity. Besides, it will help the company's mobile efforts (after all, students are big-time users of cell phones and PDAs).

According to a report from the Yankee Group, the notification and alert market is expected to reach about $1.2 billion by 2011 (which translates into a 30% annual growth rate). Although, in the case of NTI, the company's growth rate is more than 50% per annum (the revenues last year were about $30 million).

Interestingly enough, NTI has a strong presence in the K12 market. This should be a nice boost for Blackboard, which is targeting this category.

In other words, this deal looks like a great fit -- and could help continue the nice growth ramp for Blackboard.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates DealProfiles.com.

As news of the nationwide obesity epidemic among children sweeps through the media, it's hard to fathom that one of major purveyors of crap food are the schools: Yes, those places we send children so they can be safe and grow up to strong, intelligent members of society.

Mercifully, Congress is close to dealing with the issue. According to the New York Times, "Federal lawmakers are considering the broadest effort ever to limit what children eat: a national ban on selling candy, sugary soda and salty, fatty food in school snack bars, vending machines and a la carte cafeteria lines ...Several lawmakers and advocates for changes in school food believe that an amendment to the $286 billion farm bill is the best chance to get control of the mountain of high-calorie snacks and sodas available to schoolchildren. Even if the farm bill does not pass, Mr. Harkin and Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, a sponsor of the amendment, vow to keep reintroducing it in other forms until it sticks."

Signing this bill would send the right message. It's important for schools to raise money to fund programs, but exploiting vulnerable members of society and selling them something that could have a very negative impact on their lives is not the right way to do that. Government should not fund programs, however worthy, that sell unhealthy stuff to people.

The next step is for some independent-minded, courageous politicians (yeah, I know) to take on the lottery, which is similar to junk food in schools, in that they raise money by selling unhealthy products to society's most vulnerable.