Stimulus
It appears both sides of the aisle and the White House have made up (for the briefest of moments) to crank out a stimulus package for the economy. What an utter waste, but hey. That’s government.
Its panic time. Politicians must do something. They have to for fear of being accused of doing nothing (even if nothing is the correct path). Remember logic and government are antonyms.
Sometime in the Spring a fair size chunk of America will receive a tax rebate. For simplicity, let’s say its a thousand dollars (since the final amount has not made it into law). Now what are people going to do with $1K? Me? I’d pay down credit card debt. That should go a long way towards stimulating the economy.
What about others?
I’d say a fair share of folks would do exactly what I would because reducing their debts is their best plan of action.
On the opposite end of the debt reducers you have the investors; those who will look at this as something extra to deposit in their bank accounts or to drop into investments. The lucky group. No stimulation there.
There will be those who will go “Big Screen TV!” and simply use it as a down payment to rack up even more debt and not really accomplish anything. It will stimulate the economy, but only once.
The last group are those who really need it and will use to buy things that they struggle to buy today like food and medicine. Will it help this group? Absolutely. Will it stimulate the economy? Possibly, but I doubt it.
Overall I just don’t see $1K going a long way towards stimulating anything; anything other than the politicians who come away with a nice “feel good” gesture.
p.s. What’s the biggest thing the government could do to help me? Bring back dollar/gallon gas. Three dollar+ gas is hurting me more than any other expense.
That's This World Over 