Bush Stimulus Package - Was It A DEAL or DUD? SOUND OFF

reply to post by Dave Rabbit


Great. With $600, I can finally afford enough gas money to drive me to the gas station.

I think it could have the potential to be a pretty good deal... but only if people wise up and spend it where it will really help things.

For example I'm going to spend much of mine on food. But not just any food, I'm only going to buy locally grown/made stuff and products from small independent food companies. I could get about 1/3 of a grass fed cow with my share, grass fed beef is very healthy. I may go out to a nice - privately owned - sit down restaurant and spend some. But I'm NOT going to spend a dime of it on fast food or any corporate chains. I'm also not going to spend a dime of it on anything corporate, like gasoline, credit cards or telephone bills. But I might use some to pay my lawn service, or my water bill.

If everybody followed this concept of spending this money on things that will ONLY help their LOCAL economy, I think this money will spur some economic growth. Not only by keeping the money within the local area, but also by lessening the demand for the big corporate products that are bleeding this country dry.

Corporate America is in desperate need of a wake up call that can only come from the American people. Bush was nice enough to give us the tools to do just that.
Thanks Bush! (You idiot)

Dud. What's $600s? Doesn't even make rent where I live. Want to stimulate the economy?

Slow down debt. Fix the mortgage crisis. Pull out of Iraq. Invest the $13 billion a month in Iraq at home. Lower taxes for middle class and lower families. Set wages to match inflation rates, so that blue collar workers get the pay hikes they need to avoid the squeeze.

Psssh. $600. What am I even supposed to do with it? I have seriously considered holding onto it, and putting it in my savings account, just to stick it to Bush.

I wouldn't want to economy to look even remotely better. That way, no one will be able to think of one positive thing he's done.

how funny would it be if all the checks bounced? who would be brought up on worthless check charges?

Well, there are obvious paranoid, conspiracy-theorist takes on this (not that anyone would appreciate something like that here ).

One, it serves to get a whole pile of people back on the IRS radar. Now people who never filed before, never had to file before, or just didn't file lately, are now back on the lists. If the IRS wants to get very aggressive again with their audits, there are now a whole host of potential new candidates. Plus, thanks to the Patriot Act funding, the integration of federal government databases means that all of this new IRS data is easily being shared with the INS, FBI, NSA, and all the rest of those hateful little acronyms without having to resort to nuisences like warrents, probable cause, etc.

Also, whether intended or not (and I like to think that it was) I think some of these rises in food and fuel prices in the US are in anticipation of this stimulus money. If you had a store that sold potatoes and you had a steady and level business, you generally have to keep prices level or raise them very, very slowly in order to maintain profitibility. Now, if you knew that your best customers were getting a bonus at work, what would you do to ensure that you got their money? You raise prices quickly in advance and create the illusion that you better act fast, because there is no ceiling to how high the prices will go. By the time your customers got those checks, they're going to rush into your store and spend that entire bonus on those potatoes. You take the quick windfall, and then create a story in a month or two to justify lowering the prices back down to their normal levels.

Run that hand-in-hand with the devalued dollar and rock-bottom interest rates, and it throws out any notion of actually saving that money. You won't earn diddly in a savings or money market account, stocks are too volitile, and stuffing it into the mattress might just be worth nothing much more than stuffing. The feeling out there is 'spend it while you've got it' because it might buy a hell of a lot less if you wait.

One could easily argue that the whole system was gamed to turn that money right back into the general economy and that there are industries out there (energy, food, etc.) who are going to cry danger to funnel that money towards them and then gouge the customers when they get there... customers who will be happy to be gouged.

Originally posted by Sublime620
Slow down debt. Fix the mortgage crisis. Pull out of Iraq. Invest the $13 billion a month in Iraq at home. Lower taxes for middle class and lower families. Set wages to match inflation rates, so that blue collar workers get the pay hikes they need to avoid the squeeze.

Hell, JUST pull out of Iraq and we'd be back to normal in no time. Of course then I'm sure a hydrogen bomb would go off at some Taco Bell in Mississippi and the whole process would start all over again.

Peace

Ha! There was just an economist on Fox News who was suggesting the very thing that I was theorizing about in the above post... that with interest rates where they are, savings accounts are losing money against inflation and that it made better financial sense to go out and buy rice, beans, pasta, and other foodstuffs in bulk and to stock up than it is to keep your money in the bank.

So, is that a way to encourage the masses to spend their rebate checks, or is it a very subtle, softball way to tell everyone to stock up and prepare for armageddon?

I think if they just made it illegal for a bank to charge more then 10% on ANY loan or Credit line..

THAT would fix our problem.

Then make it illegal for ANY bank to offer an interest rate on ANY form of savings less then 5%.

THAT would really fix our problem.

This stimulus package is what they say - too little, too late.

It's like going after a grizzly bear with a spitball and a straw! It ain't gonna work!

I'm not getting a rebate beause I did not file for 2007-but for those of you who did, you can double it by exchanging it for pennies minted befor 1982...their melt value is 2 cents!!

www.coinflation.com...

[edit on 25-4-2008 by Pilot]

What the hell is $600 gonna do?

With all these Americans in debt, I can see the collection companies calling people saying "I know you just got $600 from the government now GIMME!"

Seriously though, throwing $110 billion at a population that has to pay that back anyways is lame. Where did that money come from anyways? Is this Fed printed, government borrowed money? The $600 dollars will just be paid back through inflation and future taxes.

What a dud

Unless everyone getting a rebate goes out and uses that money to buy a gun and thereby giving the government something to think about.

I'll say it again, but not in order to defend a bubble gum fix for a leaking dam:

Even if you can't put that money back into the economy right away, some will be able to pay off a little of their debt and knock out possibly one or two monthly payments they've been making, and therefore have spendable income.

People who've gotten themselves in much deeper debt than that should have been taught better by their parents, the school systems, and not gotten themselves into that mess. On top of that, banks shouldn't be preying on people like that.

Originally posted by Sovereign797
People who've gotten themselves in much deeper debt than that should have been taught better by their parents, the school systems, and not gotten themselves into that mess.

I'm not sure if you are American or not and if you went through the public school system like I did, but there was never one lesson on such practical, necessary, and every-day life skills like savings and debt management. There absolutely should be, but when I went through the system, there sure wasn't.

DUD!

All it's going to do is go from my hand into the oil companies pockets. It'll all pretty much end up in the gas tank for me. And then to find out that we have to pay it back next tax season just makes me even madder

Originally posted by wutone


Unless everyone getting a rebate goes out and uses that money to buy a gun and thereby giving the government something to think about.

Not a bad idea. With having to register your guns when you buy them the gov would see this and it might make them think. I highly doubt it though with as many gun owners in America now and them not being nervous about it.

Ya its pretty awesome, I get a whopping 1200 bones I get to claim as income next year. Its ok though my wife is due december 1st so I should end up with like a $7000 return next year. Back to my stimulation check, The wife would like a smaller Coach purse (For her bday) I am buying car parts to maximize fuel efficiency.

reply to post by larphillips


Yeah, I'm American also, and I know that it's not commonly taught in school. And where it is available it's not normally required, it's a choice.

And life skills absolutely should be a requirement.

Originally posted by larphillips
it made better financial sense to go out and buy rice, beans, pasta, and other foodstuffs in bulk and to stock up than it is to keep your money in the bank.

So, is that a way to encourage the masses to spend their rebate checks, or is it a very subtle, softball way to tell everyone to stock up and prepare for armageddon?

I think you hit the nail on the head. This is the government's way of telling you to prepare for the lean times ahead.

If you're smart you'll use the money to buy extra food and supplies for your family. When the power grid goes down, and all the shopping malls are closed, those cases of canned meats and bags of grain wil look pretty damn good to you.

Now you can be optimistic and go buy yourself a new plasma screen TV, but I don't think it will fill your belly when it starts to rumbling.

One other thing, Why anyone would want to pay off their credit cards when they believe the bottom is about to fall out confounds me. Do they think they'll be of any use to them in a meltdown? Will having a AAA credit rating really matter when the loan companies have gone under? That's just my take on the matter..




[edit on 4/25/08 by LLoyd45]

I think it is great. It is due here in a few weeks, 1200 bucks, and it means I get to replace my wobbly bent rim on my car. I get to pay my bills for another month, and stave off homelessness, easing some of my pressure I am feeling trying to find a job right now. I have no idea how this impacts our country, and I really don't see how I can care about the bigger implications at this time either. It is a hard struggle for us right now; my sister is chronically ill, so we are just grateful for the surprise influx of cash that will definitely keep us afloat one more month. All of mine and hers will go for basic bills, not a penny on frivolous spending. Medicine, doctor visits and car repair.

I to think it's a deal and I need the extra money. ( extra money )? I didn't think there was such a thing as extra money. But I will do my part and spend the money to help our economy. But I will also help myself too. I need more garden plants to fill my garden up. I'm gonna fill my tank full of gas and the two five gallon gas cans I have. I'm also gonna buy some groceries to fill the cabinets and refrigerator with. Hey, it's money I wouldn't of had so why not spend it wise. Everything I buy will be helpful to me and my family. No games, no new TV or movies etc,...
Just good old food, garden and fuel to help us along.