Letters to the Editor
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@ Uncle Fester
Sorry, I don't see much pyschological benefit from a program that doesn't work and has bad side effects. In fact, I see backlash when it doesn't deliver. And the majority of most people's state of mind is connected to events in the real world, like monetary benefits.
So basically you are discounting any possibility that people sometimes have irrational perceptions of economic conditions, sometimes do not act in their own best interest, sometimes are swayed by psychologically appealing benefits rather than actual economic reality?
For example, this stimulus check business. Most of the lumpen are in love with it -- $600 from the sky! But would they love it as much if their payroll taxes were decreased a corresponding amount this year such that they would get the $600 + interest equivalent by the end of calendar 2008? No!
That's why people love tax returns too-- free money out of the sky, even though it's just money they overpaid in taxes, that the government has been making interest off, that they should have been making interest off instead. It would be smarter to put all your taxes in a savings account, instead of paying them, make the interest, and then pay in April. The interest is yours to keep, not the gov't's. But people don't get that.
Other stupid gimmicks: people love free shit! Here's a free $15 Circuit City gift card, but if you use it, you sign up for a $5/month service through your credit card. This is one out of my life. And i'm sure people actually go for it.
How do you think so many people ended up with mortgages they couldn't afford?!