Letters to the Editor
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Somebody help me out, please
I'm trying to understand something.
Year ago, our president declared that tax cuts were needed to ensure our continued prosperity, particularly tax cuts for the extremely wealthy. The Republican-controlled congress at the time agreed and so it happened.
Today our economy is in awful shape and our government has decided to give billions of dollars of spending money to low and middle income people.
My questions are:
1) If tax cuts for the wealthy were such a great idea, how did we end up in this predicament?
2) Why is the government giving money to low and middle income people? Wouldn't it be more consistent with the logic behind our tax policy to give (for example) $1 billion to each of the 170 wealthiest people? Wouldn't that stimulate the economy more effectively?
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Informal polls are awesome
Okay, we had a couple of laughs. So, what does it tell us? That the stimulus package is based on a wrong idea? Perhaps. Let's try a slightly more scientific poll AFTER people actually receive the money. Ask them what they've spent it on then. Maybe the results might turn out a bit different.
Another point: paying off credit card debt is somewhat akin to consumer spending, except you're finally paying for an item that you've bought a while ago with the money you didn't have. Sort of like filling a gap, of sorts. Of course, credit card debt resembles less a gap than a gaping maw, and tossing money into it will likely not have a gigantic effect. Still, it will allow quite a few people to bust out those credit cards and get into debt again. Which will definitely grease the wheels of our economy, wouldn't it? I mean, c'mon, who pays for things with actual cash that they have, anyway. It's all about waving the plastic. And as soon as American consumers toss their $600-1200 into the yawning chasm of their credit card debt, they will feel justified to bust out with the plastic once again.
It'll work, you'll see.
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Salon readers
Male readers will buy new perfume and new tweezers to prune their goatees.
Female readers will buy vodka and get drunk.
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Spending Spree?
How about paying the exorbitant taxes with it? I live in Michigan on a pension, and owe the state $500!
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Does It Matter?
I use my rebate to pay my credit card bill. But that leaves me with extra money in my bank account that would have gone to the bill otherwise. Presumably I'll use that extra money for something. Does it matter how I spent those specific dollars that come with the rebate? The credit card bill will have to be paid eventually (presumably). If I use the rebate to pay it, I'll have extra money I would have used to pay that bill otherwise.
Putting it in savings is one thing, but using it to pay a bill that you would have paid anyway doesn't really change anything except timing.
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Andrew Leonard for President!
We need somebody who can count and knows all the colors.
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It's a loan...
Our country is in horrendous debt. This so-called "stimulus" is a loan that future taxpayers will have to repay.
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Yeah, pay off credit card debt. And then run it right back up again.
Of course people will be paying off credit card debt. That's what people that have CC debt typically do with a windfall, and it makes them feel like financially responsible people. If history is any guide though, 6 months later their credit card debt will be right back where is started.
No worries, this forced loan (people do realize it will be collected later in taxes w/ interest don't they?) will do exactly what it's intended to do.
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Well, We Know Where Salon's Personality Remains
Right here at HTWW. Great Friday post, great fun!
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another informal poll after they arrive, please (preferably after people are likely to have spent them)
First poster already suggested this. I'd love to see a follow-up poll of how people ended up spending their checks, and how it differed from what they originally said they'd do.
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I'd like to change my answer...
I'd originally planned to use my stimulus to pay taxes.
After having read a few other articles tonight, I think I'll buy a year's worth of good pet health insurance and let the taxman go hang.
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Screw you, Anonymous
Thanks to the Asshole in Chief, this female reader will be using her check to do things like pay the electricity bill. It's been YEARS since I could spend such a windfall on frivolous crap. Like a huge number of people in this country, I can't afford to think about luxuries; it's hard enough just to keep my head above water.
But then, what with the hard-on this administration has for waterboarding, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that we're all drowning.
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Uh, where exactly is this party?
I'd like to know.
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Shoot, is there anyone out there who's _not_ got some kind of debt?
...and could afford to spend on more crap they can't afford and really can't afford to keep? I don't even have to crunch the numbers to know my check will be used to pay down my estimated tax _and_ pay to get my taxes done. So much for that shopping spree...:P
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Numbers
Twelve promised to donate their check to Barack Obama. Two said they'd give theirs to Hillary Clinton.
6:1 ratio between Obama donations to Clinton donations? Yeah, that seems about right, at least among small donors.
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Small trip
I think I'll use it for a trip - I've always wanted to see Gettysburg National Park.
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Paying down their debt...
Salon readers have to put their rebates toward credit card debt because we put $1300 per cat on that plastic.
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Here's what I'm doing.....
....I am NOT going to whoop and holler and jump up and down and run off for a spending spree at Walmart. I don't want or need any lead-filled crap from China, electronic doo-dads, BP3s or whatever they're called, or a nice pair of boots (my mom's intention). I will put the wad of cash in my home safe and draw on it as needed to pay for GAS and FOOD, when my money for the week runs out. Thanks a lot for the check, PTB, but I'm not going to spend it giddily on toaster ovens, $100 jeans, or perfume. I have to keep myself alive first.
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The "Rebate" Is TOTALLY Inappropriate
We now appear to have a government that operates totally on expediency and not on principle. For the Federal government to borrow $150 million, mostly, no doubt, from China, so the politicians can send a paltry few hundred dollars to each citizen is the kind of false patronage that helped bring down the Roman Empire. I deeply resent the added burden of debt laid on future generations by this Administration, and it appears, this Congress. I'll probably put the money in some kind of investment or donate it to the campaign of a politician opposed to these kinds of shenanigans. Stupid-is-as-stupid-does.
My next question is, if the government is sending out checks to stave off this pothole of a recession, what will it do when we hit chasm of the post-peak oil mega-depression in two to five years?