Show Me the Money
All I have to say is, it’s about time. This economy has been in turmoil for at least a year and they are finally getting around to doing something about it. Congress is making plans to create an economic stimulus package that would give checks of $600 per individual and $1,200 per couple who paid income tax and who filed jointly. If you did not pay taxes but had earned income of more than $3,000 would get checks of $300 per individual or $600 per couple. The checks would go to those who earned up to $75,000 individually or up to $150,000 as a couple.
This deal is still in the making because both parties have stipulations they want added to the package to make it seem like they’re the one who helped America in its time of need. I hope they get their act together and put together a package that Bush will sign. And I hope he is willing to compromise on some of the things in it so people can get some much needed help from their government.
The ten million dollar question is what would you do with some extra cash from the government? The idea is to get it into the hands of the lower and middle class because they know it will be spent as soon as it gets there. There are a lot of people in need who could really use the money. Energy prices are up and the price of gas is making everything else go up. Jobs aren’t paying as much as they used to and the dollar doesn’t buy as much as it used to. But I hope America is paying attention to what is happening. The housing crisis can’t be fully blamed on predatory lending. High credit card debt isn’t an issue the government should be concerned about. Some of this blame needs to go to the consumer. We overspent, we over-endulged and our eyes in some cases were bigger than our pocket book.
So whatever happens, I hope you are making ‘08 the year to get out of debt. It’s a nice thing and you don’t have to be rich to do it. It takes some work and delayed gratification, but in the end it’s worth it. So spend yo money wisely!
“People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.” I Timothy 6:9, NIV
January 24th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
While I’ll welcome a $1,200 check, I really just see this as a temporary fix. It will provide a short term boost the economy but what about in the long run? I can already imagine that most of the checks will go to debt payments which puts the money back into the corporations (not that paying your debts is a bad thing–of course not). They basically want the money to cycle through the economy by encouraging spending. Good in a macro economic way but it doesn’t do much for households. I guess it just depends on how you use it.
I just think that more permanent measures need to be taken. These are the tough decisions that our “leaders” have been to chicken to deal with.
January 25th, 2008 at 10:20 am
I agree. More needed to be done a long time ago. In the article, I had to laugh because the article said “The stimulus package may face resistance from fiscal conservatives in both parties over worries that it would increase the federal debt.”. We can’t find the money for Americans, but we millions of dollars a day for the Iraq war.