One blogger's rant about the fiscal stimulus plan
Posted
Feb 07 2008, 09:28 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Now that a $168 billion economic stimulus package has been approved by Congress, we thought we'd revisit David's recent post about the plan at My Two Dollars. He thinks it's a bunch of bunk. (Actually, his wording was a bit stronger.) Where, he wants to know, is the money coming from?
"We are borrowing to pay for everything nowadays because Bush has spent us into the poorhouse. ... And yet we still have (money) to hand out to every person in the country? No, we actually don't," he writes. "It will be paid for by us, just not today." (Lest you think this is a partisan rant, he lets the Democrats have it, too.)
David also doubts the success of the plan, which he says is based on an assumption that low- and moderate-income people will spend the $600 tax rebate check they'll get. He writes: "There are of course the people that will view it as a gift from the government -- like they see tax refunds too -- and buy themselves a plasma TV, and that of course will, I suppose, stimulate the economy a bit, at least at Best Buy."
He notes that the national debt now exceeds $9 trillion, and "each person's share of this debt is around $30,000. How does it feel to owe that much? So glad I paid off my credit cards, only to find myself back in debt," he says.
He finds it amusing that a U.S. Treasury Department Web site provides an address where people can donate money to reduce the national debt. You can send them your rebate check if you want, he says. "Me?" he writes. "Putting it right in the bank for when that bill comes due down the road."
