The BBC news (www.bbcnews.com) has been spending a lot of time talking about the American economy. And no wonder -- it's not exactly a secret that we're facing some serious economy issues. Recent articles include the following: "US consumers cut spending plans," "House prices suffer 11% drop," "Big fall in retail sales," and even, "The end of the American dream?"
In an effort to boost the economy, President Bush has developed the Economic Stimulus plan, which will provide every person who files a tax return this year to receive an early rebate check between $300 and $1800. Personally, I'm pretty excited to be getting some free money from the government! But will it make a difference? Will consumers be willing to go out and spend that money, or will they put it in savings or use it for other purposes? What do you think?
According to an about.com poll, http://homebusiness.about.com/gi/pages/poll.htm?poll_id=1106042403&linkb...
homebusiness.about.com/b/2008/01/23/poll-what-would-you-do-with-a-tax-rebate.htm,
40% of people would pay off bills, 21% would save it, 15% would spend it on necessities and11% would spend it on luxuries.
Like I said, I'm excited about getting free money. But at the same time I wonder if this will really make an impact on our falling economy. Is Americans not having money really the issue here, or is the fact that we're in a money-sucking war? That the government is trillions of dollars in debt? That the 4000th American recently died at war? Or even, could we suggest that this is part of economics, the rise and fall of money? The United States economy has been in recession before and always managed to come back. What do you think about these figures? Will the economy get a boost? Is the government attempting to take care of the issue at hand while ignoring the more important, underlying problems? What do you have to say?
With the cost of living increasing everyday, I doubt this 300 dollar check will solve anyones problems. Where is this money coming from? Our own wallet. We are already in debt. Giving out more money will just put us further in the hole that we're in. We are relying more and more on foreign investors which is a bad thing. Honestly I think this plan will help people short-term but what about in the long run. It will just aid to our demise.
+mspin
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/weezyf
It just seems so stupid to me. We're operating on paying interest on a growing 9 trillion dollar debt, the value of our dollar is dropping, and the cost of living is going up- yet a big difference is supposed to be made by redistributing small amounts of cash back to the people?
But then, whoever came up with this plan must have a reason? There couldn't have been no one who would have pointed out the short comings that the public can just toss around? It's such a big decision <<< This is my hope at this point... I really don't think it would actually have a large impact though, and eventually come back to hurt us.
it's not really "Bush's" economic stimulus, because Congress made the law and passed it. All Bush did was sign it, and make suggestions, but he didn't actually "develop" it.
And the point of the bill isn't to give people money because people need money, it's to get people to spend money so businesses can profit and then afford to hire people and all that great stuff. Not that I think it will have enough of an impact, but that's the idea.
Also, saying it's just part of the economic cycle doesn't help people if they lose their jobs and their homes.
check out this report on the stimulus:
Economic Stimulus 08
and it doesn't seem to be working as intended. it's just being spent on gas and similar items.