Posted on 01/19/2008 5:16:07 PM PST by Libloather
Will the check be in the mail?
Last Edited: Saturday, 19 Jan 2008, 1:47 PM EST
TAMPA - Cash can be like a jolt of caffeine to a national economy. In 2001, the federal government sent every income taxpayer a $300 rebate check. It ran up our debt, but also helped end our last recession.
Now President Bush and Congressional leaders want to try it again. This time they may send every income taxpayer a larger check. Economists say that could stimulate our economy again if recipients spend much of their rebates on products.
"Letting American people keep more of their own money should increase consumer spending," said President Bush. That could potentially pull us out of the credit and mortgage mess that's hurting the entire U.S. economy. For this to work, federal leaders need to act soon.
"A stimulus must be timelyif it comes too late, it can interfere with a recovery," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
President Bush also wants tax credits for small businesses that could entice them to expand and hire. Congress may also increase unemployment benefits, and increase food stamp allotments.
On the downside, big rebates can drive up debt and inflation over the long run, which takes money out of our pockets. But our government is focused on a temporary stimulus, to address the problems we have today.
Exactly. It's the high fuel costs which is really driving the economy into a recession. This one time "rebate" is just giving people their own money back, (which they will have to add to their income and pay tax on next year)
It's not called a "mid muffler". it's called a "catalytic converter". it is a pollution control device, not a muffler.
They’re sending people nothing. It was THEIR money to begin with.
If anything is needed, it is an across-the-board permanent tax cut.
I work from my home. No commute. If not for giving my son a ride to work, the battery on my truck would run down and die. He pays for the gas I use to transport him. Lest you think working at home is a party, realize that I'm always at work. My phone rings from early morning until late evening (11 PM) with calls from my colleagues all over the U.S. I allocate about 800 sq ft of my house to support my work. The computers, electricity, heating/cooling, DSL, ISP and cellphone costs all come out of my after tax income. My company only pays for postage (USPS, UPS, FedEx) and domestic mileage to deliver the parcels to the appropriate shipping agency.
My wife has a wretched 1.1 mile commute to work...4 days a week for 10 hour shifts. The cost of gasoline is a nuisance.
I won't have any problem putting a check right back into the economy. It will support a local businessman, a U.S. manufacturer and all the trucking companies that deliver the goods from the factory to my town.
Yeah but it is nice to get it back...
That's what I do with every nickel of windfall.
I brought up cutting the gas tax and dropping fuel costs back to under $2.50 a gallon and a woman told me she would rather have the cash!
That won't work unless 90% of "Law Enforcement is fired and the rest disarmed (I am in favor of this, BTW).
Are you stationed in Japan?
It works out to about $38,000. For every person, not 448,000. And I've already paid my share of it this year alone, (and your share too. All in all, our national debt isn't really that bad when you take into account what our GNP is.
What IS bad about our national debt is how it's being managed. It's being added to year after year instead of being paid down. When it reaches about 12% of out GNP (currently it's about 8%) then you can say we are in bad shape.
Don't worry, the rest of the world's economy will have gone around the bend in the toilet before ours will, so all that "finacial tsunami" will do is level the field, with the imaginary wealth of the "world bank" resetting everyones bank balance.
Dang. What do you own - an 18 wheeler? $800 should cover a ton of gas and some of those extra-fancy imported smokes.
Dissolution of HEW, HUD and the IRS would be a start.
Nope. I've got a catalytic converter and two mufflers. That's why one is called a mid-muffler. Learn something new every day - eh?
And just where will the money come from? Reduced spending? Not bloody likely! The government will borrow it and sink our children deeper in debt.
The last check I received was for real loot. It had nothing to do with returns or advanced returns since I wasn't due anything. Making sure you REPORT the income from that government check maybe another matter.
Then it’s called a resonator. Yep you do learn something new every day, don’t you?
I thought it was $448,000 per household.
The printing presses are being oiled and warmed up.
Printing 200 Billion dollars might take a few weeks though.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.