Posted on 07/30/2010 10:43:45 AM PDT by klb99
So...I am not even close to a financial genius but there is something I've been thinking about since the whole $800B+ stimulus debacle that I've not heard anyone else talk about. What would have happened if, instead of putting us in hock for $800B+, this administration had simply give every man, woman and child citizen $1M? That is only about $300M instead of $800B. Everyone would have probably bought a house (fixed the housing slump), bought a new car or 2 (fixed the auto industry), most would have paid off debt (fixed the credit business), most folks would have bought clothes, housewares, appliances etc etc (fixed the consumer confidence index).
Some would have wasted the money - but I bet most would have used it as I described.
Where am I wrong???
A viable alternative to stimulus: Keep the FEDs out of the private sector altogether. Keep taxes low for EVERYONE, and get out of the regulation business. The yoyos only mess things up, either by design or by stupidity.
Do not extend workman’s comp! Too many unemployed are getting more from the FEDs than they can earn in a job, so they stop looking for work! Mercilessly cut invalid and obsolescent FEDeral programs. Stop nation building and funding other countries!
SECURE THE BORDERS! ENFORCE CURRENT IMMIGRATION LAW! NO BENEFITS FOR ILLEGALS! NO AMNESTY FOR ILLEGALS! oh yes, and DEFUND ACORN!
And that is about it. ;)
GM never went bankrupt.
Yeah, but think of what a COOL COUNTRY it would be if everyone was a millionaire! France and Germany would be SO jealous! And China would probably never speak to us again.
/sarc
Hah! ... Yeah, its embarrassing when you mess up the basic math. It happens.
I think he just conflated the millions (300M persons x 1M$/person = 300M$.... ooops... dropped a factor of a million).
Are YOU Barry Half-White’s Accountant?...
It would be cool if everyone was a millionairre. Only Robert Mugabe has had the courage and vision to try this so far
/sarc
Yes GM did declare bankruptcy - Chapter 11 - case #09-50026 inthe souther district. The GM that is in business today is a new company that bought the assets, but not the bondholder liabilities with our money.
You should have asked yourself before you posted: If everyone was given a million dollars, who would do the work?
Either that, or cars would cost $1 million each, and houses $50 million each.
Give it about 20 years, and we’ll all be millionaires. But a million won’t buy you much.
LOL
The GM bonds were worth about 60 cents on the dollar before the Obama GM bailout. Afterwards, they were paid 10 cents on the dollar, as GM lost another 25 billion or so in the next 3 months, and the US claimed that it and the UAW had priority over GM bondholders.
Bankruptcy law would have put the UAW and the US behind the bondholders, as UAW was a general creditor (as well as the entity that bankrupted GM, along with gutless management) and the US could not legally get in front of senior creditors (except for taxes, which were not an issue, since GM had no taxable income).
Short version: GM bondholders were robbed. Under law, they should have received 100 percent of the company, UAW and Obama zero. Last I checked, theft under color of law is still legally theft.
I love your sense of humor~
There's an old Scrooge McDuck cartoon about that. He lost all his money, and the townspeople picked it up. The nephews thought he was crazy having them work when he had no money. But all those people with found money refused to work, until Scrooge McDuck earned all the money back.
Whoever said that in a recession, money returns to its rightful owners, never had to deal with this CONgress.
"Thieves! Robbers! Politicians!" - S. McDuck
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