Best way to stimulate: give money not to the banks but to the poor.* They’ll spend it. So, businesses, banks, and state sales tax coffers will end up with it anyway. But, not before the poor spend it on housing, food, and transportation. Give everyone a debit card and put $500 into it every month. It’s a safety net and a stimulus in one package.
(* To simplify administration, just give it to everyone. Don’t complicate it with phaseouts, income ceilings, etc. Those complexities waste too much space in the news and consume too much of everyone’s time.)
I don’t know that anyone could expect anything different. Debt that is out of site (personal and public), incompetent financial executives and what are and will always be the worst people to guide this country through troubled waters: our elected officials. The consumers are trying to back themselves out of problems they probably created themselves, while the other two groups are blindly dithering in a world gone bad.
While yesterday's US stock market close was poor, Asia and Europe didn't follow today as debt in Greece, Spain, Portugal, etc... rallied, their CDS narrowed and stocks bounced. The Greek finance minister said January tax revenues came in above expectations and that spending was below target for the month and said "that means the deficit reduction for January is well within what we have promised." The euro is rising in turn. Also helping is the story that Trichet is headed to the European Union leaders summit a day early in order to address Greece's problems even as the Greek finance...
February 9th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Gee, we’re broke.
Best way to stimulate: give money not to the banks but to the poor.* They’ll spend it. So, businesses, banks, and state sales tax coffers will end up with it anyway. But, not before the poor spend it on housing, food, and transportation. Give everyone a debit card and put $500 into it every month. It’s a safety net and a stimulus in one package.
(* To simplify administration, just give it to everyone. Don’t complicate it with phaseouts, income ceilings, etc. Those complexities waste too much space in the news and consume too much of everyone’s time.)
February 9th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
At this rate, just about anything is better than the useless stimulus plan.
February 9th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
I hate when that happens (looking at the line from left to right).
February 9th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
I don’t know that anyone could expect anything different. Debt that is out of site (personal and public), incompetent financial executives and what are and will always be the worst people to guide this country through troubled waters: our elected officials. The consumers are trying to back themselves out of problems they probably created themselves, while the other two groups are blindly dithering in a world gone bad.
February 12th, 2009 at 12:29 am
Please let that money at least be going into savings