Dividend or payoff?

[Realitycheck]

Originally Posted by agentchange

 

It will be interesting to see if they actually do give us an $800 check and if that will do anything to the economy any more than short-term. Frankly, I believe that it is caused by a number of factors that are a lot harder to fix. Everybody is already bracing for problems - extended war, high gas prices, dollar glut, baby boomers, etc. If they give us the rebates, that will inject 250 billion into our pockets, of which a portion will be saved. 150 billion out of 15 trillion total GDP, it can't hurt!

 

Why not? The government should feel responsible for encroaching on our lives, so why not give some of it back?

[swansont]

Why not? The government should feel responsible for encroaching on our lives, so why not give some of it back?

 

If it's a rebate, like the previous time, then all they are doing is giving you an advance on a presumed tax refund. And last time, a lot of people just paid off bills or stuck it in the bank, rather than spend it. And then had a surprise when their tax refund was smaller or they owed money when they filed their taxes, because they didn't realize it was just an advance. They aren't giving it back.

 

And if you pay off a high interest account, it means that the financial industry profits will take a hit (not that this is a bad thing™), and they're in a lot of trouble already with all of these bad mortgages. In the hurry to stimulate the economy, this could possibly worsen one of the conditions that put us in this situation in the first place.