Mailing $600 checks not
As enjoyable as a $600 tax rebate check may seem, the economic stimulus plan proposed by the White House lacks fiscal responsibility and any real chance of jump starting the economy.
If anything, the poorly conceived stimulus package only perpetuates the deep debt problems that encompass this nation and are to blame for so many of our economic woes in the first place. The stimulus package is a buy-now, pay-later philosophy ‘ only this time the taxpayers are footing the bill.
For starters, the government doesn’t have the estimated $100 billion required to send most individuals $600, most married couples $1,200, and an extra $300 for each child. So the stimulus package would plunge America even further into debt.
Eventually that $100 billion will have to be paid by some generation of taxpayers. It doesn’t just appear out of thin air.
On top of that, the White House isn’t encouraging people to put the money to meaningful use. Don’t use it for education. Don’t use it to pay off household debt. Just go out and spend it on a whim, the White House encourages. Pick up a new $699 flat-screen TV. Rush out and buy a $250 digital camera.
This sort of senseless spending is exactly what has greater America paralyzed by credit card debt. For our government to promote such consumer tactics is short-sighted indeed.
The broader picture is this stimulus package does virtually nothing to create jobs, and that should be the centerpiece of any revitalization effort. In fact, members of the Senate are currently pondering an amendment that would add money to the package to prolong unemployment benefits, thus encouraging people to remain jobless for longer.
Sen. Bob Corker opposes the tax rebate plan and said he’s ‘discouraged’ that legislators are supporting what amounts to nothing more than a political ploy.
‘I must say that I find it so odd that today in America we would consider a stimulus package that in essence is built on sprinkling money around America and then encouraging people to quickly spend that money,’ said Corker.
While the idea of getting a ‘free’ $600 government check has likely brought smiles to many Americans, we should be intelligent enough to realize nothing is free. Just like loading up the shopping cart and paying by credit card, there is eventually going to be a bill to pay.