CHESSNOID

We are spending record amounts of tax dollars to try to fix a broken economy.According to CNN.Money:

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The U.S. government is now willing to spend more than $7 trillion to help rescue the economy. That’s about $23,000 for every American, and more than half of U.S. annual gross domestic product.

It’s a staggering and unprecedented amount of money. The last time the government went on a spending spree to cure a crisis was in the late 1980s and 1990s during the savings and loan crisis. But the $160 billion ($237 billion in today’s dollars) it spent then comes nowhere close to what’s being spent now.

Remember earlier this year when Bush, Bernanke, and Paulson decided that a stimulus package of $600 per person would get the economy going. Looking back on it now, it’s obvious it didn’t really help. Just imagine if they had decided to just send every American a $23,000 check back then instead of bailing out this or that company. Do you think that would of boosted the economy? You know it would have. Of course that would have been a short term fix.

If you received a check or better yet a debit card from the IRS and you were forced to spend it on consumer goods or services only, which would mean you could not use it to pay down credit cards or loans or even just put it in the bank to save for a rainy day. That would be an awful lot of spending. Students could pay for tuition for a year, or maybe 2 or 4 years depending where they went. Parents could pay for daycare for a year. Everyone could buy a new car and have it completely paid off. Investors would be allowed to buy $23,000 worth of stock. Wow!  I can see $23,000 stimulus checks helping fix the economy to help it get it back on the right track.

I am not sure but I do believe that quote from CNN means every American since the next few generations will wind up paying it back.  That means if you have a wife and 2 kids your household would get $92,000 stimulus check.  Would that help out most families?  Heck yeah!.  I see a down payment for a house, college funding for your kids or grandchildren, new small businesses opening up.  The possibilities are endless.

Back to reality.  Let’s see what Bush, Bernanke, and Paulson will do before they leave office.  Then let’s watch and see if Obama and his new administration do something different to help the economy get on the right track or will they spend foolishly like his predecessor.

We have already spent the money trying to prop up failing companies that should have been allowed to go bankrupt. What do we have to show for this big expenditure for bailouts? Most Americans were against the bailouts, and there are surely more to come. I wonder if giving every American the money directly would be better in fixing the economy than paying Wall Street Executives and others bonuses? Hmmmmm.