Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Maybe We Should Try Stimulating Individuals Instead. THAT Would Stimulate the Economy. | Personal Finance Corner

AllBusiness.com

"What if it was given to individuals? What if the government took the rest of the $350 billion from the $700 billion bailout and gave it to the people? They could give $50,000 to $100,000 tax free to households making less than $250,000 and remain under that $300 billion mark. They're going to give that money to people who made bad decisions anyway, it might as well be regular folks who made bad decisions. Besides, if there was a massive stimulus package for individuals, many of us who made good decisions would be rewarded.

Congress could even stipulate that $10,000 of the money has to be spend on consumer goods. Now there's something that would stimulate the economy. And do it quickly. And just imagine how many people would go out and buy a new car. Auto industry gets help to! Plus, such a large chunk of money would help individual personal finances as well:

--Debt reduction.
--Increased investment (would help the stock market).

--Make substantial payments on mortgages (reduce foreclosures).

If our politicians are bound and determined (and they are!) to spend hundreds of billions of dollars, maybe they should abandon trickle down in favor of trickle up." (Emphasis Mine.)

Think about it: Your family and that of most everybody you know could have received something like $75,000 each, the government would have stopped its bleeding cash at just about $300 billion and what argument could there be against this as the easiest, cheapest and fastest way to jump-start the economy while also letting the current fat-cat idiots get their just desserts?

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