Ok, let me get this straight - I think I might have a solution to this economic crisis we've gotten ourselves into.
Today, President Obama signed a $787 billion dollar stimulus package bill, with the goal of creating 3.5 million jobs and help pull the U.S. out of one of the worst recessions in generations.
Ok, so if it takes one thousand millions to make a billion and the U.S. population is about 300 million - why not just give every American citizen 1 million dollars?
Seriously!
Take 1 billion out of the 787, give everyone 1 million, and we still have 700 million in change.
Not only would everyone be happy and willing to both spend and save - heck - we'd still have $786+ in today's signed package!
Think about it. Why the hell not?
Oh crap, I think my math is wrong... never mind...
That's Right,
HMK
Posts
Well...for starters...because I think everyone would quit their job, or at least not show up for work for awhile.
ReplyDeleteHow about $100,000 per family?
ReplyDeleteToo bad calculators have always been my Kryptonite...
ReplyDeleteHMK
Mike, could I come over Thursday evening and get some help filling out my taxes?
ReplyDeleteit's okay HMK... the government can't figure it out either.
ReplyDeleteMy friend's idea was that every American family should receive a 30,000 dollar debit card. The caveat is that they MUST spend it within three months. After three months the card shuts down. The money can be used to pay off debt, buy a new car, pay for college, whatever....but the bottom line is that the money must be used and after three months whatever is left over goes back to the government.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the debt card idea would also be an awesome way to track the spending and improve the process of future plans. I'm for anything that's going to enable the people to help themselves - it's just too bad that every mechanism to get help folks get ahead is either pathetically archaic or impossibly complicated and confusing.
ReplyDeleteHMK
I'll take 3.33! I could get a green tea at Starbucks!
ReplyDeleteThe point of this message is not missed.... WHAT THE HECK ARE THEY DOING WITH OUR MONEY!!!!!????
ReplyDelete..but, we need to have a better understanding if we are going to demand that our government does what is right. (see the xls file)
Somehow they believe that they can fix everything. I say nonsense! If we believe that we are headed for even more trouble. They might as well be trying to fix the weather system by having the weather channel give us sunshiny information. wink!
As Jonathan Gurwitz wrote in his column in today's paper, why is it that the government has the public convinced that there is a multiplier factor when they spend our money?
They tell us that when they spend it the results are 1.5 times as good for the economy as when each of us spend our own money before they get hold of it. Go figure.
J Collier
Small Scale Metalsmith
http://jlcollier.com
actually, to ask what the government is doing with our money doesn't even fully address the problem. let's face the fact that our government has already spent all of our money. this stimulus package is being borrowed from other counties. think budget deficit and national debt. the government says it was the banks and insurance companies irresponsibility that got us in trouble. we never hear about the terms of the loans we have with other countries. i can only imagine that they are just as complicated as sub-prime mortgage or credit default swap.
ReplyDeleteso like i said, i would be happier knowing the government was giving us some of our own money back to go spend. in reality, they are forcing us to spend money we are borrowing from china and other more solvent countries. i don't like the sound of that.
ultimately i feel we as americans are to blame. we have become a society that must buy more and pay less for stuff we mostly don't need. it's not made as well anymore and just breaks faster and needs to be replaced sooner. at least americans used to build the things we bought... now we just borrow money from the countries that make the stuff we used to build. does anybody else see the problem with that. this culture made america a super economic power, but where do we go from here... this may be just the tip of the iceberg.
then again, i'm a big hypocrite since my company imports goods made in china so sell in the USA. i can only sleep at night because i know if it wasn't us, it would be some other company doing it.
Scott
Hilarious!! loved the post. lets just say that as you sow, so shall you reap. And all countries are reaping some mistake of their past decisions, to varying degrees. The only answer to our world's problems are that we have to consume less, and stop depleting the earth's resources, regardless of which country they come from. The basic reason for the recession is human greed.
ReplyDelete