Okay my fellow Americans! And by all means, foreign colleagues chime in...

Today George W. Bush is cutting check to taxpayers around the country in his Economic Stimulus Package deal!

Why? The U.S. Economy is in a rut and he wants to stimulate it by way of giving us either checks of varied amounts - $300, $600 and for married people like me...$1200! All for the purpose of spending it - putting it back in our economy to get it...um going!

Anyone plan on spending or saving it?

Those outside the U.S.? Any opinion on these state of economic affairs?

Has this happened in your country? This is the second time Bush has done this in his two-term presidency.

blntmaker
Okay my fellow Americans! And by all means, foreign colleagues chime in...

Today George W. Bush is cutting check to taxpayers around the country in his Economic Stimulus Package deal!

Why? The U.S. Economy is in a rut and he wants to stimulate it by way of giving us either checks of varied amounts - $300, $600 and for married people like me...$1200! All for the purpose of spending it - putting it back in our economy to get it...um going!

Anyone plan on spending or saving it?

Those outside the U.S.? Any opinion on these state of economic affairs?

Has this happened in your country? This is the second time Bush has done this in his two-term presidency.

I commute so the Saudis will likely be the recipients of my $300

It went into my total budget so there's no true way of saying "I spent it on this".
Any extra I have at the end of the month goes to my extended family and charity, so i guess you could say it went there.

good point.

So that "nutjob", Alex Jones is right.

The wife and I filed an extension and may not be able to file our return on time with that either.

So the stimulus package means nothing for us.

Like a few hundred dollars will stimulate the economy. lol!

There is some speculation that gas will be going up to $10 a gallon before the end of the year. This doesn't even offset current prices.

So, yeah. Thanks a lot for the pittance, oil guy in the White House.

the best spin I can put on it is this:

The government borrows money at much better rates than I do. So if the government borrows $300 from china and gives it to me, it's a better deal than if i put another $300 on my credit cards.

Hmm. That argument sounds kind of thin, doesn't it? But it was all I could come up with.

The bad news: Americans get the government we deserve.

Dear USA: Time to deserve better.

StaceyMontgomery
The government borrows money at much better rates than I do. So if the government borrows $300 from china and gives it to me, it's a better deal than if i put another $300 on my credit cards.

Hahahahahaha. I'm planning on investing my 300 dollars in school and an apartment (to reduce commuting distance) to help stem the flow of money that would being going to my car otherwise. Unfortunately, I get the feeling that it's not going to make that big of a difference and that I'll just end up owing 1200 extra dollars in taxes next year.

I would save it, but you have to do more than break even to earn money. I have no surplus. My bank account is just the levee over which my money flows to my bill-collectors.

Salsicoruc
Hahahahahaha. I'm planning on investing my 300 dollars in school and an apartment (to reduce commuting distance) to help stem the flow of money that would being going to my car otherwise. Unfortunately, I get the feeling that it's not going to make that big of a difference and that I'll just end up owing 1200 extra dollars in taxes next year.

At the very least you're decreasing the amount of money that goes to oil companies, and I think that in itself is good.

I'm going to invest in a zero emissions vehicle. And it's only got two wheels!

SpANG
There is some speculation that gas will be going up to $10 a gallon before the end of the year.

There is also some speculation that Shaq will lead the Suns to the playoffs next year.

Of course, everyone I hear saying this will be the case seems to have trouble finding the bottle they lost in the gutter just moments previously.

So, yeah. Thanks a lot for the pittance, oil guy in the White House.

Yeah, thanks, because it's paying off a huge bill I'm being hit with next month that I otherwise would have to get an equally huge loan to cover. But tell you what; if you're positive gas prices are going to spike that high, invest your check in oil stock. Why pass up a "sure fire thing"?

people really missed the point on this one I think. Everybody focused on the amount they were getting and what it would be spent on. The point of the exercise was that billions of dollars were suddenly added to the circulation in the economy which reversed the losses to the amount of liquid cash in the US. It really doesn't matter that much how they distributed just that the administration injected money into direct use.

First of all, if you people think this is free money, you're nuts. The last time we got a refund like this we paid for it in spades. This is, in effect, a LOAN. WITH INTEREST.

I personally would like to see that billions of dollars go towards closing the loopholes for outsourcing America and its jobs. But hey, I guess that's just me.

Secondly, paying it on bills? That's exactly my point. Paying it on bills isn't going to revive the economy. Bush was hoping y'all would git yer DVD plasma TV type thingies and take the family to Chuck E. Cheese. Throwing it away on useless things like mortages, water, or electricity ain't gonna help.

Last, this is going to do exactly jack squat for the economy (in the long run it will HURT), except help out the huge corporations, which is exactly why it was designed. "Trickle Down" economics never works, and it's funny some people still think it does.

But I've just decided. I'll be putting mine into a donation for Barack Obama. Thanks for helping me.

To be honest, I didn't even notice the money. I don't rigorously budget and merely look at the total to see if its going up or down. When it goes up, that's good, when it goes down, its bad.

The extra money will help some indicators, but will not help the economy in general, because the flaws in the economy are systemic, and not a matter of cash flow.

Also, people in need won't benefit from it much because it doesn't solve their own systemic problems -- if you're continually losing money, a few bucks only delays the inevitable.