What would you do with $500?
Part of President Obama’s stimulus package is a tax credit of $500 for individuals and $1,000 for couples (with some income restrictions). If Congress passes the measure, what will you spend it on?
If you intend to pay off debt, how are you deciding which debt to pay down? If you are saving the money, are you investing it or just putting it in an account?
Your responses could be part of an upcoming story.
I would pay bills, try to stop foreclosure on my home, buy food for my household, stop utilities disconnects, etc. I am on unemployment and not making enough money to pay anything. I am single and have a single family mortgage which I can’t even afford to move into another place because I don’t have enough income. My furnace is not working, it is cold, and I am steadily getting sick, off and on because I am very susceptible to illnesses these days.
What happens to daycare providers who don’t get a part of the stimulus money to be given in tax cuts? We are being affected by the people we do daycare for when their hours are cut or they lose their jobs. There is no unemployment or job security.
How well did the last stmulus plan work? oh yeah it didnt. Our government has wasted to much money on these bailouts when they should have been giving it back to th people!
I agree with Posted By anonymous, california: January 28, 2009 1:21 pm
And People here saying that others are being lazy and not working thats not true their being laid off from their jobs..Many who have worked at the same place for years….Stop taking jobs if I would gladly give mine to keep a person working. I live on a 700 check per month disability. I haven’t gotten any help yet paying my rent which is 425. a month plus electric, phone, Groceries,toiletries,co-pays,and gas to and from appointment. I still would give up 500. to keep someone working. We have got to look at others in this desperate time…Many have needs far greater than ours.
WELL WITH GAS GOING UP AND UP AND THEN SOME BACK DOWN… AND PAY KEEPS GETTING CUT. I WOULD DIFFENTLY PUT IT BACK INTO MY ACCOUNT SO I COULD AFFORD TO GET BACK AND FORTH TO WORK! ITS SO STRESSFUL WITH THIS ECONOMY TODAY!!
It would be helpful if the stimulus package incentivized corporate America to stop laying off workers. What ever happened to corporations treating employees like family? A large company announces a buyout that cost 68 billion and in the same breath announce 8000 layoffs. What is being done to protect the employee along with the shareholder. It seems only the shareholder matters and employees are not part of protection program.
If uneducated people like me can see that your plans arn’t going to work, why can’t you? Give the money back to the people. $500. isn’t going to do anything. Give at least $250,000.00 to people who have filed taxes within the past 5 years who make less then $1,000,000. a year and who are over 18. Or something to that effect. I know I would pay off my house, buy a new car, and open a new salon with my daughter. Now isn’t that a good idea? Lets see something done for us middle class people.
Thanks for listening, Sarah
“I say we ditch the payments to the roughly half of Americans who pay no taxes and give the stimulus money back to the ones who earned it in the first place. The people who don’t pay taxes have been getting their ‘economic stimulus checks’ for decades. Please.”
Posted By Beth, Roanoke, VA: January 26, 2009 9:35 am
______________________________________
Winner
The 500 isn’t worth a hill of beans if it’s just 41 dollars less taken out of my check for the next two years. That is assuming I will have a job for two more years. The last
“stimulus” check was just an advance on your 2008 taxes, so what did that accomplish for the economy? NOTHING. If they really want to get things rolling, all the billions wasted on big corporations and banks that should have known better than loan money to people to buy houses that had no means of repayment, was a waste. All those hundreds of billions could have been divided up among tax paying people and gotten us at least 10 to 20K each so we can keep our homes, pay off bills, buy cars, etc etc etc… Rich don’t need more money. The rest of us do!!!!
I’d save the $500 or $1000 for my 2-year old daughter’s education, when she gets older. But then again, since she’s going to be the one paying back the $500 in the future, with interest, the whole thing is redundant.
She will also be paying back even bigger handouts given to corporations who as a group will pay less in taxes than real people. In many cases, the corporations receiving the handouts are the ones who caused the financial collapse out of their own greed.
Who’s going to bail out my 401k?
The whole stimulus program is just a great big theft of our collective wealth by Washington’s “in” crowd – Democrat AND Republican. Wouldn’t hurt the whole lot of them to spend some time in jail.
You’ve got to get the money first.
There were millions that were’nt sent out to people, that deserved it.
What happen to it ? Did it go in into
Barney Franks, Pelosi, and Reid’s pockets?!
We would spent our’s on auto Insurance,
if, it gets here before it’s due.
The irony of this story is amazing!
One guy (the software developer based in hyper-expensive SF) will effectively pay for all of the other “tax credits” in your story. By my estimates, his families marginal tax rate will increase by 2-3% with the upcoming changes in the tax code. Next year, his family might pay as much as $5000 in additional taxes! Fortunately that will be enough to pay for the 10 profiled “recipients” of this credit. Perhaps each of them should write him a personal thank you note.
Not noted in the story, but equally unfortunate, he is subject to California’s progressive 9+% State income tax. This gentleman does not manage a hedge fund, nor is he an “evil” bank executive, he is a working person just like everyone else in the story, yet almost 40% of his income will go to taxes. Is this fair ?
It is time for the people of this nation to stand up and push hard for a Fair Tax or Flat Tax solution. The original framers of our Constitution did NOT support a national income tax.
If we fail to act on this, it will create more complicated ramifications over the next ten to twenty years.
I’ll take the $500 and buy 1000 organic raspberry canes and
plant them in my yard. Next year I’ll put up a sign “FRESH ORGANIC RASPBERRIES” I’ll take the profit and buy organic
blueberry and asparagus plants. The next year I’ll take the profit and buy (O) strawberry plants and in three years I’ll be making a considerable sum from the $500….I’ll be eating peanut butter sandwiches for a few years to get started a bit of sacrifice for some…but in three years I’ll
be eating like a King
Are you kidding me? $500 is a joke. I’m considered low income and un-employed and yes, I search daily for a job. Obviously I will use the money for food and utility bills. And because religious discrimination, I can’t get married to my partner of 2 years to take advantage of any of my governments tax benefits that heterosexual couples get to enjoy.
i woudlnt do anything, same as last time i got a stimulus check. i dont recieve it, my ex wife does.. for owed child support.i dont think that is fair.i pay child support every week for the past 3 years and before that. there has to be a plan for us who do pay child support , to not be affected by that , i know many of times i brought it up and i always get any money i get from the gov, she will take.and i have my own recession to worry about, paying bills etc.. im in bad debt and i see no way out. it dont matter to me if a stimulas plan is out there or not, i never recieve a dime.
I just started my small business in 2008. I would love to say that I would spend and/or give,but I am going to put into my savings to cover the ups and downs of a new business owner in this climate. If things go well, then maybe at the end of the year, I can reward myself. If not, then I have a back up.
I could spend the money on an economy paint job for my trusty old car. It’s a running machine and I drive it every day, but it could really use a paint job, being a 1971 vintage. I haven’t been able to afford it, but the stimulus could cover it.
My Family like so many that I read and hear about will be using every penny in an attempt to make payment a very small portion of our debt which no doubtedly will be useless come the following month when we are hit with outrageous credit card interest fees. We are by no means looking for a bail out, we understand and take responsibility for the fact that have racked up more than $75K in credit card debt. But as I discuss these issues with peers, how is one to live modestly with a one child family in a very modest 1100 square foot home and keep up in today’s economic turmoil. My family does not live extravegantly nor beyond our means. I drive a 1997 pickup truck with over 110 thousand miles on it and my wife leases a midsize sedan. The only reason we lease a newer car for her is for the safety features and because she takes on the responsibility of transporting our 5 year old son to pre-school. We also admit that like so many families in the United States, that we were just living married life and did not exactly plan on becoming parents. But how else are families formed. We love being parents and we make a decent combined household income, but frankly the cost of things these days from gas to groceries and everything in between is outrageous. How so? I’ll explain briefly. In 1978, I remember my father making in the neighborhood of $30,000 per year and my mother perhaps around $25,000, quick math, $55,000 gross annual household income. That same year my father purchased a brand new town home for somewhere around $40,000. VERY AVERAGE numbers for middle class families on the east coast in that time period. Ok, so more quick math, their combined gross household income exceeded the cost of their home by $15,000. Flash forward to today, my ranch home though ever so slightly more prestigeous than that town home, purchased used in 2001 for $145,000 in 2001 my wife and I had a combined gross household income of about $95,000. “Get a better job” one might say. Today our home is valued near approximately $240,000 our combined Gross household income is now around $110,000. Do I need to do more “quick math” here or can everyone see the trend. By the way, my wife is a Corporate Contoller for a Printer Manufacturer and I am a Business Analyst and a Construction Project Scheduler for a very large company, postitions requiring college degrees furthering education credits and certifications, not your average jobs and housing prices aren’t the only problem facing middle america these days. So with climbing prices on property, groceries, gas, energy, and just about everything you could spend you hard on dollar on and the fact that nationally most salaries have not kept up with the rate of these inflating costs, I ask again, how is one to survive?
Now, to add on to that, as I have seen some others confess on this board, when we were younger, I suppose times were better, didn’t have a house or kid, wasn’t married, lived in a small apartment, etc. etc. financially life was easier. But with everything stated above, money got tighter and tighter and the use of credit cards to make ends meet got out of hand. Ok, our burden to bare. So now, trying to become more fiscally responsible and after a couple of small raises able to try and make some headway, we start calling some creditors and asking the question that will never settle in my mind to this day – “Why is it, that for a customer that has been with your credit agency for over 15 years and has never – NEVER – made one late payment, never missed any payment is subject to the most rediculous interest rate increases?” All the while a new customer can get offers for 0%. The answer was “due to the fact that your a near your maximum account limit (maxed) we raise the interest rate on scenarios such as yours.” So I ask the world, why is that?? Someone that has always remained in good standing, perfect standing according to Trans Union, Experian and Equifax, the “Big Three” when it comes to credit scores, gets penalized. They are basically saying, that by having a maxed situation that you have no money, so for having no money, we are going to charge you more money in the hopes that you pay us back one day, it just doesn’t make sense.
Well now that I have rambled on, I hope that I have made some sense and sparked a “revolution” of sorts. I think it would be a great idea if more people like me and the others that I read about on this blog posted enough messages here to make a statement and difference for those of us who are not scoff law cases, who are not seeking bail outs and BS stimulus plans, but who want to do good for this world.
I’ve got a few things I’d like to do with the $500-$1000…
For starters, my wife and I survived Hurricane Ike, riding it out about 10 miles from landfall. We got hit pretty hard, and asked our mortgage lender to give us a deferment on two payments so we could start fixing the house. We asked for those two payments to be put on the end of the loan, not have them forgiven. At the end of the loan, those two payments would have netted the bank a lot more money, thanks to the power of compounding interest…but NOOOooo, they said they would not make ANY loan modifications to our mortgage, even though they’d MAKE money on that deal. So we have decided to punish the bank by paying extra on our mortgage, vastly reducing the amount of interest they’ll end up getting on this mortgage. I plan to have the house completely paid off in 7-8 years on a 15-yr note. Don’t want to help someone that got hammered in a disaster? Fine. Suffer. We’d like to use half of the $500-1000 to put on the principal (not interest) on our mortgage. We have accelerated our payment schedule aggressively in response to their lack of compassion, and have enrolled in a bi-weekly plan to help chew off even more of their interest. Their decision not to help disaster victims will come back to bite them in the tush!
I’d like to get the other half and hand it out to some families in our area that are also struggling with regaining some sense of normalcy after this storm. Seems like we’re getting really badly shafted by the porkers in Weaselton, DC, and their insurance company constituants. The weasels on The Hill don’t give a rat’s arse about “We The People”, they really don’t. We’re only a revenue stream to them, whether we live or die matters not in their rarified world. After all, they normally deal in millions and billions of dollars, not counting pennies like the common peasants. Bank bailout, my arse! What about OUR bailout? The ones who survive killer storms, both weather and economic? Guess it’s too much to ask for a helping hand these days…I couldn’t get a TARP for my roof, but the banks got TARP to cover their rampant mismanagement and greed. That’s fair, isn’t it? Of COURSE it is!
If the govern-MINT were to release the $2 TRILLION directly to the consumer, that would jump-start the economy right there. People would be able to get out of debt, buy something quality that would last a while (not the cheap offshore crap we see all the time), pay down mortgages, etc…but that would mean we’d be closer to being a free people, and free people think, and we can’t have THAT now, that would threaten their power…nuff said. The men in the black suits with sunglasses have just come to take me for a ride in their shiny black van now…oh NOOooo!!! 
It would be nice to get the money, but $500 or even $1000 isn’t going to help much. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for whatever I receive, but it will go towards paying bills (not into the economy). What would help is if I could refinance my home, but since I’m upside down in my home due to the falling home prices/values (not because I took equity out of my home), I cannot. My interest rate has gone up once and will go up again before years end. I’m now looking at taking on a second job just to make my mortgage and other expenses. It is almost impossible to find a job anywhere because of the bad economy, layoffs and the high unemployment rate. I thought my job was secure, but they now have a budget freeze in place (the first in years), I’m afraid they will be laying off. None of us have “job security” we can be working at the next “company” laying off. I’m trying to hold on to see what type of plan President Obama and his administration comes up with for homeowners who need a refinance due to interest increase, home equity loss due to falling home prices, etc. If the government doesn’t come up with a plan that can help my situation, then I will have to let my house go. It’s too stressful and is now affecting my health. I’m sure there are thousand of people in my situation and worse. I’m not sure how this economy, unemployment, foreclosures, etc., can be fixed. I just hope the government can agree on something that makes sense and that will help the average “Joe”. I hope they make sure the banks are actually going to help people this go around, and not blow the money on executive incentives, pocketing the money, blowing the money, etc. If not, we are all doomed!
My husband has always been very wise with our money. We save a lot and stick to our budget that we go over once a year. We have no debts or loans except for our mortgage. We’ve always lived below our means, using his income (I’m a stay-at-home mother of two toddlers) for necessary expenses and income derived from selling little things here and there for luxury items. I must add, however, that we have been lucky enough (so far) to still have a job/regular income.
If we get the tax credit, I would like to spend it on helping the homeless people I see almost everyday outside begging for food. We’ve talked about even housing some of then if we feel lead to do so. The tax credit would definitely help in caring for those who are in need.
The money will help our family buy school clothes when we travel down south from Alaska. We weren’t sure if we were going to have money to buy anything while traveling but now this money will help us shop for some clothes.
While we’re responsible hard working middle class citizens, I doubt we’ll get to see any of it. We have 3 special needs children adopted and in the process of being adopted through our state’s foster system. As a result, we qualified for the special needs adoption tax credit. We don’t have a high enough tax liability to claim whole credit as it is–even after years of carry over. So it’s unlikely we’ll benefit from the $1000.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009–3:44 pm CST
Dear Mr. President:
I wish the Republicans would accept your Stimulas Sell. I’m sure it’ll create more jobs. You’re doing the best
you can. Please keep it up.
first of all 500.00 is not enough that will fill your tank up for two weeks. The best thing to do is give every american 8,000 per fam and see if the economy gets back on track. that is what i would do
500.00 i would just save it. i have no cedit card or mortgage debt. that’s because i have learned to live on less. i run a small business.the president & congress needs to run our country like a business. not a free hand out. you can’t buy your way out of debt.
Why are there income restrictions on these tax credits? Anyone who pays taxes should be eligible for the tax credit. If you do not pay federal income tax (not payroll taxes), you should not be eligible for this tax credit. It is not a tax credit or tax cut if you do not pay taxes, it is WELFARE!!!
I would be forced to save it. Since he will take away the Bush tax relief, I will need to save $7500 to pay for the extra taxes.
Just imagine, get $500 then lose $7500. What a deal!
Considering that we are running the printing presses 24/7 to create this stimulus cash, I will save the money.
The more money we print to stimulate the economy, the more we devalue our currency.
$500.00! Is this a joke? That is not even a enough to buy groceries for the week.
If this administration wants to give us a real stimulus package; give us back the money we have vested in Social Security. Oh Wait they can’t do that because there’s nothing left in the coffers.
LBJ should have been shot for theft when he took our money and put it into The General Fund and WJC (Clinton) should be forced to pay back our entire deficit for having deregulated Wall Street.
GW no wait Dick Chenney should also have to anny up while WJC is for his meddling in our affairs.
I blame these three buffoons for our financial problems more than anyone, other than the 5 million home owners who took our mortgage crisis’s into the tank.
And to those of you who have borrowed money from the future shame on you as well.
Why is it those of us who are not a part of the problem are the very ones bailing all you out?
I would save the $500 stimulus check. In these bad economic times, why would I take that money and spend it on something that will cost me more money in the future? This check is going directly to savings.
The money would be used to pay down debt, credit cards that we have had to use for items that we can no longer pay cash for. Both my husband and I have taken pay reductions over the last several months.
Quite frankly, most of the money should be put directly into the hands of the citizens rather than bailing out companies. Mortgages and debts would be paid, which would result in fewer foreclosures and defaults and fewer layoffs in those industries. Consumer spending would again increase; resulting in more manufacturing, car sales and home sales. People would again be able to invest for retirement. More people would be employed.
After hearing the recent news of Citigroup having to cancel the purchase of their $45M jet (bless their hearts), I have a scathingly brilliant idea. Let’s ALL pool our $500 together and buy these poor executives another jet. You know, out of the goodness of our hearts. How can we possibly think of spending our $500 to buy food, pay for necessary medications, pay for education,etc. etc. while these poor guys from Citigroup are having to (ye gads) DRIVE or, (worse ye gads) fly commercially to business meetings. Come on, folks, have a heart and join me in this endeavor. It’s the American thing to do.
Put it in the Savings Account and wish for interest rates to go up.
Luckily, I am one of those that
1. don’t have a credit card balance
2. don’t have any other loan than the home mortgage to payoff
3. still have a job and expect to have it come eoy
So, there you have it!
Deposit it onto Pokerstars.com and play some poker and try to parlay $500 in to millions…who cares anyway, that’s what Wall Street does, but instead of playing cards, they play with people’s homes and life savings.
First of all, I won’t be getting $500.
But if I did, I would set it aside to help pay for the massive tax increase that will be needed to repay all this governement debt. Do the young people in our society have any idea how much debt our new President is sadding them with? I think not.
The sum of 500 is much less than what I am paying for my two children’college tuitions. Banks are getting bilions and we are getting 500 each! Phooey!
I am a responsible adult who has a paid off home and(gasp)over 1 million dollars in Treasury bills.
Although I will not get any stimulus (except for the 300 “veteran’s stimulus”) I intend to donate any and all Government giveaways to the National Rifle Association.
We have become a nation of whiny/fat/bankrupt losers.
Without question, any tax credit I receive will immediately go to paying down mounting healthcare bills representing costs either not fully covered by insurance or that exceeded the maximum allowable coverage. Such expenses caused me to fall behind on my mortgage payments, so any relief in this regard would be my first priority.
This $500 is spread out over 52 weeks not a single check as many refer to it. it is just a reduction in your payroll taxes. For all of the unemployed this does not help! For most people it will only make it easier to pay there current bills becuase it is coming in in small bits. There has been no change as promised in washington give out a bunch of money to people and programs that are a waste of money. I am not against abortions but giving more money to fund abortion for people on Medicaid will not stimulate the economy. THERE IS A LOT OF PURE PORK IN THE STIMULUS PACKAGE THAT IS NOT NEEDED AND WE OR SOMEBODY WILL HAVE TO PAY FOR IN THE FUTURE.
First of all, I won’t be getting $500.
But if I did, I would likely spend it on guns and ammunition to protect myself from the complete societal breakdown that will occur when the young people of this country wake-up and realize how much debt our new President has saddled them with.
This is a short term solution to a long term problem. What does it matter what the money is spent on? If all it took was $500 to $1000 to get the economy out of the whole it wouldn’t be national news. That money will only serve as a floater until the next installment is needed. Yeah it’s an idea but it’s not well thought out. It’s not going to fix anything it may help a few responsible people pay an extra small debt off but it’s taxpayer money and that is not what that money is intended for. For the majority they’ll just come back and want more after that runs out. There is no exit strategy there. Figure out something to make people stand on their own two feet not something that props them up at the governments side because soon the government will become overwhelmed if it’s not already and it will crumble right along with everything else. This is why life rings were invented to save drowning people; if you jumped in the water with them you’d be at risk for going under too. Financial problems cannot be fixed by throwing money at them that’s almost similar to what got consumers into the mess we’re in now. Stimulate something to change their habits and you’ll change the economy; this money is only feeding their problem.
If its in a lump sump like the last on, I’ll again save it to pay my dam taxes. If you really want to help me, cut my taxes by a grand and I’ll be happy to spend a little extra on gas.
I would probably put it into my savings acct. as I need to save for a new american auto, mine is 5 yrs. old.
Unlike many of the folks who will receive this taxpayer money, if I were to receive $500 I would most likely spend it. I haven’t made bad choices or overextended myself so I can afford to. Unfortunatly, because of my income people like Barack Obama have deemed me not to be a viable component of the economy and its recovery. Instead of being provided an additional opportunity to bring wealth into the economy I will once again be sitting on the sidelines while America uses my tax dollars to undo those designer shoe purchases they shouldn’t have made or to try and refinance that ARM that they got into without understanding what adjustable rate meant. Once again we have a redistribution disguised as a “stimulus plan”. Why can’t we just call this what it is?
To the guy who thinks he was getting $1000 spread over 24 paychecks…Couples recieve $1000.. she gets $500,of that so it’s not $41 per pay period..it’s half of that…..hellooooo?
I would save some money for traveling within the U.S on long holiday weekends this year. I have always contributed to the ASPCA on an annual basis and the stimulus would boost my contribution to this organization in ‘09. I wish more people would do like Mitzi Flyte from Allentown,Penn. Contributing to our four-legged friends who do not have the voice to ask for a piece of this rescuing stimulus 
you should all just move to Canada, i get a 200$ a month from the government just for being a student.
A $1000 tax cut for me…spread over 24 paychecks in a year…that amounts to $41 a paycheck extra. What would I do with an extra $41 in my paycheck? Not much of anything. Let’s be real here folks – that’s an insignificant amount of money that’s basically going to equal out what my transportation costs rose if even that. $41 extra in my paycheck isn’t going to mean anything.
No debt – credit-card or mortgage. Keeping it that way – will send it over to My parents in India (savings in rupees).
My wife and truely believe that everyone should do their part for the US economy and we need to stimulate it by spending our money, so, my wife and I are taking a concealed weapons class, getting our concealed weapons permits, and buying a new 9 mil or 45. All the money will be spent right here in America, on American labor and merchandise. I would like to thank President Obama for this government handout. God Bless all the gun toting Christians out there!!
Well a lot of the financial problems people find themselves in today were self inflicted (credit cards, overextending on loans, etc). I read where someone wanted money from the government to help pay off their credit card and car loans. Why? Credit cards are a luxury item. Cars are a luxury item. You didnt have to buy THAT car or use that card.
$500 to you is about $150B to the government..that’s a lot of money. I can’t feel sorry for people who dig holes, jump in, and then want help to get out. I do, however, feel sorry for the hardworking Americans that lost their jobs due to greedy CEOs and unsavory business practices by the decision makers. My heart goes out to those people. If you dont want to take the $500 then send it back when you get it. There are some out there who really need this money and will take it and be thankful. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
My ramble is over.
Last year (2008), before I received my Stimulus Payment for $195, I had several solicitations from various businesses telling me how gladly they would take my money for their products I did not even care. Few weeks after I received the check, I decided to send the money back to the Trasury. I thought since I had a job, and was well off, the amount could have hardly made any difference in my daily way of life. I talked it over with several people. They laughed at me. Some told me to let my wife decide for the use of the money. I knew it could not take more than five minutes for her to spend the money. Finally, I decided to send the check back to the White House, expressing my wish to send my Stimulus check to the Treasury, with explanation that it was unconscienable for me to accept a free gift, when millions of our citizens were suffering because of the downward spiral of our nation’s econolmy. I also praised Mr. Bush and his administration for their thoughtfulness and generosity. I was also very impressed and donated my own Fifteen dollars to the Arbor Day Foundation to plant a tree in the name of President Bush in a National Park. That was in the month of July, 2008. After a month, I received a letter on the White House stationery, signed by some high paid Outsourced employee from somewhere in Maryland telling me how President Bush was great in protecting the nation from terrorists, and making the USA, the greatest nation on the earth. The writer send my Stimulus check back completely destroyed and torn down, as if, either she was angry with my letter, or the sight of the check. I was very sad and angree at such treatment and a torned down check. To console myself, I wrote few words of comments. Then I laminated it, alongwith my original letter to the White House, White House response and the torn down check for posterity, to remind me how worthless the last administration was.
My choice for such stimulus payment would be to set it aside for additional benefit to the people whose benefits have already ran-out, to the people who are helpless and poor, and to invest in re-building nation’s infra-structures,
mmm that comes down to about 10 bucks more in my pay check a week with the rising cost of energy and food oh and watch gas prices go up when this package goes thru like it did on the last one blood sucking companys will be out there raising prices so they can cash in on your new found wealth
I will buy another Bicycle! Commuting by bike means $1000 savings on auto insurance, better health, no fuel bills for gas, and helps out a local bike retailer and saves my family money for food. Every year that I get these odd stimulus checks they go to my favorite bicycle shop BRC… now if someone would get our employer to get on board with the $20 dollar a month bicycle commuter tax benefit I would be very happy– unfortunately companies are not quickly adopting this employee incentive that is as of January a legally allowed employer tax deduction.
I wish I could give it back. I want to be more patriotic, like VP Biden suggested.
This so called stimulus is a joke! How many times will our government try this?
This is a tax credit not a bunch of money in a money bag. There in lies the problem.
Also, if you don’t work and don’t pay taxes it probably will not matter much.
The fact is that we’re all in this together and we all need to work but businesses fuel our economy not random “stimulus packages”.
We need to do whatever we can to contribute and help businesses grow not growing more spending in government.
We should be asking about the checks and balances and where’s the money coming from every time someone mentions “money from the government for you” sounds like a short-lived internet scam to me.
Last time I checked there certainly isn’t it money tree in the backyard at 1600 Pennsylvania Blvd sprouting new money leaves every day!
Are you kidding…this will barely cover the increase in school taxes this year in Piqua, Ohio. My refund is only going to another tax entity. In these hard times, the states and cities are as desperate as their citizens. Is it ever going to end?
That is NOT enough money to even pay PART of the rent.
If it was $500 a week for 20 weeks, it might begin to help.
I guess I would just have to hold a bbq and invite my friends and we could all watch movies on dvd since all i have is an antenna.
Giving people $500 will not solve nor help the economic situation. This will be a waste of money with no result. People need jobs, why not use the money to have people build roads and infrastructure? I thought this was the plan. If Obama is planning to do both, then he should just put more money into infrastructure rather than giving people $500. People want a job.
Also, the Goverment should invest in promising start ups that cannot get financing. Solar companies in California have orders on their books and see their growth limited because they cannot get financing. This is a great opportunity for the Government to invest and make some money, and create jobs at the same time.
Since two of our older vehicles (87 Ford truck, 99 Ford van)became very unreliable, we had to purchase two newer, used ones, (2001 trucks). That made our insurance jump sky high, so any money will have to go in the savings account to pay for the renewal in May. But then, there’s also property taxes due, vehicle tags/taxes, school clothes, food, gas, medical bills. We have plenty of plans for the money…yeah, we should do just fine.
Seriously, we would be greatful for ANYTHING we could get. Thankfully my husband has a job, things could be much worse.
A tax credit would do nothing. We need actual cash just to keep above water. Only those who already have money would keep it in bank accounts. The majority would use it to pay utility bills, home taxes, mortgages etc.
I want to know who in the sam hill is going to pay all these taxes back when everybody in the us is unempolyed? $500 that is just a slap in the face of the hard working american taxpayers.
Capital probably spends more in paper than that every 10 mins. Stop all this mess and get on with the job at hand. Help the ones that need help and and the bible says “Whom has been given much, much is expected. Lets get back to what our country was founded on and not what the rich folk that run this mess. It amazes me how 538 people have the power to rule over millions of americans. To my Government get your heads out of your butts and see the light. The only thing I’m looking forward to is the day the Lord comes and takes me aways from this Sodom and Gamorha place. I easier for a camel to fit thru the eye of a needle than a rich corrupt man to make it into Heaven. I will pray for you and for the country. This is all the hope I have. When the us gives more money away to forgein lands than to its own people we are headed to hell in a hand basket
This is the first time that i can say that I am ashamed to be american. We have to be the dumbest country out there. The foreign country have taking over without firing the 1st shot, and our government let it happen. We need a washington Tea Party. Clean house out with the dead beats and in with some that have common sence. All the book sence can;t help you if you have no common sence. 99% of our government do not have the sence to pour piss out of a boot with the directions on the hill. Main street I’ll be the 1st to but a vat of vasoline, bend over here it comes.
I would have all the deadbeats that got tarp money to pay back the money they got and are sitting on, and give it back to the american taxpayer. I would probably kill over if I sit my but on a tolit with legs that coast more than my house. As for the stimulus check keep that crap. I’m one of the so called low income that would probabably spend the money on junk. I dont think so. So all you fat cats on capital hill can kiss my taxpaying tail. You guys make my rump wont stove wood. Get over yourselves. You put your pants on the same way i do one leg at a time.
I would put it towards my daughter’s hospital bill. She is 9 months old and having surgery in March at Children’s in Boston. We will have a $ 500 co-pay and have over a $400 bill for hotel and misc expenses for her stay. We are scared because there are talks of layoffs everywhere and I pray my husband has his job so we can have health insurance.
It is not a lump sum, maybe $10 a week, but after being unemployed for 9 months my hopes of getting back on track are in a dark tunnel.
There seems to be a lot of people who have the same idea of how to get our economy back up. That’s giving the PEOPLE the money. This stimulus package is only good for those who have more money than they know what to do with. It does nothing for the average hard working person, or the low income retired people. You can give the first time home owners a $7500 tax credit, but how can those that want to be first time owners buy any home if they don’t have the money to do so. Businesses all over the United States are hurting, not just the big corporations. All this plan does is give the big corporations more breaks and the small businesses don’t get anything. As it’s been said, the PEOPLE should be getting all this money. That is the people who make a gross income of less than $250,000 a year. If they gave $300,000 to $500,000 to those who filed a tax return for 2007, they in turn would start spending. They would be able to continue to pay their mortgages, auto loans, credit cards, and whatever they have. They would also be able to buy new homes, new cars and anything else that they have been wanting. By spending that money in their own communities, they would be bailing out the businesses in their area, which would bail out just about every business in the United States instead of just a selected few of the big corporations. Our government is supposed to be “for the People”, however, they seem to have only themselves and whatever big company that gives them a pay back in mind. This tax credit thing is the biggest joke ever. How about those of us that don’t make enough money to pay taxes. What kind of a tax break is that. We still have to buy gas & groceries,pay our utilities, all the regular expenses that everyone has. We’re on a fixed, low income, and squeek by every month. There is nothing left to go to dinner, take in a movie or any other outside activities. We worked hard for all our lives, put away, what we thought would take us through the rest of our lives, but now find out that it’s not coming close to what we had hoped for. We still have a mortgage that we pay. After that and the normal monthy bills, there’s nothing left. How did we get to this point? Well, our government allowed the oil companies to take us for a ride. Then with the price of gas, as it was, everything else, including groceries when shy high. Now that the gas has gone down, do you think that everything else is going down? Heck no. They got the price up and it’s going to stay there. Our government is suppose to be “For the People”. The money that they have alloted for this stimulus plan, should be divided among the people. And if it was done right, they wouldn’t have to use as much money as they have planned, and it would be going to the right place. In the hands of the people.
Regardless of what you want to call it (tax credit, stimulus package or free money) it’s a positive effort that our new president has made to help push our economy in a positive direction. Just read a few of the comments made and tell me that they don’t sound like nothing but people whining selfishly about money issues in their lives? Given the economy is going through some of the lowest periods that most of us alive today have seen in our lives, does not mean that there is no light in the forecoming future. Let me ask you something – ” If everyone were to be given $100,000.00 in cold hard cash today but, the world ends tomorrow. How valuable would that money be worth in your eyes, not very much would it? Like the saying “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. My point being, until people learn to live within their means (learn how to fish), no amount of much money in the world will solve the worlds problems!
Its going to go into my car fund, for a good used car, to replace the deathtrap I drive now. No chance in affording a new car with how much they are overpriced.
Well, since this is a TAX CREDIT and not cash in hand – I think Uncle Sam just allowed me to inhale – now if only I could afford to exhale…Is this my bailout? My home foreclosed and there wasn’t any relocation assistance – nothing. I WOULD like to see legislature paased to not put foreclosures on credit reports – this hinders potential employment and searching for a new place to live is challenging – FORECLOSURE is the new stigma…$500 credit looks good on paper and that is it. I guess baby steps are being taken to rebuild this economy – I am going to surrive this.
Priority is to improve health during recession.. AbCoaster is about $400 product that I am thinking to get…
$500 is nothing! We have given millions to banks. Instead of $500, why doesn’t the government give each of us $5,000 – now that would start the economy!
hummmmmm,
Lets see. I would have to say the only thing you could do with that massive amout of money is to take it to a casino and piss it away. You want to help us..send 25,000 dollars to everyone 18 and older that filed a tax return in 2008 so we can pay off credit cards or even pay down some on a car/truck loan. Stop giving it to the greedy bastards at the banks and financial institutes. Give it back to the people.
this is a waste of tax payer money–$500 is a drop in the bucket to individuals vs what it will cost us in the long run. This is NO better than what the Bush man did with his rebates. A total waste of money only to set the deficit higher. Raise taxes on the wealthy who have been getting a free ride while we middle class watch our economic positions erode.
“WWID with $500.00?? I would send it to family in my country. They can do more with it there than I can here.”
THIS DOES NOT surprise me at all!
I love to read comments, they show how much understanding there really is-
Since the barrel is going down and the gallon going UP, YOU will be putting ANYTHING extra in your gas tank!
If we do actually get this, I will spend it on something fun this time. Last time I just paid off bills and saved the rest. Now I’m doing okay financially, so I think the only way to actually boost the economy is to spend the money. I’m not one to buy big things for myself, and this might be the perfect excuse. Help myself and the American economy.
Though I have a feeling this won’t actually happen.
I would use the $500, for individual tax “credit,” to help pay down a bill for car repairs. Need to car to keep working to earn money to continue pay morgage, bills, groceries, etc.
Well in my case it would be nice to get a stimulus check. But my last one was taking and I am sure this one would be too. I am a single father who and is paying child support, in my case a bit more than I shud. But anyways when I was let go from Embarq I was still trying to make payments. I did get behind so when I got a new job they enjoy to continue to garnish my wages and take any tax money including my stimulus check. So I don’t get the joys of the bailout.
It’s amazing that so many have no concept of the tax credit that they actually think they are getting $500 in their hands. Educate yourselves please. A tax credit is not going to stimulate the economy. The only thing that will stimulate the economy is job creation, and it’s not going to happen in 30 minutes or less as most sitcom-watching citizens think it will. We need to invest LONG-term in our infrastructure and tighten our belts for the next decade or so. We’re not going to see propsperity for a long time. Get used to it.
O, is the same idea that Bush had? How is it any different? Is it 500 more dollars or is it the same amount and idea as George W?
What a joke this does nothing for the average American…oohh a whole $9. extra a pay check! And to boot this probably means some will pay it back when tax time comes because they have not contributed enough to to cover their taxes for their income tax bracket! I am sorry we just went from the frying to the fire with this new adminstration.
Oh, and as far as what I would do with the “extra” $9.60 per week? Let’s see…TVA (our local power monopoly, I mean, supplier) increased our rates a couple of months ago by about $100 per month (at our house), so I guess I’ll use my “stimulus package” to help heat our water (or to pay for our increased trash collection rates)!
I would use the money to open college savings account for my 2 children. I used the first stimulus check to pay for closing costs on my house. I am VERY thankful for this so much needed help.
What would I do with the $1000.00, will lets see, my daughter and son are in college. My daughter rceived a small scholarship and is an honor student, my son received a full athletic scholarship to a jr. college. However we have their living expenses to pay. My daughter has to get student loans as we are not eligible for pell grant assistance, even though we have 2 children in college and my husband and I both work 2 jobs to make ends meet and do not DO that very well. My daughter was a born premature 19 years and after our health care maxed out we still owed the hospital $75,000.00 and she required 4 major surgeries before her 1st birthday. We remortgaged our home 5 years ago to get some relief and get the hospital off our back and we are still struggling. WHERE IS MY BAIL OUT FROM THE GOVERNMENT. We were denied any type of medical assistance during all these years and our daughter had here last massive surgery 5 years ago. How can we receive any assistance and when will the pell grant program take into consideration other expenses, the number of children you have in college and living cost. AGAIN WHERE IS THE WORKING CLASS AMERICANS BAIL OUT, WE CARRY THE BULK OF THE TAX BURDEN FOR THIS COUNTRY AND RECEIVE THE LEST BENEFIT. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WHEN YOU BREAK OUR BACKS? WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO GET THE TAX DOLLARS TO FUNDS THESE RPOGRAMS WHEN WE GO UNDER? ANY SUGGESTIONS PRESIDENT OBAMA??????????
Here’s a novel idea..if it were cash which it isnt, we should take all the money and pol it together as Americans and BUY one of the banks.
We would trust it, we would use it for mortgages and hire people who give a damn about the customer and the shareholder (both US) and if anyone tried to hoist their wages by bonuses we could do as we should with all those CEO’s we’ve read about SACK ‘EM!!!
Why are we having such a hard time with this? We are NOT getting a rebate check! They are simply taking a little less of what is already ours. It will either be from our payroll deductions or on our tax returns. Either way, it’s about $9.60 per week. Thanks for your generosity, BHO!
what good is 500 dollars. i’m medically retired from my job and it wouldn’t have mattered any way because the factory i was working out shut down the next year and laid everyone off. it’s about time that the citizens of the usa make a stand to all these companies that are laying employee’s off. that’s all you hear about but you can bet they are in line for millons of bail out money and what for nothing but to use it the way they want to. as far as the 500 dollars goes buy a beer or two set around and shoot the crap with some friends because it’s not going to do any good to buy anything with it because if you do the next month you will hear of more layoff’s from where you spent your money. alot of people are like me i make my house payment to citi bank and they are getting the buy out with tax dollars and then i’m having to turn around and pay them my house payment after all ready giving them tax dollars to bail their selves out. something is wrong with that picture. still say the 500 dollars is a joke and will bite our new president in the butt in the long run.
WOW!!!! 500 whole dollars, Let’s see where too begin, buy a car, downpayment on a house, payoff my student loans, buy a new suit, start a McDonalds franchise, bunch of Chinese junk, max out my Roth account. Change my life forever. The possibilities are endless. Gee Whiz this is like winning the lottery.
OH NO!!! reality setting in, I forgot not a wall street banker; no big bailout or bonus, give me a break, really.
My advise: buy a case of beer every week for the rest of the year.
We do not have any debt, so I would either put it away to finish remodeling our home or I would go on vacation with it.
It is sad the way that we have gotten ourselves into debt. The problem is that no one will save their money and buy something they want later, they want it now and that is how they get into trouble. Also, why is it SO important to have a big house with only 2, 3 or 4 people? A 2,000 sq ft house for 4 people should be big enough. Why are people buying 3,200 sq. ft. houses for 2 people and they can’t pay their mortgage and have to give it back to the bank anyway?
Do the readers understand how this $500 to $1000 tax credit works? You don’t get any money up front, you’ll have less FEDERAL TAXES withheld. No one is going to get the money up front so you can buy a bike, pay medical bills, go on vacation, put it in the savings account or pay off your heating bills. Your Federal taxes are less each pay period until you have a total savings of $500-$1000 (married couples making poor wages). Obama’s plan is a joke to stimulate the economy. Don’t be fooled by such semantics. We get nothing, the banks and insurance companies along with the auto industry gets everything and while we ‘taxpayers’ are bailing out these companies, have you received any benefits from them other than higher interest rates, no loans for education, can’t buy a car, and the banks aren’t lending money unless you’re the privileged. Businesses win, the American middle class worker is once again on the short end.
I am aghast that CNN and other media outlets along our politicians consider that a tax rebate to be bad because to quote “people won’t spend it, they will just pay down debt”
Since WHEN is debt reduction NOT a good thing?!?!? Face it, The economy will ONLY improve when people start living within their means. First and foremost, that means debt reduction!
I am married with a child, so we’d get (I assume) $1,000.
I would see if we could use that money towards tuition and books for myself. I am working part-time towards a master’s degree. My employer’s tuition assistance program does not fully cover all tuition and book expenses, so the $1,000 would help me cover what’s left. It would be nice not to worry about where to find the extra $1,000 over the course of the year.
I live in New York State. Even if I were to see a few extra dollars in my pay check, New York State would eat it right up.
The whole idea is a joke! It’s a tax credit, not money in your pocket. Of course, if YOU consider an extra 9 dollars and change in your pay check money enough to stimulate YOUR spending and pay down YOUR debt, then Happy Days are a comin’ your way my friend.
I would consider using the money to support my economy in the western New York/Buffalo region. Although many of us have drastically cut back on entertainment spending, there is a direct and strong correlation between money spent in locally owned stores, farms, and restaurants and the inherent health of a local/regional economy.
$500.00 is a joke to hand out with the way things are now-a-days. Of course I would take it and I would get it but seriously, that would’ve only paid my utilitiy bills last month. (Heat, water, trash, etc..) That is it….. How will paying my utilities jump start this economy?
WWID with $500.00?? I would send it to family in my country. They can do more with it there than I can here.
Our family would use the $1000 to pay off medical bills. Before my husband got his new job we had to rush our 11 month old to the emergency room when she had a 106 degree fever. We had insurance that paid $2000 of the bill, but still don’t have the money for the other $1000. We are debt free in every other way.
I won’t receive any of this scam money as I am one of the 20% of hard working Americans that pays 80% of the taxes and therefore will pick up an even bigger burden since the tax credit only goes to those making under $75,000 or $150,000 for couples…not the $250,000 that Obama kept reiterating during his campaign. But over $100 billion of the “stimulus” is going to the unemployed!! $700 billion in Tarp funds totally unaccounted for. These guys are all crooks and the new secretary of the treasury was just awarded a cabinet post for breaking the law and cheating on his taxes. Do you trust this administration???
I would use it to reduce the fear in my life but I won’t see a penny. I am retired/disabled living at borderline poverty level. I and countless others, are invisible to the economic experts… my retirement fund is devastated; taxes, food, utilities, etc. keep increasing but my “class” doesn’t exist -so whine on those of you making over 250K; you get no sympathy here.
I find it odd that people’s responses to getting a $500 tax cut are things like “I will buy a new bike” or “I will buy a new bedroom set for my sons”. Since the tax cut will only amount to about $20 per paycheck- these people will have to save that little extra all year to see a lump sum of $500.
More than likely people won’t see that extra $20 as a huge difference. It will be spent on things like gas and food- unless people are very diligent at saving so they can buy a big ticket item.
WOW $500!! That will be paid out as a tax credit over 26 weeks so that’s about 20 extra bucks a week. Hmmmm, Honey, put on your nice dress and high heels looks like Applebees is on the gov’t tonight!
I’m going to use it buy equities now while the market is low and hold it until the next stock boom. Once the value goes up I can use it to buy myself a variometer.
If I get the stimulus check (worked recently but currently laid off), I would consider putting some if not all of it towards more insulation or another energy efficiency project. Anything I can do to lower ongoing bills will be a greater help in the long run.
A tax CREDIT would simply push more people into the AMT (Alt Minimum Tax). I mean, if today you are under $500 away in taxes from having to pay the ATM, this $500 tax credit would push you over the line.
Well, this sucks.
I have struggled for decades. Finally, I had my best year ever. And now the Gov wants me to take what I earned and write a check for $500 to 700 people.
the $350 Billion of TARP money plus the $825 Billion being proposed by President Obama, would equal about $12,912 per tax filing person. Out of the 43.4 million tax returns filed last year, they account for 91 million tax payers. Out of these returns a little over 13 million received refunds while the rest of the filers owed.
While I read some of these comments I am amazed by those with so called six figure student loan debts, while not or still working on a Master. I served six years in the Army and had $32K from VEEP, and $10K from the New G.I. Bill. I worked for Coca Cola in sales for three years after, making between $1,000 and $1.100 per week. I saved every penny as possible as if my life depended upon it. Lived with roomates in a wreck of a house, and drove a VW. I then left Coca Cola, went to college full time, to include summer sessions, First at a J.C. then transfered to U.C. Berkeley, then U.C. Davis for a Masters, and then off to law school in W.D.C. Between my saved money, VEEP, GI BIll, grants and scholarships, that by the time I received my JD, I was almost broke, had job prospects and owed nothing. All the while, while never working during those school years, or getting married buying a house, car or having that invisible umbilical cord through which money flowed from Mummy and Daddy.
I have no sympathy for those with a BA or still or trying to get an MA, while racking up near or six figures in student loans. Their sense of entitlement is exhausting.
$500 is nothing when you own over 10k to the IRS. If they really want to help and stimulate the economy, they should put in to place some sort of plan to match the payments you make back to them so the debt is paid off faster and then our money goes back into the “Pool”. Nope instead they put a lean on our wages and take away that money that we need to live from week to week, we can’t even try to generate a savings account now. We voted you in Mr. Obama, now help us. Help your people, because now I (and probably many other taxpayers) most likely will lose my car, which means no transportation to my job (public transportation is not an option at least for me, unfortunately) which means I lose the job and they lose the money being paid back. Whereas if the government would be more lenient and work with the American public we would all be better off. Many people I talk to are fearful of even asking the IRS or any other governmental agency for assistance because they fear that they will be shunned, or looked at as a second class citizen, We should not have to feel this way, we should be proud to work with each other and make win-win situations for everyone. But that is not to be, I am hoping the change that was touted in the presidential campaign is change for the better, but I like many people fear that it will be the same old thing, help big business, and stomp on the little guy who buys products from those big businesses.
Ok I am climbing down from the soapbox now….
I am a 22 yr old that married into some, the first thing i would do is to put it either into our mortgage or straight into the credit counseling service we are signed up with! I hope the Government and the New President can due something with the crisis were in!!!
The $500.00 would pay about 70% of one month’s health insurance. It’s nice to know I will live an extra three weeks if I qualify.
As a charter fishing guide, the downturn in the economy has hit me hard. I have been getting by,but one of the tough things to do is to put enough money back into my boat. So, I guess that I will put that money into paint, gell-coat. And if there is any left, wire,to do some rewiring.
Please remember my fine responders, this is a TAX CREDIT, not a rebate check. The government is not handing you $500.00. Go to http://www.irs.gov and get a better understanding of how a tax credit works. Be informed and not rely on false hopes. However, every little bit helps right?
I would be thankful for $500 but that is not enough to make a significant difference. 95% of Americans will still have the same problems we do now. They need to give like $50,000 then we can have enough to pay mortages,bills, and go to school.
I would just like to say that I am greatful for any money I get. My husband and I are frugal as it is, but still owe a small amount of credit card debt. Our mortgage has gone under $30,000 finally, so we are in good shape there. I refuse to blame any party or anyone for my decisions. I made them. Some good some not so good. It is part of life. I’ve been laid off from my job, so our income has taken a hit. Still everything we can do to save money, we are doing. We keep our heat at 65 and layer our clothing. If we use the oven we cook several items at once then freeze them. Energy saving light bulbs and lights out unless you are in the room. There are plenty of ways to save. So stop wasting your hot air blaming others for your decisions. I would welcome even $10 and be grateful for it. I’m sure I would find a perfect use for it.
Please remember my fine responders, this is a TAX CREDIT, not a rebate check. The government is not handing you $500.00. Go to http://www.irs.gov and get a better understand how a tax credit works. Be informed and not rely on false hopes. However, every little bit helps right?
First of all, I will not get it because I owe the IRS $5K from 2 years ago when we were making more money. Second, if I did get it, it’s not enough to help me save my home that is about to be forclosed on due to loss in wages because the hospital my husband works for is constantly cutting back his hours. Last week my husband had 37 hrs of work as a Nuclear Medicine Technologist. We have faced the facts that we can no longer afford our home due to his cut in pay, GMAC will not help us by modifying our loan, and we owe more on house than what its worth. $500 would not make a dent in in the mess we are in. This Bailout did nothing for Mainstreet!
Take the $500 or $1000 in fiat money and immediately purchase $500/$1000 worth of Silver which is real money.
The billions of dollars is going to be hyper-inflationary. I suggest EVERYONE buy as much Gold and Silver as possible.
The only thing that Obama’s stimulus is going to stimulate is inflation.
Doris Stanton, take the $500.00 and buy a new calculator.
If 280 million taxpayers were each given one million dollars, that would equal 280 TRILLION DOLLARS, not 280 MILLION Dollars.
Quick write all of your friends and tell them YOU CAN NOT ADD WITH YOUR SHOES ON!
I’m going to send it to my credit card company. Like many others, I’ve already spent it on credit. I was one of those young idiot victims that lived off of credit cards during college and then got suckered into *having* to buy a home in *So Cal* for half a million when it was built for probably 80k. Can’t get mad at me since I was able to afford the home since I had a good job (I better after 10 years of college) but when my company transferred me to Iowa (right before the housing collapse) I wasn’t able to sell it – 10 filed foreclosures on my block only 2 months after I transferred jobs. Heh – at least I don’t have that ugly 4 hour commute any more.
Most of the stuff we buy is made in China; Whose economy are we stimulating?
If you want to make a difference, put the U.S. Government into ‘Austerity Mode’ like the rest of us are. Pay only our UN dues, and tell everyone else outside of the U.S. that they shall have to deal with their own issues until we get our house back in order and on a firm footing for the future.
Sustainable finance should be a focus of our government. Its sad, but as one other commenter said, how can we survive where our only survival tactic is to ‘get bigger’. We need to use our resources (all of them, not just the environmental) much more wisely.
This stimulus check will, like so many others, go towards paying down the debt that I have because, I like so many others, am trying to survive on credit until I can find something.
This is a service economy. How can we survive when all we do is consume. The world looks at us and laughs, we gluttons of conspicuous consumption.
Having the Guvment printing money and then sending it to those who file tax returns has had no effect the economy other than to deepen the national dept.
But I will do with the next free guvment money that I did with the “Bush rebates” I bought Euros, and made more money.
My husband has been unemployed since November of last year, with no luck in locating a job here or overseas (we will go anywhere for a job!) and this week alone (and it is only Monday) two women from work have just told me that thier husbands are getting laid off as well. So as much as the $500.00 (my husband would not get one since he is unemployed)I would much rather see more jobs created so that everyone can get back on the right path.
$500 seems like SO much and nothing at all – I could pay my daughter’s college application fees, but can we afford school? I could hire someone to finish the two small jobs needed on my home before I sell it, but will anyone be able to buy it? I could pay my dental insurance premium, but will I be able to afford what remains on the bill for my son’s braces, because the insurance company only covers half the cost. In the end, I’ll probably put it in my savings account and wait to see if my pre-pay oil (locked in at pre-recession prices – yikes!) will get me through this winter.
I have decided to put my head down, work hard, move forward and stop reading cnn.com – its too damn depressing.
A waste of taxpayer money to implement. Less than $42 a month per individual isn’t going to “stimulate” much of anything.
Wow! $500.00 are you kidding me. I would much rather see the American Families have gotten the $17,000 per family then the banks got the first lump sum. I have not seen any good numbers come from banks yet. If the American Families would have gotten that money look at how much the economy would have faired. Think about it..Each family would have got $17,000..it would help in the areas of people laid off, buy a little something new (walmart or target who cares China owns us anyway…when they cash those notes in on us)(Yes be afraid!) and pay bills. By Americans paying their bills the banks would have gotten it anyway! This action would have helped relieve a little stress for the American Families and boosted the economy. That’s it plain and simple. But you know the greedy get greeder at the expense of the American people! Is that not our tax money?
I will put some of it in my vacation account. I’m saving for a cruise in 2010. The rest will go towards a credit card payment. I’m paying down ccs and am not spending any money right now except for food.
$500 tax credit per person. We had approximately 136 million tax returns filed. Some of those are joint, so lets just say we are going to give $750 per return filed. That would be a grand total of $102 billion out of the $850 billion targeted. If the current administration was truly looking to stimulate the economy, they would simply take the total and split it up between tax filers. WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH $6,250? Or if we only sent it to those that paid taxes in 2008, WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH $9,000? THAT WOULD STIMULATE THE ECONOMY!!
Bills, bills, bills. It would barely be a drop in the bucket of the bills, but that’s exactly what $500 would go to. BILLS. Fun stuff? What’s that? I’ve got bills to pay off up the wazoo!
I will be applying this money towards the purchase of my first home. I truly feel that one of the best ways to stimulate the economy is to invest in property. I am using this years tax return to pay off debt, giving myself an additional edge when applying for my home loan later this year. Just remember everyone.. BUY AMERICAN!!!
What a waste of money – such a little amount is just a token that will mostly go into paying off debt already spent by consumers. If they were realistic about stimulating consumer spending they should have not given out any bailouts to industry and instead given the taxpayer a much larger tax credit
Forget 500 $ rebate here is what I would do.
OK here it is. Why can’t we help the citizen’s of this country as follows:
TARP money 350 billion dollars remaining. (Not counting the new 825 Billion Obama seeks in addition.)
288 to 300 million citizens of America to be paid tax free 1 million dollars from TARP Fund.
This encourages purchases of homes, paying off debt, putting money into savings, education, goods & services etc.
350 billion minus 288 to 300 million ( which isn’t even 1 billion yet), with a savings of 349 Billion to taxpayers.
Result all systems recover over time. Purchasing begins anew, money gets back into the system, employment goes up due to demand for services and goods everybody recovers.
Send this to your congressman right away demanding that they consider. After all we are the ones footing the bill for the banks and financial institutions to redecorate their offices and get bigger bonuses with our tarp money why should wwe be made solvent to.
I have asked all of my friends to send this to their congressmen for consideration.
Sincerely
Doris Stanton
Monroe, NY
If I were to get a tax credit of any dollar amount in the near future, the first thing I would do is put it back into my home. I’m a 27 year working class male and a home owner. I have been struggling for the past year just to maintain my mortgage, car payment and on the necessities of life. What I most need to do is put money back into my home. I need to paint, re-carpet, and some landscaping so that I can list my home for sell OR use it as a rental property.
I would do the same as the financial institutions did when they received their billions in bailout funds – HOLD ON TO IT.
Considering I was eligible last year and never received anything and couldn’t find any status as to why I never got it. I won’t hold my breath this year.
The pet peeve I have is that I bet someone in government got it as I have heard the same from a lot of people who did not receive theirs either
If it comes as a deduction on next years Federal Income tax filing it will be of very little use at all to me, Too far away. Im currently laid off from my job with no prospects in sight. I spend the meager unemployment check i get to eat, stay warm, and thats about it. Im trying to raise 2 grandchildren also out of that. To be of any help at all it would have to be a check NOW, and then it would help. I dont think Obama understands that people are in dire straights now and need immediate help.
We bought a ‘fixer-upper’ house last summer. We will probably use the stimulus money to do some cosmetic work on the house. Paid cash for the house, and have no big credit card bills, so we’re willing to help out the economy by spending the money. We’re not rich… just responsible with our money.
Here is another thought- Instead of bailing out the banks, why not put the entire stimulus package into the working people’s hands? Every taxpayer over the age of 18, would get a certain percentage of the stimulus package. The government then could tax the stimulus check, and the money would be in the hands of the people. Once people have enough money, they will spend….. That is the best way to jump start the economy. Bailing out banks that failed because of poor management is like rewarding a bad child for messing up in school. If people had a percentage of the stimulus package, most of the default mortgages would be paid in full. Businesses products would be back in demand once again. Giving money to the banks and insurance companies is only making the recession last longer.The backbone of the economy (taxpayer, consumer) needs the package. You strengthen the backbone, the entire body stands up straight. Just a thought though.I wonder why, these over paid policy makers never consider this?????
I would use the money in two ways, to stock up on some dry good and can foods and we heat with propane gas so I would also put gas in that tank. It want hurt and it will help if gas shuts back up later on.
It isn’t just families that are suffering – we single people are feeling the pinch also, but always seem to get ignored. We pay higher taxes and do not enjoy some of the tax breaks families get. I am a single person without kids. I do take care of my mother. I have received a large pay-cut and work in the building industry. I did all of the right things, pay with cash, purchased a house beneath my means, have a car that is 10 years old and paid off. However I am still trying to keep my head above water, still trying to pay off bills which got behind due to my pay cut and triple expense in gas when gas shot up to over 4.00. I spent about $560.00 a month to go to work. Needless the say my 500.00 tax cut if I get it will go towards paying off bills.
Since I recently broke my foot, its going to be used for hopital/Doctor bills. If I didn’t have a medical problem, I would use it for airline tickets.
BTW, I don’t use a credit card. I followed my father’s advise, and paid in cash for most things.
The Bush bailout was his last reward to those who own him and the Republican party, corporate welfare pure and simple. That money would have been better spent if it had been given directly to people to pay towards their mortgages.
I think we should recieve more to stimulate anything. I mean come on. Most people will use this for everyday needs and not spending it at stores. Everyday needs are not going to stimulate anything, it just keeps people from losing cars, houses, etc….
How about 5,000 per person, then I bet you will see some spending and maybe people keeping their jobs….
o boy 300.00 for retired i might buy a tank of gas and then spend the rest recklessy like our senators are doing
A $500.00 tax credit means nothing in New York City. Five Hundred dollars is not even enough for a full month of child care at the nursery but it can probably pay for a grocery bill at Costco’s or Bj’s. Why not spend the full $850,000,000 in oil drilling and alternative energy and watch everyboby else enjoy cheaper travel, cheaper grocery bills, cheaper airfare and more competition, and just about cheaper everyting!!!!!
Should I become a bag lady, I’ll be the best darn bag lady you’ve ever met.:)
I try to maintain a sense of humor and not yield to fear; however, at 57, working as a legal assistant, with only myself to rely upon, it’s looking a tad bleak out there.
I have worked all of my adult life, always paid my bills on time, never overextended myself, and raised two children.
Watching my meager retirement dwindle down to nothing, I see myself as a 90 year old grocery bagger.
$500? … New brakes on the car, savings, credit card (I have only one and this is the first time in many years I am carrying a balance), health care (over $10,000 spent in 2008), new glasses, orthodics, etc., etc. … YOU CHOOSE
Sincerely,
Peggy Pavell
Am I missing something here? A $500 TAX CREDIT isn’t going to mean $500 in our pockets. Maybe CNN should change the headline to “What would you do with $100?” Ummm, I’ll buy a few gallons of milk and fill my car up with gas. Yeah…another useless political attempt to make it look like they’re concerned about us!
I will use the money to buy a new bedroom set for my sons, and use my 2008 tax refund to pay off my car and other bills.
I say we ditch the payments to the roughly half of Americans who pay no taxes and give the stimulus money back to the ones who earned it in the first place. The people who don’t pay taxes have been getting their “economic stimulus checks” for decades. Please.
This is a tax credit, not a check. This is not pumping more cash into economy, such as banks, auto makers and financial institutions, but a reduction of your tax bill due in Spring 2010. Many people need a cash injection, like big business, not a reduction of future tax dollars.
$500, come on. How does that stimulate anything. Lets get real, we can give failing companies millions/billions of dollars but for the people that have been effected by the recession you get $500. Well, now we are on are way to recovery-I just spent $500. This will do nothing at all, $500 will not stimulate anything.
Wow, what CHANGE! Our fearless leader who promised change is trying the same, tired, usless stimulus idea that previous administrations have used. It didn’t help then, why will it help now? I don’t mind getting $500 but it will only be used to pay bills.
I did not spend the last stimulus check I received. I deposited it directly into my savings account along with my income tax return check. Shortly thereafter, I lost my job in the mortgage industry. I am thankful that I did not waste the money, and had it to help me through a difficult time. I have been fortunate enough to find a new job after 6 months of being unemployed. And if I receive another stimulus check, I will not spend that one either. I have been reading many articles quoting Obama, Biden, Pelosi and the rest, as saying the economy will get worse before it gets better. This does not make me feel very secure and I will continue to save money in case I loose my job again. I have also cut out all unecessary expenses in order to increase my savings incase I need it to live off again in the near future. I realize that if everyone has this attitude things may actually get worse. But i have to be prepared to take care of myself if things get tough.
As I understand, this will be a payroll tax credit that would take effect sometime in June 2009. At this time, there will only be about 26 weeks left in the year if they pay the whole $500 before year end… So, $500 / 26 = $19.23/week which isn’t even enough to buy a pizza dinner weekly… I WILL NEVER NOTICE THIS MONEY.
Instead of giving most of the bailout money to car companies and banks, you should have given the money back to the taxpayers and let us stimulate the economy instead of giving to the corrupt big companies.
Unfortunately $500 or $1,000 is NOT going to help much with anything. If it was $5,000 or $10,000, a family would have some money that could be used to purchase a large item.
Well from what I can see the bill will only provide $250 at first and then possibly another $250 if needed down the road. The fist $250 will not come in one lump sum but be spread out over the course of time.
I figured it out and I am due to see an extra $19.87 per paycheck (for a total of about $40 per month). So what I’d do is buy my GF and I lunch at McD and have some change left over.
If I had $500 in one lump sum I could go buy a new refrig for my place.
My husband and I are recent college grads with fairly stable jobs. We would probably put $500 down on the car we’re paying off and $500 down on tuition payments.
I would pay off my credit card debt or at least a portion of it. I talked to 3 of my neighbors about what they would do with it and they answered
1. Tom would pay past due medical bills
2. Charlie would put it in the bank and hold it for future emergencies
3. Mark would hold it for future rent bills
$500 is hardly a stimulus in anyone’s pocket. It is a drop it the bucket of debt. The Bailout of banks was needed to an extent, but not to the degree that it has gone too. This is a waste of taxpayers money all the way around. There is a simple solution to this issue, if they truly want to help. Issue every legal taxpayer an ATM card with $25000 that expires in 60 days and u cannot do cash advances to prevent hoarding. This will make people pay credit card debt, house debt, medical, and the people that do not have debt will buy things like electronics, cars, down payment on a house. This is how you stimulate from the bottom up, people get rid of debt banks get paid, car manufactures sell cars, everyone wins. And if you did the numbers it would still be cheaper then the 800 billion.
I would use it to pay off student loans. My wife and I have over $100,000 in them and we’re only 23. She still needs to go back for a Masters.
I think a smarter way to spend some stimulus money would be a loan forgiveness program. If more people my age didn’t have to be shelling out half their salaries to student loan companies for the next 10 years or so, perhaps we’d have more money to spend on other things, jump starting the economy.
I haven’t decided what I will spend my stimulus check on. I will point out that if you buy something with a label that reads “MADE IN USA” you will be stimulating the US economy. If you buy something which reads “MADE IN CHINA” the money is wasted.
Nancy Pelosi is a power hungry woman that will give Obama a run for his money and attempt to control the Presidency behind closed doors. For those that do not see through her and rhetoric, its unfortunate. Harry Reid is am embarrassment to our country…idiot is too nice a word to describe him. Hard to believe the majority does not understand how we got into this mess…The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, also known as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act, Pub.L. 106-102, 113 Stat. 1338, enacted November 12, 1999, is an Act of the United States Congress which repealed part of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, opening up competition among banks, securities companies and insurance companies. The Glass-Steagall Act prohibited a bank from offering investment, commercial banking, and insurance services.
The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) allowed commercial and investment banks to consolidate. For example, Citibank merged with Travelers Group, an insurance company, and in 1998 formed the conglomerate Citigroup, a corporation combining banking and insurance underwriting services under brands including Smith-Barney, Shearson, Primerica and Travelers Insurance Corporation. This combination, announced in 1993 and finalized in 1994, would have violated the Glass-Steagall Act and the Bank Holding Company Act by combining insurance and securities companies, if not for a temporary waiver process [1]. The law was passed to legalize these mergers on a permanent basis. Historically, the combined industry has been known as the financial services industry.
Until then banks were not allowed to make loans to people who could not afford them based on what happened in the early 90’s. THIS HAPPENED ON CLINTON’S WATCH AND UNDER A DEMOCRATIC CONTROLLED CONGRESS AND HOUSE.
It’s not brain surgery here…Banks said I don’t want to loan to people who cannot afford to pay it back…and Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and Charles Shummer pushed the bill that said…ITS OKAY FREDDIE MAC SALLY MAE WILL BUY THOSE LOANS AND YOU WON’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT BAD LOANS ON YOUR BOOKS.
THEN WE THE TAXPAYERS PAY FOR IT BY BAILING OUT FREDDIE AND FANNIE. WHAT A CONCEPT IN ECONOMICS AND WE AS AMERICANS ARE ALLOWING THIS TYPE OF ROBBERY FROM OUR TAX DOLLARS BY KEEPING THESE CROOKS IN OFFICE.
4 new tires to be able to look for a job that won.t be there. but at least it would put money back into an economy that is slowly dying.
What does it matter? This stimulus is a means of appeasement to the average (and often ignorant) voter…a token act of faith of you will.
The govt keeps most people off their backs by giving away pocket change, distracting the average joe long enough to continue to make rich, the very evil corporations and politicians that got us in this mess in the first place.
Never in my adult life have I been more disgusted and disappointed in our nation. The people have their cross to bear….but CONGRESS is killing us.
They’re all full of greed, out of touch and NONE of them are able to give us any answer in regard to where the money went the first time.
They should be in jail, not making laws. Until the people lose complete faith in ther govt and decided to vote them all out of office – MARK MY WORDS – we will continue a downward spiral into codependency and irresponsibility.
The only way that this type of “Stimulus” has a chance of working is if everyone spends it on local services. If you spend it at Walmart or most other chain stores, most of your money will go to China or somewhere else other then the U.S. Even if you spend it to have your American car serviced or repaired, with 80% of parts in an American car coming from outside the U.S. even that isn’t a really good use of the stimulus money. I would use the money to buy local goods only. I guess I am in the minority in that my debt is under control.
We are a retired couple (a former teacher and a biologist) and have never been in the high income bracket. However, we have always lived within our means and raised a family. Now we have a decent retirement, our home is paid for and so are our vehicles. We do not need the stimulus but know there are many who it would help stave off hunger for a month or two. We would give the money to the food bank to help feed the hungry. Since the stimulus would not really do a whole lot to stimulate the economy, I would rather the money would be spent on infrastructure and putting people to work.
I would pay off a couple of bills on my credit report. This is more important than just buying things that won’t help me in the long run.
We have 4 children, and are going to get enough back on our income tax refund to pay off most of our debt. We won’t have anything left out of it… but at the same time, will have less bills to pay every month as a result.
We have some home improvements that desperately need to be made, but $500 or $1000 wouldn’t go very far in that regard, so we would most likely put the tax credit in the bank. We live from payday to payday, so the extra money would come in very handy when we have to buy school clothes and supplies this fall, especially since we’ll have 3 of our children in school this coming year.
Why doesn’t the government give the taxpayers an amount that would help pay off the morgage or credit card bills or utility bills ?? $500.00 will help some but I would like to pay off the bigger bills and then I can spend money to help the economy much better.
What tax rebate?
I didn’t get the first because I was a dependent college student pursuing a master’s degree while working part time.
But if I did get one, I would be paying down my six figure school loans.
Why not instead of bailing out the corporations and banks – bail out the people… who will in turn bail out the corporations and banks when all loans and payments are paid….
Basically, I would like to take my $500 tax credit and put it directly into my savings account so it can grow with the interest. I hope to have my 3-year plan finished by mid-2013.
Clearly, people don’t understand is that this is the absolute perfect time to buy stock while it is low-priced. I mean why not, I could invest my $500 in some Depository Receipts.
Five hundred dollars for individuals. That’s it when banks are getting billions. Five hundred dollars is not even a rent payment for one month. Now like another comment said make it $5000 and I would pay off my car. Otherwise keep the $500 and send $5000.00
I can put that extra $500 toward a modest vacation abroad since I’ve already been paying down my debt responsibly.
Since we are losing our house due to foreclosure-my wife was in the hospital twice laste summer-we would use the extra money for a deposit on a place to rent.
Invest it in financial education for our politicians. Since so few of them have ever held a private secor job, they are so obviously out of touch with what drives this country. All of the stimulus should be given back to the tax payers, then you would see real spending and job creation.
The $500 would simply get deposited into my checking account, mixed in with my pay, and be used to pay my monthly bills.
Certainly, a “measly” $500 isn’t enough by itself to buy anything extravagant like a new plasma TV, a new car, or a long vacation.
The Obama stimulus package is a waste of their time and our money. The Bush stimulus last year did nothing for us.
Tell the polititians to stop wasting their time on items that do not work.
This tax refunds aren’t going to do anything. It is simply the government passing the money around. How about making the tough choices and fixing out businesses and government operate. I would let you keep the $500 if it were to do real reform. I would also be willing to give the first commenter some money so he can by a paper. Blaming the Dems for the economy when Bush set the budget and drove it the can is pretty bold.
The last time the government promised a stimulus packet like this, I barely noticed the meager check slipping through my fingers as I bought groceries and other necessities of life. I don’t wish to sound ungrateful–I just don’t see how that $300 they sent me was supposed to stimulate anything. I have to wonder if $500 would be much different. $500 would certainly be a welcome windfall–my average paycheck for two weeks of work is only $350–but I would most likely slip through the cracks and receive far less if I received anything at all. Last time, they said $600, and I was one that received only $300, because I don’t make enough to qualify for the full $600. You would think those with less money would need the stimulus the most, but instead we received what was barely a pittance, as though to say, “I suppose we have to give you -something- since we’re giving everyone else money.”
If someone walked up to me right now and handed me $500, I would probably spend it on art supplies. While I may work a register by day, I have a blossoming freelance gig by night, and I am always eager for new toys to play with to create my works of art.
All the same, I’m not sure I think a stimulus package is a good idea. As much as I would love a handful of money, I would rather see the real problems taken care of. America–big business in particular–needs to have its attitude adjusted about money. Big Business has built this model of success where the only way to make money is to just keep getting bigger, but the world is finite, and there’s only so many customers you can win over before you start running out of room or your bad habits start to catch up with you. As for Americans individually, we need to put away those credit cards and start using cash again! The very concept of credit boggles my mind–let’s spend money we don’t have yet, then pay extra for it later. First of all, if you don’t have the money now, what makes you think you’ll have it later? When it comes to “little” purchases like television sets and new stereos, spend only what you have, only when you have it. Save the debt for big things like cars and houses, and make sure to buy within your means so that you can pay them off within a reasonable amount of time. Is that really such difficult logic to grasp?
$500? Come on. I’m unemployed.
I haven’t got dime one yet from DES (dept. of economic security) in Arizona, because they’re overworked. Do you think I’m going to spend it on frivolous things to stimulate someone elses bank account? Make it at least $1500 and MAYBE I’d spend some. With a 19 year old vehicle that needs repairs and no jobs available in my area I think it’s going to stay in my savings account for a little security while I sit and wait for 4-7 weeks for a mere $240 a week while spending my last $268 from the last fool employer who couldn’t run his business but can go out and buy himself $1000 guitars and other toys while he laid us off. Can’t even afford gas to go out and look for work. Can’t reach DES by phone or email either. Create some jobs there Mr. President. The unemployed need a better response than this.
I would pay my rent, which is now two months late. Five hundred dollars wouldn’t even cover half of what I owe just to live in my house.
wow thanks fearless leader for $500…oh that’s right, i’m a one man small business, i won’t get my credit until 2010…by then i’ll be out of business
how about instead of sending money to europe to murder babies you help out those of us here a bit more…try not to put on your tax and spend crown too fast there chosen one.
The bailout for AIG is not 85 billion it is now up to 152 billion. The banks are using tarp funds to purchase business in foreign countries and not using it to loan to small businesses. The credit card companies are raising the interest rates on consumers to make up for the losses so we not only pay these losses in tax increases but we pay it to them in costs for credit cards. CEO’s, CFO’s, Hedgefund managers are making hundreds of millions and they are going to give us a measly $500-$1000 to do what? For most it doesn’t even make a house payment or pay a months worth of food and gas for a family. What is wrong with all you guys out there that are not infuriated with this suggestion? The little people paying the price for our congress making decisions while they get a nice salary, great health care, while we pay for hit and get nothing. THe people paying the taxes cannot make enough money to pay for all those that want a free ride and we also cannot make enough money to bail out the entire county. We already pay income tax, state tax, gas tax, road tax, vehicle tax, sales tax, untility tax, property tax and many more with our “after tax dollars” I am not interested in taking care of people who want a free ride and I am not interested in giving money away to our government.
On YOUTUBE.COM there is a video called Freedom to Fasism. It tells you how all this works and the banking industry wanting to control and rule the world’s money supply. At first you think it can’t be so, but after we have now paid to bail them out while they use our money to not help us but make themselves richer…it really makes you start to wonder. It will be much like the peasants working for the kings of the land.
If people want our country to get back to where it was…get rid of hte unions and bring our jobs back home…we cannot compete with the rest of the world if we are not making and producing things. The big corporations took the jobs to foreign countries because they cannot afford the Unions.
Wake up people its not about saving your jobs…its about saving your country and your life….otherwise our future generations will be looking and China as our new President of the United States.
WE ALL NEED TO STAND UP AND SAY THIS IS ENOUGH!!! EITHER VOTE TO TAKE CARE OF US AS AMERICAN PEOPLE OR GET OUT OF OFFICE.
I would give my tax rebate to the GOP to help them unseat Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, whose trillion dollar pork laden spending bill will take us into a Depression. I certainly would not give it to the IRS, as our new head tax cheat, Mr Geithner would spend it hiring illegal immigrants
To the people complaining about the rebate cap—wake up, you’ve been getting a break for the last 8 years you jerks. You complain about the rebate cap not being fair, imagine being one of the people getting bent over for nearly a decade now.
We would give it to charity, just like the last stimulus check. We are lucky enough to have good jobs, and have lived within our means – always. It was tough to see people our age (in their 30’s) spending money like crazy, but we resisted the temptation and put our money into savings.
Our previous stimulus payment benefited the local library, an animal shelter, and the Alzheimer’s Association. If Congress were to pass the new stimulus, I would pick two or three new charities who would receive our donation.
Its a shame, people were blaming the wrong party when the voted in the very people who helped cause this mess.
It was democrats overall who blocked needed reforms…that would have kept this mess from happening.
We need to undo it, by getting real republicans back in (not the bush type, but the reagan type who will be able to do it)… and not let the democrats (or republicans) go crazy on spending.
Note that the reagan deficent was a ‘congressional overspending’ though Reagan in the end allowed it too.
It was still more congress than Reagan.
Barney & others need to go.
WOW! $500! Is it possible that we will really be given such a wonderful “gift” of OUR OWN MONEY? At the very least this number is missing a zero. That barely pays for 3 weeks worth of groceries for our family and we will have to wait until June at the earliest to get it?! Sorry Mr Pres, try again.
Invest in something that I KNOW will generate a healthy return – insulation, compact fluorescent light bulbs and weatherstripping for my home.
By reducing my energy consumption, I will reduce my carbon foot-print (which is good for the planet) and the savings will be in the form of non-taxable income (which is good for me).
I am an American working overseas for the US government. Because my foreign wife has a TIN (tax identifiaction number) vs. a SSN, I do not qualify for the stimulus payment. Would appear that receiving the benefits of being American rest upon who you are married to or decide to live with.
I find it crazy that many would say send me the $$ isntead.
On one previous he didnt even chk his #’s. $200k to each as he noted, would still be probably 100million people (maybe)…
By his view even if assume only 50milion people, its still 10Trillion bucks.
He forgets that we are likely to need $10 to $40 Trillion on social security if all the ‘projections’ fail to actually suport all obligations we have.
For me the only way out is a ‘true fairtax’ setup.
Even doing $3000 like I would want might be crazy $3000 times 100million (1/3 of usa?) is 300bilion.
I think we could in preference go for that..
I think it’s an absolute slap in the face!! I agree with Ramon, give out some healthy checks(50-150,000) and you will see a change! We will spend it on things to put people back to work. If I have it out of my check it amounts to 9.62 cents a week! That won’t even cover the raise I didn’t get because of the economy! Let’s make sure the CEO’s of all these banks and big company’s get their millions though!
Anything less than $2k to $3k will go to bills and only bills, no matter how many stimulus chks they try.
My preference would be that they do the stimulus as it needs to be which is to stimulate the process of investment which gets us jobs.
And/or to undo the mortgage meltdown that they caused to start with (ie; meltdown caused by congressional action forcing greed. I;e not doing reforms that would have kept the meltdown from happening.
Ie; Congress did a lot to force loaners to loan out $ to people who had no intention of paying for it.
Send it back… How dare they offer the banking industry 800 billion of our money which obviously an attempt to make a major change in how they do business.. Then turn around and Send $500 to the American people… That doesn’t cover most individuls rent or mortgage payment… Send $200,000 to each individual not in jail and over the age of 18, that doesn’t make over 300k a year.. Then you will see change…
That total would be less than 100billion dollars….. Clean up the mortgage problem, retail woes, and small business…
Then we will only be 800billion in the hole… I know its NOT going to HAPPEN….
I’m keeping my powder dry and waiting for the bottom in the markets. After I’m fairly convinced that it has passed by, I’ll be buying common stocks again.
What would I do with another stimulus check?
Same as the last one — put the money by until the situation looks safer for investing. We don’t have any debt, so there is none to pay down. Out budget runs at a slight surplus now, so we don’t need to cut back.
We rent instead of make payments on a house because rents are very cheap here in relation to home prices — and have been since sometime in the 1990s. Buying a house would be foolish here — prices still have a ways to come down.
Thus, we invest in America’s future by buying common stocks when the conditions look good.
I just read all of the comments listed here about what would do with the 500 or 1000 dollars stimulus plan. I think if the president reads it, he will see why the prior administration lent the money to the banks and not to the American people. First I like to ask the American people what would of happen if four of the largest U.S. bank would have failed? The answer, we would have had total kais. The government would have had to take over the banking industry. And this is not capitalism but the starting of socialism. Here, we the United States of America preaching that Capitalism is the best way to run a country and now looking more like a socialistic government. So stop crying about the money the government is lending to the banking industry. Now what about the 500 or 1000 dollar stimulus plan? It seems like many of you think that the amount is a joke, one person said they would shred it, take a picture and send it back to the government. Many of them said they would put it in the bank or pay off some debt and then asked how is this going to stimulate the economy? It looks like to me that you answered your own question. If you put the money in the bank or paid down some of your credit cards you are now giving the money to the banks. So instead of the government lending money to the banks and receiving 5 or 6 % interest, the banks can use your money and pay you 1 to 2 % interest. And what about the people who said they would spend it, which intern will go a business which will either pay off a loan, a salary, a mortgage which some how end up back at the bank. So the only way direct or indirectly not to have the bank see some if not all of this money is to keep the cash at home, and there really no reason to do that. Now for the people who think that the 500 or 1000 dollars is a joke. It seem to me that you may not need that money, I know I don’t and I thank God every day for that. Maybe you should take it and give it to your fellow American who is having a hard time putting food on their table, or give it to someone who’s car has broke down and doesn’t have the money to fix it and has no way to make it to work. Maybe the best thing to do is to wait and when you see your coworker lose there job, for no reason, give them the money. Who know one day that coworker could be you. Too many people in America are very selfish and just think of them self. Most American work hard for their money, and hopefully they will live a good life. And for those of them that fall on hard time hopefully their fellow Americans can help them out, either directly or indirectly (i.e. through our government) I think president Kennedy said it best “Ask not what your country can do for you, But, Ask what you can do for you country!
In response to the sarcastic references of thanking Obama for a measly 500$ please take this into consideration. It’s the republicans and conservative democrats who want these tax cuts, without putting tax cuts like this into the stimulus package, trying to get this through congress will be much more difficult for Obama and his administration. If you feel that this 500$ would be a slap in the face or you would take offense to it then please write your congressman, let them know you want our money to go toward our badly degraded infrastructure, or whatever you feel a stimulus should go for.
We are their constituencies and nothing will change unless we express our views about issues to them. Our voices must be heard and these congressmen must listen!
If we were given the roughly 6500.00 per household that one of the commentors suggested. The fear is we would do those terrible things, like pay down debt, put it into savings, or extend our ability to survive by supplimenting our dissappearing unemployment benefits. In any other economy, these same financial choices would be a sound financial choice, but according to the “experts” not this one. After all, why give the consumer 6500.00 to put into savings? Wouldn`t that be like capitalizing the poor, suffering banks? Oops! We already did that with the “BAILOUT”! Banks are traditionally capitalized with DEPOSITS. Good thing thing the consumer didn`t get the oppurtunity to make that mistake, that is what the government is for. As for paying down DEBT, why pay down or catch up on CREDIT related bills? After all, this mess wasn`t caused by “A CREDIT CRISIS”? Don`t worry! When the BANKS get enough of our money nearly interest free, they will GIVE us some more CREDIT. I don`t see a pattern. Do YOU? Thank you “Bailout” plan. Disaster averted for… what 12 more months.
“Posted By Kasey, St. Paul, MN: January 21, 2009 12:57 pm ” said:
“Here are what people will do with $500.”
“1) pay off debt – doesn’t help economy
2) use for essentials (groceries, utilities) – not much help for economy
3) save – doesn’t help economy
4) buy foreign products – doesn’t help economy.”
“$500 would help the consumer, but not the economy. People would pay off debt, only to rack it up again.”
Posted By Kasey, St. Paul, MN: January 21, 2009 12:57 pm
My answer to that is:
1)paying off debt does help the economy in the long run by reducing overall debt load, and immediately boosts your credit worthiness in the short run. Not by much, but every little bit helps. If if consumers take on debt again, well OK, as long as they keep that debt level within reason and stay within their means to retire that debt in a reasonable time relative to their income and job security.
2)use for essentials (food, utilities, etc) How is that not helping the economy, if it means the difference for some people between keeping the lights on and food on the table or not?
3)Saving. May not be a direct stimulant to the economy, but every dollar deposited to savings in a bank is $10 or $15 available for that bank to lend, if they see stablility and sanity start to return now that we have grownups in charge and the Wingnut laissez faire Republicans have been banished to the peanut gallery.
4)Buying foreign products. As if we have much choice anymore when shopping for apparel, kid’s toys, cameras, electronics, and so many other consumer products now made only in Asia. It does help the retail sales sector for the time being until we can revive domestic manufacturing. People would buy more domestic brand cars if they weren’t such POS’s, like a certain Big 3 company that got the brilliant idea in the ’90s to save a few bucks by making their 4.6L V8 engine intake manifolds out of plastic. Now nobody trusts those cars to last beyond the warranty period.
These same people who whine that a $500 per person or $1000 tax rebate/stimulus is useless are the same ones who complain that Dems just want to raise their taxes. If you don’t want the $500,I’ll take it. And if I can get along without it, maybe I’ll donate it to charity instead of being a selfish butthead.
I have never owed more than $10K in taxed in a given year until this year. This year was a boom in business, and I will owe about $350K in taxes. So, now you want to take my earnings and give a portion of it to 700 people! And, I won’t be eligible as one of them!
I guess I’ll just cut back sales, and jobs to keep my income at a level where so much is not taken. Why should I work as hard as I did last year.
As much hope as I have for the Obama administration, $500 is just another insult. It is a mere attempt to placate the masses. The theory behind issuing these payments is that with the extra income people will go out and spend. By spending, we are putting more money into the system and therefore companies can once again operate in the black. At the same time, these companies are getting billion dollar paychecks from the government. At what point does the government stop looking out for companies and start looking out for the average American? Yes I am aware that the companies “employ Americans” and therefore theoritically we are protecting American jobs. But what types of jobs are we protecting? It is my belief that we are just protecting the upper levels of management that were never willing to sacrifice for the average American in the first place.
The government could learn a lesson from the Yonkers City Fire Department here in New York.
I would put the money toward college loans. I have been out of school for 2 years working as an engineer for the state and I still am about $50,000 in the hole from going to school for 5 years. I would like to buy a house but the $750/month payment on school loans, plus $300 monthy car payment prohibit the amount mortgage lenders are willing to give. Credit card debt is one thing (I do not carry a credit card balance), but the cost of a bachelor’s degree really hinders recent graduates from contributing any of their paycheck to the economy.
If you want to bail out (help) the economy, divide the 2nd half of the TARP billions by the number of households and allocate the money to each household in the nation. Imagine what a couple hundred thousand dollars per family could do to payoff bad debt.
Could it be this easy?
I’m against the $85,000,000,000.00 bailout of AIG. Instead, I’m in favor of giving $85,000,000,000 to America in a ‘We Deserve It Dividend’.
To make the math simple, let’s assume there are 200,000,000 bon-a-fide U.S. Citizens 18+.
Our population is about 301,000,000 +/-counting every man, woman and child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at adults 18 and up..
So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billion that equal$425,000.00.
My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a ‘We Deserve It Dividend’.
Of course, it would NOT be tax free. So let’s assume a tax rate of 30%.
Every individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes. That sends
$25,500,000,000 right back to Uncle Sam.
But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in their pocket. A husband and wife has $595,000.00.
What would you do with $297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in your family?
Pay off your mortgage – housing crisis solved.
Repay college loans – what a great boost to new grads
Put away money for college – it’ll be there
Save in a bank – create money to loan to entrepreneurs.
Buy a new car – create jobs
Invest in the market – capital drives growth
Pay for your parent’s medical insurance – health care improves
Enable Deadbeat Dads to come clean – or else
Remember this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+ including the folks
who lost their jobs at Lehman Brothers and every other company that is cutting back. And of course, for those serving in our Armed Forces.
If we’re going to re-distribute wealth let’s really do it…instead of
trickling out a puny $1000.00 ( ‘vote buy’ ) economic incentive that is
being proposed by one of our candidates for President.
If we’re going to do an $85 billion bailout, let’s bail out every
adult U S Citizen 18+!
As for AIG – liquidate it.
Sell off its parts.
Let American General go back to being American General.
Sell off the real estate .
Let the private sector bargain hunters cut it up and clean it up.
Here’s my rationale. We deserve it and AIG doesn’t.
Sure it’s a crazy idea that can ‘never work.’
But can you imagine the Coast-To-Coast Block Party!
How do you spell Economic Boom?
I trust my fellow adult Americans to know how to use the $85 Billion
‘We Deserve It Dividend’ more than I do the geniuses at AIG or in
Washington DC .
And remember, The Birk plan only really costs $59.5 Billion because
$25.5 Billion is returned instantly in taxes to Uncle Sam.
Ahhh…I feel so much better getting that off my chest.
Kindest personal regards,
Birk
T. J. Birkenmeier, A Creative Guy & Citizen of the Republic
PS: Feel free to pass this along to your pals as it is either good for
a laugh or a tear or a very sobering thought on how to best use $85
Billion!!
I am amazed at some of the things that I am reading here.
Each and every one of us has the sole responsibility of managing our own financial future. If your heating bill is too much, maybe you overbought on the house. If you cant afford your car payment, maybe you should look at what you are driving.
I am driving a 7 year old vehicle, with 134K miles, but it works, and its paid for. I could definatley have a new BMW, but I would also have a payment. I dont care though, and I will be using all of that extra money to pay off my mortgage in the next 18 months. Roughly 23 years early!
One more comment…there have been numerous comments about the “criminal / crooked banks”. The executives of the banks are not crooks, maybe a little dumb, but nothing criminal happened here. The only thing that they did wrong was enable us to continue to spend beyond our means. The reason for the losses, are because of the bad loans, and that was brought on by Americans themselves.
More people need to start acting their wage
Check this site out…..www.daveramsey.com
You will thank me someday.
Could it be this easy?
>> I’m against the $85,000,000,000.00 bailout of AIG.
>>
>> Instead, I’m in favor of giving $85,000,000,000 to America in a ‘We
Deserve It Dividend’.
>>
>> To make the math simple, let’s assume there are 200,000,000 bon-a-fide U.S. Citizens 18+.
>>
>> Our population is about 301,000,000 +/- counting every man, woman and child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at adults 18 and up..
>>
>> So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billion that equal$425,000.00.
>>
>> My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a ‘We Deserve It Dividend’.
>>
>> Of course, it would NOT be tax free. So let’s assume a tax rate of
30%.
>>
>> Every individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes. That sends
$25,500,000,000 right back to Uncle Sam.
>>
>> But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in their pocket. A husband and wife has $595,000.00.
What would you do with $297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in your family?
Pay off your mortgage – housing crisis solved.
Repay college loans – what a great boost to new grads
Put away money for college – it’ll be there
Save in a bank – create money to loan to entrepreneurs.
Buy a new car – create jobs
Invest in the market – capital drives growth
Pay for your parent’s medical insurance – health care improves
Enable Deadbeat Dads to come clean – or else
Remember this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+ including the folks
who lost their jobs at Lehman Brothers and every other company that is cutting back. And of course, for those serving in our Armed Forces.
If we’re going to re-distribute wealth let’s really do it…instead of
trickling out a puny $1000.00 ( ‘vote buy’ ) economic incentive that is
being proposed by one of our candidates for President.
If we’re going to do an $85 billion bailout, let’s bail out every
adult U S Citizen 18+!
As for AIG – liquidate it.
Sell off its parts.
Let American General go back to being American General.
Sell off the real estate .
Let the private sector bargain hunters cut it up and clean it up.
Here’s my rationale. We deserve it and AIG doesn’t.
Sure it’s a crazy idea that can ‘never work.’
But can you imagine the Coast-To-Coast Block Party!
How do you spell Economic Boom?
I trust my fellow adult Americans to know how to use the $85 Billion
‘We Deserve It Dividend’ more than I do the geniuses at AIG or in
Washington DC .
And remember, The Birk plan only really costs $59.5 Billion because
$25.5 Billion is returned instantly in taxes to Uncle Sam.
Ahhh…I feel so much better getting that off my chest.
Kindest personal regards,
Birk
T. J. Birkenmeier, A Creative Guy & Citizen of the Republic
PS: Feel free to pass this along to your pals as it is either good for
a laugh or a tear or a very sobering thought on how to best use $85
Billion!!
How about this. There are 304 Million people living in the US. Give each one of them 1 Million dollars. Go ahead and withhold the taxes to.
MOST people will pay off their debt, including their homes and actually save/invest the rest…. and the rest will waste every dollar buying tons of stuff.
Economy fixed, people happy.
The pain expressed in these comments is amazing(not in a good way). A few of my friends and I are planning to take the combined funds we receive and find a family that we can help. They will not know who helped them and will not feel any embarrassement and it will make us feel better than just spending the money.
I jus love these comments, its jus wonderful how our tax dollars will be put into buying “booze”, “hookers”, “superbowl bets”, “cigs”, “porno” oh and my favorite “20″ rims” or buying more Obama memorabilia. I can’t wait till i get my baraky-road ice cream. It’s funny, prostitution and betting is illegal and its only a matter of time before someone infers they plan ( actually its inevitable )on buying illegal drugs with our tax money. Vouchers towards necessities would be a more intelligent way to approach this crisis.
I wont get a penny.
Why hasn’t even one elected representative called for an investigation of Bank profiteering after the first round of the TARP?
FRDY, FNMA & Banks are ripping us off.
I would use the $500 to start a “Could we abolish the Federal Reserve System” campaign. Americans – do yourself a favor and read “The Creature from Jekyll Island”. It will open your eyes to how our government really treats its citizens.
I would continue my existing financial plan. My budget is set so I have a little extra to put toward paying down my mortgage each month. I wait until I have $1000 in that category and then make an additional $1000 capital payment on top of my regular payment. Goal is to be debt free in 15 years. Mortgage is the last debt. The extra $500 will go toward the mortgage.
I just can not help but to comment again, I see the theme here, but when it comes to making changes are all you folks willing to vote for change?
We the voters are the ones who keep voting for the same old, same old, every election. We either vote for a Republican or a Democrat or then see no change in the lives of the American Citizen; we are taxed more, and receive less. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer (because the Poor and Middle class pay all the taxes).
I see no difference in the GOP or the Democrats? Both are well funded by all of those Corporations and Wall Street people, who are getting bailed out, or they run a large PAC, or some other special interest group that raises campaign funds, or they work for a Lobbyist firm.
Our Government works for everyone but the American taxpayer.
This is why I quit the GOP last year, and I’m not going to join the other party either, and being an independent is to non committal for me ( sorry Lou Dobbs), I’m thinking more like our founding father’s did when they were over taxed by England. I say lets all throw our five hundred dollars into Boston harbor. That will be just as good it will be to us.
I joined the Libertarian Party, mainly because they want to see a restoration of our government to the people, with Freedom and Liberty for All, not just the wealthy. A bonus was this party’s commitment to non-violent change, this not an armed revolution, but rather an Educational process of getting the voter to understand that they can vote and bring about change, without being lied to in the campaign just to get your vote.
In 2012 vote for a new party, not the same old same old dribble.
Does anyone feel like we’re watching a bunch of hampsters? I see the wheels spinning every day, but nobody seems to be getting us any closer to the end of this nightmare that so many companies, governments, and individuals contributed to. This is another shoot and pray attempt to try to stimulate the economy. At this point, it just isn’t enough. Unless the $500 comes laced with “confidence dust”, people aren’t going to be comfortable spending it. Some will save, some will invest, some will pay down debt, some will stash…a few will buy.
To answer the question, IF this was all one lump sum, I’d put it towards my wedding (if I’m able to afford it now), or into my IRA, or pay down my student loans. Since it’s not a lump sum…it will just be an extra $20 in my paycheck to hit my savings account. Maybe over the next year, if I lose my job…I can live off the interest.
I’d rather see any of the following if you really want me to continue spending:
-$1500 Government Contribution to the Principal on my student loans (even a % contribution for everyone with a loan would be nice…and free up some spending money each month.)
-$1500 check (more of a stimulus if there’s a “comma” in the number
-$1500 credit to be honored at car company, gas station, investment center, or shopping mall of my choice
Those might stimulate me more.
I’m behind President Obama in everything except this. If we remember last year, Bush got us $600, where’s the other $100? I’m sorry, but the “TARP” should not be going to banks, or businesses. It should be going to the tax payers, on top of whatever is in this stimulus package. What are we going to do with $500? Pay bills. But a lot more bills would get paid, businesses would get more business, people would buy more cars, if it was given to the tax payers. Give the $750 billion to the roughly 200 million tax paying citizens. That’s $3,750/person. All of that would have gone toward getting people current. Now an addition $850 billion? That’s another $4,250/person. Now those are numbers that would save people from ending up on the street, and save the economy because it’s going right back into the system. But, our government cares more about our banks and businesses, than our citizens. Put cash in our hands, and the economy will be saved.
I think maybe it would be a good idea to cash it out, then resend it back to the government to payoff the trillion dollar deficit we are in.
The whole stimulus package has been a joke since the begining. With the interest rate where it is the gov’t should of given the trillion dollars that they gave to the bank to the people that cant afford there mortage. If someone could of really only affored a $150,000.00 loan but instead was given a $200,000.00 the gov’t should pay off the 50,000.00 and let them refinance at 3% or 4%. If the gov’t wants a stimulus package there it is, giving out billions to poorly managed banks isn’t a solution its just buying time so cut the crap and do somthing.
I’d get a tank of gas for my SUV.
Then I’d urban assault my way down to Starbucks and wait in that long line for a Grande Latte.
Next stop Burger King for a Quad Stacker with cheese and bacon with large fries, onion rings, a shake and an apple turnover.
Then I’d gas on over to Barnes and Noble and tag a few new books, some mags, and another Starbucks.
Then I’d head down to the porno shop, stopping for cigs, and get some new DVDs to while away the time.
Ooops, don’t forget those lotto tickets, gotta support the local schools and the nature center.
Last stop, the unemployment office to pick up my guvmint check.
Then I’d pop a few diet pills, eat a couple TV dinners, puke, take a dump and watch the world burn on CNN.
Why not? We’re Americans.
Global warming is a fraud? Are you out of your mind? Recent satellite views of the Arctic don’t lie! And did you happen to hear about the ice shelf in the Antarctic the size of Connecticut that broke off last year? Or do they not have news in the rural area where you live? Get real-global warming is-and we need to do something about it. Comments like yours remind me of Dick Cheney and his ilk trying to convince us all that it’s not really happening. A carbon tax makes sense since it would help to speed development of cleaner, more efficient vehicles than the giant SUV’s that were so prevalent under the previous administration. And since we’ll all pay it, it is fair and equitable. We all need to do our part.
I would use the $500 for car repair. Given all the governmental moaning about Americans not saving, why should anybody try to save when you have a guaranteed loss due to taxes plus annual inflation. If you want people to save, drop the taxation on savings up to a double digit percentage of your annual income.
Here are what people will do with $500.
1) pay off debt – doesn’t help economy
2) use for essentials (groceries, utilities) – not much help for economy
3) save – doesn’t help economy
4) buy foreign products – doesn’t help economy.
$500 would help the consumer, but not the economy. People would pay off debt, only to rack it up again.
To Tired of It in Carson, GA:
I said I had no sympathy for people who got in over their heads.
That is not the same as no sympathy for people who are losing their homes. The people who got in over their heads are the ones who triggered the downturn that likely caused your job loss. I do have sympathy for people who have been cut because of the crisis, or because of surprise medical bills or other unforeseeable circumstances.
I’m not heartless but I recently read an article crying boo-hoo over the family of a cable installer facing foreclosure on a $605,000 mortgage (I think it was an ARM to boot). Who thought it was a good idea to give the cable guy a $605,000 mortgage? And why is he a victim for taking it?
I do not understand their desire to spend. When I run into financial trouble, and I have in the past, I cut back on spending not increase it. The $500 tax break will not fix the economy. It is just a “feel good” payment to those of us who are going to have to pay 4 times that much back in a few years to cover the excessess of our government.
Wow a whole $500! Gee Thanks Obama. I think I will make 1 car payment with it. This will surely save me and my family from total financial destruction.
Dear Barry, thank you for the extra cash. With the prices of many items gone through the roof, I am not going to be buying anything yet. Instead, I’d rather pay down my HELOC. This will allow me to pay less interest in the future.
Wishing you good luck in your new diggs,
Jerry
Stimulus? Who is really getting stimulated? Banks, mortgage companies, and other big business. Billions of our hard earned tax dollars wasted on their mismanagement. They should be held to their own standards and not be bailed out. Now that they have billions of OUR money what are they really doing with it? They are supposed to use some of it to lend. The problem i see with that is right now that is the last thing this economy needs is people borrowing money. Look at the uncertenty with the people losing jobs, price of fuel and groceries increasing, and the total income to debt ratio. With those factors as well as others it wouldn’t matter if the banks had all the money in the world to lend. People with any kind of smarts just would not take out a new loan for anything right now. So with all of those billions of OUR tax payer dollars going to banks, and ceo’s, and pleasure for all the stupid bad decision makers they are the ones getting stimulated and there still not making loans. I believe every red cent that was paid to the banks should be paid back right now, not next month or years from now. With all of that said [and i could go on until the keys wear out on my laptop]what would really stimulate the economy? I think the government should retrive all of those billions of wasted tax dollars from the banks ect. and give every TAX PAYER that is LEGAL and is NOT on any type of GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE $100,000 for couples making less than $75,000 and $50,000 for singles earning less than $40,000. Now ya think i am crazy now don’t ya? But look at the outcome from it. People would pay down or pay off their mortgages [banks would get their money] or people may buy a house there are many foreclosers that can be bought real cheep right now and cash money talks [banks would get their money] people may pay off or buy a new car [banks and auto companies get their money] people may want to remodel their home trick out their auto or maybe buy that huge tv and all of this would flood the economy. People may want to save as much of it as they can. I just think a package such as this aimed at this income bracket would have an overall better reward for the economy both in the short term and the long term aswell. Also scrap all of the income tax and just tax all goods and services. That way every one, ILLEGALS included are paying taxes.
The poorest of the poor in the USA are WAY better off than those in developing nations, yet we complain about how hard life is in the USA.
If you are losing your house, perhaps you will be better off renting (life doesn’t end because you can’t afford your mortgage). I bet a lot of homeowners wish they were renters right now.
If you are angry that company executives make more money than you, get educated, and become an executive.
If your 401k account is half what it was a year ago, join the club and learn about Asset Allocation for future protection against market downturns.
I fully expect at some point in my life that I will lose my job.
I’m planning for that day so I’ll be ready.
Zach in St. Louis puts it wonderfully:
“Spend less than you make. Save what you can. Plan ahead. Deal with it.”
$1000 bucks for me and my wife will do little to nothing with this economy. Sure we’ll probably pay down some high intrest debt, but thats not going to do anything in the long run.
All of the “Bail Outs” are doomed to fail. Look at the numbers, The entire valuation of the US economy can be summed up with the Dow, NasDaq, and the SP500 which at it peak was worth 28 Trillion which lost 40% of its value which is about 12 Trillion. So for the US Gov to put in 700 Billion and a proposed 825 Billion (1.525 Trillion total) is only a drop in the bucket to recover this economy. To add insult to injury we’re getting sucked dry with unemployment claims with employers continuously laying off people.
Just incase you don’t know what it looks like 1 Trillion = 1,000,000,000,000. Thats right 12 zero’s… POLITICIANS “PLEASE STOP SPENDING OUR MONEY”
First, the soap box:
“A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a
permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.”
-Alexander Tyler 1747-1813
In reference to our current national economic crisis, ultimately the shareholder gets bailed out whether they be foreign or domestic.
Now to answer the question: I’d tithe first, then buy U.S.A services, products and food.
Let’s not forget what is really going on here. This is not about getting the resession to end, but rather taking over total control! Giving back to the sheeple, does not help the powerful maintain control.
Too many citizens and top economists are saying the same thing … ” The money would do better in the hands of the people who actually need it “, which is trickle up not trickle down.
That the government thinks that $500 -$1000 is going to help most families is a slap in the face. I have read over some of the comments, and most sound opposed to the Bailout. When you hear that Bank of America had to go back for a second helping of the bailout, it is unjust. The people that are being laid off, losing their homes, livelihoods, and savings. We are the ones that deserve the bailout. When is it our turn?? $500-$1000, that might get me a few weeks of groceries, or fill my tank a few times, but as far as it being a stimulus, you can’t go on vacation with that, or buy new furniture, new tv. The big ticket items are the things that need to be bought to jolt the economy.
Wow, it amazes me that most people who have posted on this page are saying the exact same thing I have been saying since the very first “bailout”. Give the money to THE PEOPLE! How complicated is that? I encourage everyone to write your state reps. and push this idea to the top! Put the money into the hands of the same people who qualified for Bush’s stimulus checks last year. $10K – $20K per family is life changing to the average American, and it WILL stimulate the economy like never before!
Save it in an FDIC insured bank account. The government will take it back eventually through higher taxes.
My wife and I will put the money aside for savings. I agree with everyone else that the money that is being spent on the bailout is going the wrong way but disagree that it should go straight to the people. The majority of the population would just do the wrong thing with it and get into more debt. I seriously doubt that someone with $50K in debt would use all $50K (if that is what it was) to pay off their debt. I envision a new car and many other items that are not necessary. If the money was to go directly to the people there should be a way to direct it towards a mortgage or credit card company. That much money in the hands of the average person is not a good idea. It may temporarily spur the economy but we will eventually be right back where we started.
Wow… $500.00?! Give me a break.. I’ll put it directly into my savings account.. I’m not stimulating anything.. especially while Wall Street is getting billions and billions of OUR money for failing to be responsible.. the lying cheating and stealing continues!
I could be wrong but if you gave out 700$ billion to all American households making less than 150,000 considering there are 113 million households minus the 5 million 150,000$+ households that would give about 6500.00 per household, not quite the hundreds of the thousands suggested earlier, but it could definitely help.
In anticipation for (inflationary) increases in the cost of food staples, I would put $100 into food goods that could last 1+ year. Even at 10% increase in the price of rice, corn, or wheat–the basis for much of the worlds food (and energy?)–would return that much to my budget. Whatever happens to the rest, I would be remiss not to put $100 to a charity that focuses upon caring for the truly needy–immigrants, aliens, and refugees.
I’m going to invest even more money in the stock market. I have $40,000 in the market right now. It’s a risk, but you need to make risks to get good returns.
Buy a range for our kitchen. We have not been able to afford one for 6 months and it would be great to cook on something different than a Microwave or wok.
There seems to be a lot of whining and ignorance (no offense) coming from the public. There is purpose in the IDEA of proping from the banks through the credit industry. I agree that the terms of dispersal are WAYYYY to lax, and that more heads should be rolling and books should be fully visible to the public. This rebate is not going to make a dent in public spending, but everyone should be thankful. Remember, the way to excite the economy is to spend. The reason we can’t spend is because we are saddled with more debt than ever recorded in history. The government did not make the American public open up credit cards and get houses they cannot afford. They can be held responsible for their lack of oversight, but the burden of the consumer portion of this crisis falls squarely on our shoulders. Everyone should take the $500 dollars and invest in a couple local community college personal finance and business courses. I am not stating this from the high and mighty, my wife and I are currenlty working very hard to pay off our bad spending and finance habits from our 20’s. But that does not make me look to the government for help. That makes me no better than the companies that everyone is so quick to point the finger at.
I would help both the automotive industry and real estate market in that I would purchase a new car and home with my portion of the “stimulus” money. If I have any money leftover, I would help the airline industry by flying around the world.
This $500 will be funded by government borrowing which will need to be paid back in the future through higher taxes.
Isn’t using money people didn’t have what got us into this mess to begin with?
It’s not much, but I would put all of it in savings in case of a future job loss or to make up what we’ve lost on our stock market investments in retirement and college funds. I would not spend it. I don’t need anything, but I would like some financial security, and that’s my greatest concern right now.
Great – a credit to my taxes for year 2009 that I won’t even receive (be able to use) until April/May 2010 when I file my taxes. What kind of Stimulus is that? This must be similar to the small business tax credit that says that all small business’ will get a $3000 credit to hire an employee. Okay I hire a $50k a year employee to get $3000 back a year or so later when I can’t even sell the goods I have now. Tax Credits – though nice in the longer term won’t help an economy immediately.
I earn below the proposed cap for the tax credit which should be 1000 dollars for my family. However, I, like many thousands if not millions of middle class American tax payers will be caught by the Alternative Minimum Tax for the first time. In the past, this has been adjusted for those of us who would have had to pay this tax that was unintended for the middle class when it was passed by Congress and not indexed to inflation many years ago. The proposed tax credit is not enough to offset the increase in my taxes this year due to the Alternative Minimum Tax. Therefore, my tax credit will not be used to support the economy, it will simply be used to pay part of another tax that is becoming more draconian each year for the very middle class tax payers that we are trying to help. What happened to the problem of the Alternative Minimum Tax in the national debate about the stimulus package?
Buy some canned goods and bottled water for the depression we’re heading for. Maybe a survival knife and some ammo for my rifle. Maybe hoard it under the mattress or thoughtlessly squander it away like the big banks and all the divine decision makers out there. Try anything possible to hide it away from the government and anyone that wants to invest\lose it for me. Put $500 on the Steelers and let it ride? Cut my face off and dropout of the system completely. Keep it all to myself more than likely. Peace out.
I would use the $500 to kick off my campaign for congress and show the politicians that enough is enough. How is it that if individuals try to spend their way out of debt leads to bankruptcy, that the government could do it and solve the problem? One of the main reasons we are in this mess is that corruption at the top is getting out of hand and greed is running rampant. It is time for common sense to have a chance.
Man all mighty I get tired of people asking the government for a handout of 15,000 and more.
GET A CLUE, you have to pay that money back! With a LOT of interest.
Please Mr. Obama, DON’T GIVE US CASH. Spend it on making jobs by building stuff we NEED. Fix our roads, rebuild the rail system. Do something USEFUL. Man we don’t need to give greedy Americans more cash to buy disposable junk made over seas.
But, if you hand me 500$ I’ll pay my rent. Its a struggle right now.
Donate part of it as we start to enact President Obama’s plan for service. Then save the reminder. I would rather all of this money be spent on retooling the electrical grid. Americans will save more than $500 if electric bills were cut in half.
I will use it buy the same merchandise I could buy at the store, but from a vendor outside the ccountry since it will be cheaper. Since it is only $500, and not really enough to do anything to help the economy, i may as well buy the stuff I have been wanting for less, since everyone is getting bailed out excpet the public. When you offer me a real bailout, i will g o back to my self serving habits of shopping, eating out and partying again. And all in my $350 coati bought for $150 instead since the government has now taught me how to barter down prices and comparison shop for better deals.
500.00 / 52 = 9.615
$9.62 a week.
Lets see, I could buy a loaf of bread, a dozen eggs and a gallon of milk.Maybe.
Maybe I’ll go see a movie.By myself.
I’ll have to smuggle in my own popcorn though.
What a joke.
I just love reading these rich people that want to raise taxs. How come the U.S. Senators and congressmen have to find a new way to tax or impose a new way to take my hard earned money out of my and other poor americans pockets. Who??? out there wants to see food prices rise because of gas taxs, power utilities will rise, the price of costruction will rise, ect.
I dont’t live in Europe, i don’t care how they do things, we fought a war to get away form them, an these idoits want to be like them. FOOLS
CO2 tax is another way to get money out of our pockets, Global Wamring is a farce/fraud. The rich allways find a new way to get richer.
Don’t think Senators and congressmen will not find a way to put this money in there pockets.
The only ones that want to see a rise in gas taxs are the people that live in the big cities like NY, VT, CA all the liberal areas of the nation.
Liberals lives for taxs hikes, it makes them feel good to take other peoples money.!!!!!!!!!
The money issued for bailouts would have been better served in the hands of the people. I magine if every homeowner got a sizable sum of money. Pay off mortgages… increased spending… economy boosted, etc. $500.00, the greeedy SOB’s can shove it where the SUN doesn’t shine… WHAT A JOKE OUR GOVERNMENT HAS BECOME!!!
500.00 WOULD NOT EVEN TOUCH THE AVERAGE DEBT OF MID INCOME AMERICAN FAMILY.DIVIDE THE BAILOUT MONEY AMONG ALL 18 YEAR OLD AMERICAN CITIZENS AND YOU WILL SEE THIS COUNTRY COME OUT OF A RECESSION VERY QUICKLY.
What a joke!! $500. LOL While the “FAT CATS” are dipping into these Multi-Billion dollar bailouts,we have to settle for $500.to pay the bills! Take that TRILLION dollars and give $15,000-$20,000 to every low to middle income adults in the U.S. and you’ll see the **RECESSION END** rather quickly!!! (Wouldn’t even matter what they spent it on.) That’s STIMULUS!!
I think all these comments should go to our newly elected President……this is why he was elected, because the people are sick and tired of Big Business’s big paychecks and the Government waste. Can’t wait to see how he’s going to change it all!!!!!
I would take the money and put it where no one else can get it, just like the banks are doing. With the economy the way it is, everyone should be saving their money.
I don’t qualify for it. I think my income is 1k over the max. (i think i read the max in a previous CNN article). However if I did qualify, I would use it to pay down HIGH interest rate debt first. It is only 500 so it wouldn’t make a dent for me or for a lot of other people I’m sure. It’ll buy some people groceries for a couple weeks or something similar. That’s not a huge help.
Ill purchase some USO etfs while oil is priced relatively cheap ($30’s – $40’s) and sell when oil reaches $150-$200 a barrel somewhere between the next 1-3 years.
A slap in the face. We give millions to the board members running bailed out (failing) companies, billions to the companies they’re running and the taxpayer gets $500?? I was against the bailouts from the beginning and have seen nothing alter that opinion. The money should have been given to the taxpayers to spend or invest as they wished, filtering to the overall economy. With the bailouts we have banks taking billions they won’t lend or even account for, and manufacturers like Chrysler taking bailout cash and giving it away as 0% financing on their crap product! How the hell are they going to pay the taxpayer back when they’re giving the money away for free?!? All these bailouts did was delay the inevitable. Chrysler will fail, as will certain financial institutions and all the taxpayer will get is the bill, more debt it cannot repay, especially since it’s most likely he won’t even be employed. And the companies receiving bailouts? They’ll be putting their hands out for more instead of trying to fix their archaic infrastructures and arrogant attitudes.
You know what, I have a better solution. All I hear is talk about how they need to get the economy going again. Hear is an idea. Look that little bit of money is not going to make much of a differnce at all for the American people. What they should have done instead of giving these banks all of this money is divide it up among the American people. For 700 billion they could have given every person or family making under $150,000 a year at least one or two hundred thousand dollars. That would have brought the economy back. People would have been able to pay off mortgages putting money back into banks. Thay could have paid off their cars, credit cards, and all of the debt they had putting money back into all of these institutions that are hurting for money. I would much rather my tax dollars go to help the American people instead of paying for already Multi Millionairs that do not know how to manage their business. Give us the bailout and watch the economy come back to life. What is wrong with this picture people are losing their homes and we are giving billions of dollars to people who have five houses. Wow that makes sense to me.
A tax credit isn’t going to help much, they will probably want us to pay it back over the next 5 years like that Housing credit. They should take the 700 billion they are going to give to banks and spread it over the millions of people who live in the US, that will jump start the economy.
That isn’t big enough, it needs to be twice that size for singles and couples for it to even have a remote chance at making an impact. They need to quit tossing out small amounts like this and get real. It is time we got a significant stimulus that is large enough that people might actually use it to buy goods with. Something like:
Single: 1500
Couples: 3000
Just to start with, at least then it’s large enough to motivate people to spend it…
I agree I dont see how this will make a huge difference. It sort of does not make a lot of economic sense.
If the government is using this tactic as way to stimulate spending, you do not give it in the form of a check. You give it in the form of a check card that forces people to actually spend it.
Im just saying that if thsi is what the intention of the giveaway is, then do it in a way that forces us to spend it. You give me $500 bucks im putting it in my bank account. You give me a $500 check card Im sure i can find ways to spend it
I intend to use the money to offset investment losses in my Roth IRA and my two daughter’s Coverdell college savings accounts. Since I’m only 25 my investments were in a pretty aggressive position, and still are to this day (gulp). Percentage wise I lost a lot but as far as actual dollars are concerned, $500 or $1,000 would go a long way in helping to offset a good portion of the money I’ve lost in the stock market.
$500, wow. In my dreams it would be nice to receive this token. Ah, but pulling cash out of my 401k (which is considered income)to meet current bills due to non-paying tenants and empty units put me over the limit of getting the last check.
Here’s the conundrum:
For folks like me – and I dare say that I’m in the majority – our finances are so tight that the $500 will have to be spent on getting (a little bit) caught up on paying our bills. None of this money will be going to “stimulate” any sector of the economy.
The minority of people who can afford to spend their check on luxuries by definition really didn’t need it in the first place.
So what exactly is the point, here? On one hand, I’m not too proud to take the money – I have a family to support. But it’s not helping the economy any. And really, I figure that money was mine to begin with. It’d be nice if I were taxed less on the front end – maybe I wouldn’t have been so behind in the first place.
And for those who can afford to take that check and spend it in a fancy restaurant, is this how I want my tax money to stimulate the economy?
I don’t really see the point either way. Cut the massive spending on government beuracracy, tax individual income less, and simplify the tax system. Now there’s a stimulus.
First of all…It’s not an immediate $500. It’s not like i’m getting a $500 check in the mail. Secondly, it’s no value money, With high food and gas prices. The little $20 extra per pay, equates to $1.30 per day. Not even a gallon of gas. And bearly a loaf of bread. So please tell me how $500 Tax cut is going to stimulate the economy ???
I always react the same way when someone tells me they are going to “give” me something. I grab my wallet with both hands and hold on. The government has nothing to give any of us. The “stimulus” is tax money from the future they haven’t collected yet. I’m guessing that the $500.00 will cost us $1500-2000 with interest. Not too stimulating.
I WOULD PUT IT TOWARD MYFUNDS TO GET MARRIED ITS NOT CHEAP AND I DONT KNOW HOW IM GOING TO PAY FOR IT BUT I WILL KEEP PRAYING FOR A MERICLE TO HAPPEN
I am one of those who followed the rules, only to get hit with on my 401K and my homes value by those who didnt. Why are we pouring money into big business so they can draw million plus bonus’s while the little guy continues to flounder?
I say give everyone who filed a tax return last year $50,000 and watch how the economy picks up because $500 ain’t gonna do it! If you are on public assistance, set a deadline for it to end. I am tired of hearing about all the people who have become professionals at collecting money from the government and not having to pay taxes on it, so all the rest of us who pay our taxes can continue to support them year after year. (Sorry, I got sidetracked, now back to the story)
If I have $50,000 to spend I might buy that new car, big TV, or do some upgrading of my 20 year old home. All of that creates a demand and hopefully keeps someone employed or puts someone back to work because the factories or manufacturer cannot keep up with the new spike in business.
I cannot take full credit for this idea, someone wiser than I wrote this concept as an editorial in our local paper her in CA.
they could have had a better chance of getting the economy going by giving every house 10000 instead of rewarding these stupid banks they can give all the money in the world to the banks it wont help give the people the money back to make a difference
I have been paying most of our bills 2 weeks late to 1 month late, and here and there borrow $200-$400 from family to pay for daycare or my Mortgage, since the economy has been what it is. Wih the stimulus check, I want to be able to make all my payments on time. And catch up with them and able to pay them all on time. And not have to borrow anymore money. My husband is Senior Marketing Manager for A HEALTH CARE COMPANY and I am a School Support Representative for a bank, with 3 little daughters. Is hard, even with good jobs. I can just imagine what other people are going thru. This money will use to catch up and not stress so much anymore. I know this is all I need to get back on track.
Donate it to the Amani Baby Cottage in Uganda. Check out their website. Maybe you want to send yours there too. Giving to someone less fortunate than yourself might just make you feel a little grateful that we live in a country where our poor are still rich in comparison to much of the world.
I would post an ad in a prominent Washington newspaper telling the government they are ruining our country. We are going to have inflation like we have not seen in modern history. If I do not place an ad I will save the money in a savings account paying less than 1% interest and in 5 years I will use it to buy a t-shirt. Does no one understand that what the government gives us must eventually be taken from us via taxes….or inflation, via running the printing presses. We cannot spend our way out of this! That is how we got here in the first place.
PW said he had no sympathy for those people who were losing their homes, but what about us who are losing homes, not due to too much debt, but due to job loses and lack of work availability. We could afford our mortgage if we had something other than part time work available to us. It’s not that we were not wise in our expenditures, just that jobs are being lost in this economy.
$500???? That will pay one months rent or 2 months utilities, haha, $500, what kind of stimulation is that, peanuts. I am a single Mom of 3 kids, we need a bigger break than that to save ourselves…billions to a billionaire, and change for the poor. Nice.
My $500 is going right into my surround sound budget. I have been saving for a while now, and have diligently paid down my credit card debt to within $100. I have worked hard for the money that I earn, and feel that this would be a great way to reward myself. It will also put money back into the economy as soon as I go to Best Buy and buy my speakers.
For those of you who think hoarding this money will fix the problems, you are wrong. The only way for us to get out of this mess is spend money THAT WE HAVE, not that we borrow. Take the cash and spend it, do not run up your credit cards. Saving money does nothing to stimulate the economy.
$500 bucks yea great. Do any of you realize how much “WE” are going to spend just to send out those checks??? labor,printing, paper, postage…..Million$$$ of wasted tax dollars.
I would use it to pay off some bills. With my company cutting hours and my husbands company cutting hours. It is making it harder to make ends meet. The only problem with this picture is that the bosses are still getting thier full salary. I don’t want to see anyone lose thier job but why does the little guy on the totum pole have to absorb the blunt of this economic crisis. We have congress only worried about bailing out the corp. big guys, and the corp. big guys are only worried about keeping thier pay checks and bonuses. While middle class america gets the shaft.
Donate a portion to the Campaign for Liberty and save the remainder. This is the one thing that gives me hope for the prosperous future of this country.
This “crisis” may be one of the best things to have ever happened to this country. People may start waking up to the reality that more government is not the solution for everything and realize that the government no longer works for the people, the people now work for the government.
Sounds crazy, but I would buy a savings bond—less money our government would have to go begging for from foreign goverments/ lenders!!
It’s only $500. It’ll sit in my MMA until the govt decides it needs it back…which they will take through higher taxes down the road. It’s a loan. Nothing more.
Well,
the way this credit is being delivered, through our company lowering the amount they withold from my paycheck, I won’t really notice the money in my paycheck as it will be spread out over the year.
That will be like $20 a paycheck. So, I guess I will go to the movies more often once a pay period. some stimulus.
Make it a solid $500 check all at once here and now, and I would invest it in Evolution Solar (EVSO) and buy myself 500 more shares. But at $20 a a pay period spread out over the year, its just spitting in the wind.
I would use it to pay off debt, and if I can pay off 1 bill completely I will do that first, but if not then I will put the payment against one of my credit cards.
How does this help the common citizen who is over his/her head in debt? $500 goes into the black hole which is also known as “debt”. If a person has close to $5,000 to $10,000 in credit card debt, excluding their mortgage – what does a $500 check do for them? This is a joke in my book. Bush tried it – it didn’t work.
What would I do? Put it in my savings account and pray I still had a job come tomorrow.
My life-long high-school and college friend is a Divine Word Missionary in Jamaica. I’ve been there — these folks often work 12 hour days to earn the equivalent of $5. I’m amazed at how happy they are in their misery. I’m married (29 years, 8 months, 29 days, and about 20 hours … but who’s counting?) My $500 goes to Bernie … my guess is he’d find a better use for it than I.
What a Joke, $500 isn’t enough to cover one gas and electric bill. Wake up this is what the “Middle Class” in CA is facing.
If there was any doubt in my mind that the United States is on its way to collapse, reading through many of these comments has effectively removed it.
The government isn’t giving away your tax dollars or mine in any of the bailouts, they are borrowing it…all of it. When it’s over, even if many of you did get your wish and the feds sent you a $50,000 check, you might be able to buy a candy bar with it…maybe.
The sense of entitlement and lack of personal financial responsibility is apparently a long way from being gone in this country. Each day that it persists, brings us that much closer to its inevitable outcome. With many of the attitudes expressed here, many may look back at 2008/09 in years to come as the “good old days”.
This much money would not even make a dent in what I owe. It wouldn’t make a house payment, either. However, this amount times all the people receiving it (whom it wouldn’t help long term, either) will leave an enormous tab for the future generation to pay back. Why does the government think this type of “stimulus” will help?
What would I do with $500? Probably spend it on necessities; i.e., food, pay the ever-increasing heating bill; gas to get to work,pay the latest doctor bill, and so on. Most sensible people would do the same; however, others who still haven’t a clue would put it toward a flat screen T.V.
There are a myriad of ways this country needs fixing; in fact, too many and too mind boggling to go into. Some of the starters would be to bring back all the jobs sourced out. Simple. When people have jobs they don’t need a stimulus. A job IS a stimulus. Secondly, FIX Wall Street; i.e., the execs who are still demanding and getting high salaries and bonuses (even those who have been bailed out); fix the SEC (not interfere with a free market, but regulate those who manipulate their way around rules (or lack thereof). Appears quite evident that a goodly portion of this entire debacle started with lax rules leading to greed. And, certainly, our erstwhile elected politicians “fiddled while Rome burned.” Speaking of our elected, the most significant issue to watch is their attempting to insert some pork into any spending bill. A line item veto would be beneficial. Finally, NO MORE congressional pay raises. They need to have a little inkling of what their constituents are going through. Cut the perks, cut unnecessary travel.
After that, then let’s end this Iraq war and utilize the money spent on that country to spread around.
Tax credits don’t help the poor – the underemployed or unemployed. Nor do they help the self-employed who are struggling and borrowing to keep in the game, with net losses. Small tax credits help the employed, a little, and perhaps help retail, and the credit card companies.
A paltry $500 is a drop in the bucket, an insult. Stop the high flying wealthy government makers flaunting their wealth including the new President, cut CEO’s salaries and expenses that you are bailing out down to our size, ask Congress if they’ve ever lived on $75K in this age as a single, been without a job due to reckless spending on every level from the Senate, Congress, President, SEC, the inordinate spending of the campaign for a job of President, etc. Do you see this is totally disgusting to those of us who don’t have the government makers big fortunes? Get over it, $500 is a joke. We have to live like normal Americans, not Hollywood and Washington, one of the same.
Geithner is another of the “throw money at the banks without conditions” who will bankrupt what is left of the country. Why not ask what the banks will do with $350 billion dollars?
this should be $5000.00 for single and $10000.00 for familys we just gave700 billion to crooks,lets get real.
Given my fear of losing my job, the excessively high cost of living in NY, my decimated retirement account, rising uncertainty in the markets, out of control healthcare and college tuition…$500 will go directly into my savings account.
The anger in response to this question and in the letters to the president is palpable.
If this site is any indication of how the real general public feels about the bailouts – not just what the media reports – then this is going to be quite a year. I find it interesting that talk of giving the money to the people didn’t creep into the general psyche until the bailouts happened. Now it feels like a growing trend.
To CNN/Money: As a news source – PLEASE keep this going. It would be a shame to loose our perspective.
I didn’t qualify for the last “stimulus” as a single person, but this time we will partially qualify as a married couple. We already live within our means, but the $1,000 would still go into savings. There is no way I am parting with more money than I have to – just in case I lose my job.
If as someone suggested… the taxpayers got what the banks got, we’d pay off the majority of our mortgage. 100k would make us nearly debt free. We’d then be able to pay cash for the kids college when they get there. We’d also build our retirement quicker so we wouldn’t be a burden on society. Finally, we’d get out of the workforce faster and open up jobs for someone else.
In the words of the great Benjamin Graham, “The speculator’s mindset militates strongly against him, for he is most optimistic when asset prices are high and most despondent when they are at bottom. Sure enough, despondency is very high at this point in time and stocks and real estate have both undergone significant corrections. How about putting that $500 into one of these two asset classes? Any takers?
With the miniscule amount of $500, I would first think to save it. Then realize that I might as well spend it on groceries for my family, especially with interest rates as low as they are. Oh, well then, I should invest it, right? I would only invest the money if I wanted my tiny piece of the pie to become an even smaller piece of the pie.
The real answer to what I will do with the $500.00 is payoff debt. Which won’t help the real problem, which is what I’m supposed to do if I lose my job, or if gas prices jump back up to $4.00 plus for a gallon.
Ironically, any tax rebates I have received so far have gone to pay more taxes, specifically local property tax, rather than to buy something I might need or pay personal debts.
My Goodness… Although I would love to chunk down my credit card debt, which is not exponential. I’ll confess that I have made significant lifestyle changes in the last 8 months. Yes, I would love to see the money re directed towards a family that is truly in financial crisis and needs some help with food, bills or their mortgage payment. I would venture to say that although many naive homebuyers allowed themselves to be talked in to scary pay option arm loans… Who gets to design the filter for who really deserves “gift” funds, and who painted themselves in a corner… Also, frankly for those who were greedy, realistically, the lesson they have learned in this economy hurts all of us as Americans invested in this economy…
hey I’ll take it. It will go towards bills, as it will for the majority of people that recieve the “stimulus”. We would have gotten more bang for the buck if all this money was sent directly to individuals instead of big banks. Best option is we could of spent nothing and played the hand we dealt ourselves.
I may actually buy something nice. Like a new TV, the prices are getting lower and lower. To me $1000 (I’m married) is almost half of our monthly income. We live comfortably on that, amazing huh! Got a 2 bed 1.5 bath townhome, two great cars (small but high mpg), nice clothes, nice furniture, and money left we can save. All this with no debt. Americans need to learn to be wise. Someday I hope to make more and be able to say $1000 is chump change, but for now I’m happy. Of course I need to talk to the wife first on the TV idea!
As I did with my last $500 “stimulus” check, I will add $250 to my high interest rate savings account and then use the remaining $250 towards my credit card debt. Pretty simple for me. I am just lucky to have a job.(knock on wood!)
I would put it towards the $72,000 I have left in student loans, which is just a little more than half of what I started with, for a bachelors degree.
I retired just before all this mess started. $500 fits into my budget nicely. it could be part of a number uses.
1. 2 months healthcare premiums. or
2. 80% of my annual heating costs. or
3. 6 months gasoline cost. or
4. 5 months food costs. or if I just want to spend it
5 Vacation
I am lovin my early retirement. You have to be prepared for the worst. I can’t wait for SS to kick in.( If it survives.)
I have 3 children and a wife, how far does President Obama think we can stretch that $1,000 tax credit over the course of a year? I certainly am accepting of the gesture, but I see it helping to pay my ever rising monthly utility, fuel, and groceries bills for a single month. It certainly won’t allow me to run out and purchase any “big ticket” items. If you want to stimulate the economy, but a few hundred dollars back into my pocket each month.
Five hundred bucks doesn’t do much for anybody.
Keep the money and use it to rebuild infrastructure and create jobs in the process.
I would put the $500 away as part of my downpayment for a house that i plan to buy this year. My wife will put her $500 away for the same thing.
At this point $1,000 is not going to do anything significant for us. Saving it for my childs future seems like the only truely beneficial option at this juncture. Otherwise it will just end up going back to the Gov’t from taxes or geting lost through investing it in the economy.
Same thing I did with the last stimulus, send it to my mother-in-law for safekeeping so my husband and I have something to live on when we lose our jobs and foreclose on our house that is worth less than we owe.
Donate it to the Amani Baby Cottage in Uganda. Look up their website. You might want to send yours there too. Giving to someone less fortunate than yourself, might just make you feel a bit lucky to live in a country where the poorest people are still richer than most of the world.
To add to my other comment the big problem with whats going on right now is ultra capitalism (not capitalism), this has been going on since reagans days, of people thinking this greed is good, that to look rich is to be rich and keeping up with the jones’s.
During all these problems growth i have seen many getting homes extended, getting flat screens, getting all the latest gadgets and going on exotic vacations, they have used their credit cards for some or all of them with what seems like a blinkered look at the economy or their own threat of unemployment.
They seem to be all the more immature when their very livelihood is at stake.
This isnt the only problem, the greed of the bankers and investment advisors with their bonuses and share options making their judgement more personal gain over customer safety, they did everything because it made them rich, or promoted them to a position to make them rich.
If I had the power I’d have every person who benefitted by these decisions arrested and give them one offer, either give back every benefit (money or shares or value of benefits) or face prosecution for conspiracy to defraud against the shareholders and customers of the company they owned/worked for with a certain conviction as there’s nobody but other’s who took money would find them innocent and a certain guarenteed 10 year prison term…I wonder how long it would take till that money was sent in
I agree with the person from Bradenton
Fl.and would like to add that do we need to really spend nearly a trillion dollars on defense to protect america
In my opinion if we didn’t make enemies
with offensive foreign policies we would have much less of a problem in the world,donate my 500 to the hungry here in america first,stop supporting the world make them stand on their own!
I’d put it in my new(er) car savings stash. My plan is to buy a decent used car (~ $10k) with no car loan, so that I can keep my debt-free lifestyle. Right now my wife and I have no consumer debt except a mortgage, and I plan to keep it that way. The extra money would just advance our timeline for getting the car by a month or so.
I would put the money in savings. I don’t think we’ll ever be able to get over the fear that is causing the downturn in our economy. It’ll take another generation who did not live through this crisis. Now I can relate to my parents and grandparents, who paid cash and saved for everything, and did not live on credit. They never had new cars or anything fancy, they lived within their means. Before the crisis, I did spend a lot, but moving forward, I will never put myself in high debt again, and my future will be saving money, and paying down my mortgage, and paying cash.
Well, Since I have lost my Job and the credit card companies have raised all the interest rates to a level that will take years to pay off? Maybe the $500 could be used for a Bankruptcy attorney or a tax attorney to deal with back taxes owed. Somehow I think we could find a better solution. People need money to eat and to keep their homes. We are too far into it to go this route. Didn’t President Bush already try this? And that was more money AND it was BEFORE we were in this mess !!
It must be wonderful to be in the position that a $500 check is a disappointment. I to have worked hard all my life. Our children have worked part time in order to help the family. We play by the rules. The oldest son and I are both military combat veterans.
Maybe it is this kind of self centered greed for more that has put our economy in peril. Never be grateful for what you may have, only ask for more. If the money is a joke for being to little, ask your local food bank if they agree with you.
If I even see any of it, it would go directly into my emergency fund. It was too easy to let my emergency fund suffer over the last couple of years. I know that is not what the refund is intended for, but I have to protect myself against a (fairly likely) job loss in the next few months. What is good for the country is not necessary good for the individual. One bright spot of this financial crisis is that people are saving more and paying down credit card debt. That is only good sense anytime.
It’s already my $500 from the taxes I pay. You’re not giving me anything. The whole exercise is a lie. How about not bailing out failed banks. How about using the money for solvent banks that will lend the money and use the capital wisely. Is there anyone in Washington with any remote sense of responsibility? Stop the money give away!
I would stash it in my 4.00% Money Market like I did with my last $600 check from Uncle Sam. Still did not spend it. I don’t see how this is going to help.
Last year we saw a tax credit of $600. Given the current market situation I would have expected to see at least $1000 tax credit(and may be like $1500 for couples). Well..something is better that nothing.
Last year I remember buying an iPhone with my tax credit. This year it could very well be some home improvement items to help the troubled retail industry.
I would put it all into my Etrade savings account earning 3% interest, since that seems to be the only sure investment now a days.
I would give the money to my soon to be 5 year old son. I would explain to him that the money was his inheritance and that dear old “Uncle Sam” and all of his “friends” on Wall Street wasted away any further inheritance he would have received.
I would pay off my credit card. $800 left to go and I’M DEBT FREE! I agree that a permanent tax cut would be great. Gov’t is already digging way to deep in my wallet and blowing it mindlessly on bailing everyone and their brother out. It’s called business, bad decisions+poor management= failure. Part of the risk of business right? So let’s just suffer through these hard times, learn from it, and get fiscally fit. Those who said they would like $100,000 (equal to the TARP per American tax payer) could get debt free, but how many would continue spending themselves right back into a hole? Habits need to change.Check out Dave Ramsey for ways to get on the right track.
I’m confused. How is approx $10 or $20 a week going to help the poor guy who is about to loose the house he and his family lives in? I’m all for giving my stimulus payment to him/her/hir. I only saw $35 of Bush’s stimulus. I didn’t even bother to cash the check! As for the speculators who bought houses and didn’t live in them, or those who took out 0 interest loans or low initial rate ARM’s, too bad. I’m aghast when people say they didn’t see this comming. How could you *not* see this comming! The excesses were obvious!
Where was goverment to help slow things down? Where were the regulators? Asleep at the switch, or out to lunch, or pushing regulatory paper work to meet quotas without any one fully in charge and looking at why they were doing all of this. Where was goverment the last 8 years? Fighting 2 stupid wars and torhuring people and showing world what *&^% we are and running up the deficit to over $1 Trillon. No wonder half the world hates us. If that many people hate us, we must be doing something wrong! Go Obama! Go Hillery! the Isrealies alrealy high tailed it out of Gaza. God could we actually have some peace where Everybody can live together?
How about they don’t give ANYTHING out!! Who is going to pay for all of this? Americans. Generations of Americans. We just can’t learn to live within our means. I’d prefer they just send my $1,000 to a starving family. I can make due by spending a little less than I used to.
Take it Altantic City and play No Limit Holdem. I’ll double it, take the original 500 and invest it, then use the first 500 to pay for some of my college tuition so I can learn how to get the corrupt officials out Washington.
Thanks Marven. Amazing, isn’t it. Everyone sees this money (be the first round or this small incremental payment), and seems to celebrate. What is there to be joyful of, really? I mean, while the government feeds us the scraps, the corporations go the four course meal at our expense. Seriously, 2500 PER AMERICAN or around 4600 for EVERY working American would be better sent to me than some business that ran itself under. Maybe, these companies NEED to go under, so that true reform can occur. Giving a band aid solution to businesses who have gaping wounds only stems the bleeding for so long. They will be back at the same point in no time, as long as Million dollar CEO graft continues. Then again, who are we to complain. We got “500 dollars / some money”. We should just smile and be happy, and ignore the big picture where the “REST OF OUR CHECK” went to help. Sigh.
I’d have the money put in a safe account for my grandson so when he’s 21 (in 17 years) he’d have something to enjoy and if the bank go belly up he’ll never know he lost it so wont miss it.
We make our mortgage & car payments on time. What we do buy with credit we pay off very quickly. We’ve put some money back in savings in case we fall on hard times. We live within our means and don’t over extend ourselves and a few short term tax credits will not change that!
If you want to affect a long term increase in consumer spending patterns you have to change their standard of living. Reduce taxes across the board!
I’d do the same thing I did last time with my stimulus check – pay down my credit card with the highest interest rate. And if many people are doing the same…how is that stimulating the economy??? Can we get these comments forwarded to Obama???
i would save $100.00 and put the remaining $400.00 towards debt with higher interest rates. considering the new credit card reform legislation, many of my creditors are getting ahead of the curve by increasing rates and lowering limits. i received a notice from home depot yesterday that my account was being closed because of activity on another account. it was disheartening considering i have never paid this account late over the past 4 years that the account has been open.
i would save $100.00 and put the remainng $400.00 towards debt with the highest interest rate. considering the new pending credit card reform legislation, i have noticed that my creditors are getting ahead of the game and raising interest rates. i received a notice yesterday from home depot that my account was being closed because of activity on another account. it was a major blow considering i have never been late on my home depot account over the past 4 years of having the account.
It will go straight to my tax debt. I wish I could use it on something else but I have no choice. The govt will snatch it just like the last stimulus check.
I am astounded at how many people think $500/$1000 dollars is insignificant. You can all go ahead and sign your checks over to me since it won’t help you out at all.
This is why some will always be in debt. “Why should I use $500 to pay down debt, it won’t pay it all, what is the point.”
Get over yourselves. Spend less than you make. Save what you can. Plan ahead. Deal with it.
I would use $500 in the exact opposite way the government tells me to. You don’t take batting advice from the guy with a .000 average.
Spending does not drive an economy. Savings does. Savings can be invested. Investments are used for capital projects. Capital projects and goods produce consumer goods and services. More capital goods means an economy can produce more consumer goods and services. The larger supply of consumer goods translates to lower real prices. Lower real prices means people can consume a larger volume of goods. Therefore, savings leads to consumption.
Read Mises and Rothbard, folks. Then you’ll understand WHY the government’s stimulus plan is doomed to fail.
Billions in bailouts for the well-connected wealthy and a meatless, skimpy bone to those who ultimately pay for the bailouts. Tokenism…….
There should not have been any bailouts nor should there be stimulus packages. Correcting foreign trade imbalances and a balanced budget should be priorities. Otherwise, a bigger bubble will burst somewhere down the road……..
Honestly does any believe this $500.00-$1,000.00 would pay down any debt or really help the family out enough to make it past Q2 ? $500.00 would pay 1/2 of the child support for the month,or 1 month worth of medication for my family and Autistic Son, or 1 month worth of food for the family, or 1 month worth of gas to get to work,I find it insulting that Billions are spent on poor business practices and pennies on starving families. Its not rocket science, give each home owner $25,000, each student $5,000 and then guess what they do with the money, they spend it on debt,repairs, requirements to survive in todays society.
In general, throw it into the gap created by my job being eliminated the 2nd week of February. Maybe pay part of the mortgage so I don’t lose the house I live in, like I lost my former home in another state (after 3 years of trying to sell it)..
$500 wouild be used to pay bills, but not much else. Frankly, it is too insignificant to have much effect for us.
Geez a whole $500 bucks, maybe $1000 for a married couple; just mailed my final 2008 quarterly payment to the feds – what a joke to think they would actually send me money back! Married for 30 years, made sound financial decisions, and all the Feds continue to do is suck money from my accounts; just a good family trying to get their kids thru college and be able to retire without depending on anyone!
I was very disappointed to see only $500 for a stimulus offering. I echo what others have said about this doing nothing to help middle class America. I guess I could use it to pay for some gas while I keep looking for work. I have been unemployed since June 30th after losing an $81,000/year. As I use (or lose) any savings I am transitioning from middle class to a low income family at 57 years old. Surely, that is not the direction President Obama is expecting!
When i recieve the $500 stimulus check in the mail, I am going to shred it, take a picture of the shreded pieces so i can post it on myspace, then send the pieces via U.S. postal to my senator and president.
I dont believe in getting out of debt by issuing more debt. It is disrespectful to me and the american people that the government takes my tax dollars, and gives it to another group of people. It doesnt make sense that i need to fork out a couple thousand dollars in future taxes jus so i ( and other tax payers.. oh wait this is for people who dont pay any taxes ) can recieve a $500 government issued wellfare check. Seems very counter productive.
It seems odd that with all the supposed smart people in government the best idea they come up with is to “pay” people to spend money that the government doesn’t even have. It is no wonder that people can’t manage their money as the government sets a horrible example. God help us.
It seems alot of people here dont really see the bigger picture. i’m not even sure if i do. i’m all for reducing taxes and taking the massive drop in services that comes along with it. where that cut comes from is the tricky thing. it could be poorer roads, less ability to defend ourselves, less money for scientific research, less police/firemen, or less protection of our environment. there’s only so much money to go around funding these things. That said, there’s plenty that the government can do better and that is stuff they should do. i’ve always been in favor of the federal government being forced to have a balanced budget and clean up much of the inefficiency but inefficiency is a fact of life. simple fact, how much money does the company you work for waste? its easy to say from the small mindset, much tougher to do in a large environment. Its also easy to point the finger and say why not just give us money. The US consumer has been spending beyond thier means for way too long. Trying to get back to that spending level isnt all that great an idea. The bigger issue stemming from the financial industry is that they are holding cash and not lending it. that means many many small businesses are running out of cash and going to drop out. big businesses are going the same route as none of them can get the cash they need to stay alive. that’s going to create more unemployment. Its akin to saying that our foundation is unstable, lets redo our master bathroom with nice fancy stonework. looks and feels great for a bit until the house falls down.
what would i do with 500 bucks? i’d fund our roth ira’s. is that going to benefit consumer spending? no. what would i do if given 5000 dollars? fund my roth ira. still not consumer spending.
How wrong can some people be. You can not just broadly say tax the rich. Many people assume rich = bad. However these are the people that put themselves into debt with student loans to make themselves better. They suffered through years of extra schooling and working their way up to positions that pay the big $$. Now you feel those people should unilaterally pay more taxes?? Idiotic !! They should actually get the same if not a bigger % back they are more likely to put the money to work in the economy with trips, big ticket items, new vehicles. Some may actually hire more people to work for them if its given to their businesses. Obama’s tax the rich plan is has already been postponed as he realizes that it will not work.
Let’s focus on infrastructure replacement instead.
The levee in my town was decertified in September and everyone here will see their flood insurance sky high this year. Mine was $264 last year and I’ve already been told it will be in the $1100-$1500 range this year and every year going forward until the levee is rebuilt. For the foreseeable future, there isn’t enough money here to rebuild the levee.
So if our community got federal funds to rebuild the levee, it would create jobs (ongoing taxable wages) and reduce every mortgage holder’s annual insurance bill by far more than a one-time $500 or $1000 credit. It would also benefit people whose mortgages are paid off who either buy or can’t afford flood insurance at those rates. Many of the paid-off homeowners here are elderly and/or fixed income.
Our levee decertification was just one in a nationwide program that included many small towns like mine and larger ones as well. The benefit of rebuilding these levees would be much greater than any individual tax credit, not only in the immediate future but by ensuring that we won’t end up in formaldehyde-laced FEMA trailers some time in the future.
But of course, since there has been no funding source our project isn’t “shovel-ready” and many other cities are probably in the same situation. How do we get some of that stimulus money directed to rebuilding levees all over the country?
Someone call the Army Corps of Engineers and find out how widespread this is and how to use stimulus money to fix it.
I would donate it to Campaign for Liberty in hopes of getting some honest, Constitutional, limited government back on the people’s side.
R3VOLUTION!!!!
An educated public is an essential ingredient of a free society. Ambitious governments would have far greater difficulty implementing schemes that undermine liberty and prosperity were they faced with an informed and vigilant population.
When will any of our elected officials talk about the real cause of our economic problems, the privately owned corporation who pays no taxes, the Federal Reserve.
The Federal Reserve holds a monopoly on “the people’s” currency and it’s policies of manipulating interest rates thereby expanding and contracting the supply of money which directly cause these boom and bust business cycles. This results in massive malinvestment & the elusive “inflation tax”. Inflation is in reality, you & I being robbed by the devaluation of our currency’s purchasing power by the Federal reserve lowering it’s interest rate (currently at 0 to .25%) & thereby increasing the amount of money in circulation. Imagine being robbed without someone physically taking the money from your pocket. Yeah, it’s a pretty violating feeling once you learn about it. Welcome to the R3VOLUTION.
You see, the Federal Reserve “lends” our money to our government at interest. Now the first problem I have with this is, if we are an independent, free nation, why would this system be necessary? Well, the bottom line is that it was established to be the “the lender of last resort” & after the past year of Billions in bailouts, which really is just future debt obligations that you & I and A LOT of unborn babies are now obligated with this debt only to be paid back, with interest, through income, payroll, you name it taxes. The American taxpayers and their future generations are now the “lender of last resort”.
This is absolutely a scam on such a massive scale.
Central economic planning doesn’t work & neither does our government throwing billions of future taxpayer debt into the pockets of these banks and their shareholders. Read about fractional reserve banking. In Aug. 2004, the Federal Reserve, increased the reserve ratios for all the major Wall street investment firms from 10 to 1 to 40 to 1.
We need to fix our monetary policy and reform back to a constitutional, sound money policy that would prevent any “bubbles” from taking shape to begin with. The business cycles and recessions are a consequence of having a privately owned central bank, who isn’t required to have any oversight by our elected officials & pays no taxes, artificially manipulating & controlling interest rates and the money supply. Read about it because you’ll never see any media coverage about this.
Our government and monetary system do not work for we the people, we the people work for it, as slaves. If you don’t pay taxes, they can throw you in jail right?
You’d think by now, with all the information & technology, with all the abundant resources and all the previous history, that we as a people would be able to be free in the sense of, absence of debt. We pay and labor our entire lives realistically to support an quasi-empirical empire who’s only objective is PROFIT & expansion of Big Government.
Our society is being held back by the amount a time required to sustain any kind of decent quality of life. and for what? to be SAFE? to be Happy? No, to continue to fund a corrupt government that serves corporate interests, not the peoples, it serves profit interests.
There is no longer a people’s voice in government, only the lobby’s have a voice.
How many support the bailouts?
How many agree with the government’s forced social security ponzi scheme?
How many agree that our government isn’t serving it’s peoples interests but only corporate big business interests?
How many agree that we want a privately owned central bank controlling our monetary policy?
How many agree that our economy will improve with more government spending of future debt that my generation and all 3 of my children’s generation will be immorally obligated with?
Deficit spending does not stabilize home values.
We must reject being held hostage by a monopolistic monetary policy!
SOLUTION: Create a competing sound currency not controlled by the Federal Reserve like Kennedy tried to do….
How do you feel about FL house speaker Ray Sansom conspiring with Northwest college to restrict surrounding community colleges from offering a 4 yr degree that would have given Northwest an upper hand advantage over other schools? How do you feel about Sansom accepting a 110K job at the college after channeling 26 million to the school? How do you feel about Sansom having the same college build an airplane hanger with 6 million of taxpayer funds for the 2nd largest donor to the FL Republican party, Jay Odom after his request was denied by the legislature?
PEOPLE ARE LOSING THEIR HOMES & JOBS. WHO THE HELL ARE THESE PEOPLE?
Republicans & Democrats have the same core principles on Big Government, Monetary Policy & Foreign Policy, they are one in the same.
I would use it to pay for the $450 appraisal needed to refinance my house to a lower rate and save $327/mo. Then I would increase my 401(k) by $150 of that $327 further increasing my tax return. Then I would take the remaining $177 and buy a bedroom suit and pay it off over 12 months with no interest. Then in April 2010, I’ll enjoy a slightly larger tax return using that tax return to maybe by sheets for the new bedroom. I tend to look towards the long term.
first off, i’d like to say i completely agree with justin from dayton ohio. send that $4600 or however it turns out to be to the public instead of the corporations. why? because people will generally use it to pay off bills and expenses. we’re in the current crisis because too many people didn’t pay their bills. if people pay their bills, that money will generally be going to the companies that got it as a bailout.
I will take anything I can get but as some have said, it will not make much of a difference. With a $1,000, I will be able to put a new set of tires on the wife’s car and pay a third of a hospital bill. It does nothing to ease my fears about the economy and will not encourage me to go buy frivolous items. I am more worried about losing my job and house just before my first child is born.
Firstly, as HS noted, there’s not going to be a lump sum payment this time, but a small withholding reduction, and most people, myself included, will spend it without ever really noticing. It’s a much smarter approach to this than the tactic of writing checks for lump sums, which does more for the media than for the economy.
There’s also a very common misconception about the situation we’re in that may help explain why people aren’t taking this economy seriously yet.
Charles Shaw wrote:
“Our economy had 8 trillion dollars stolen from it in 2008…”
This statement is inaccurate; that particular 8 trillion dollars was a product of institutionalized securities fraud. Through credit default swap instruments and securitization, the private sector effectively printed trillions of dollars out of thin air, empty promises. The 8 trillion that was lost last year was 8 trillion in phony money, fraud on the books; it never really existed, so it couldn’t have been “stolen.”
That’s our reality. A large part of our economy is underpinned by promises, and we all get hurt whenever one of those promises gets broken. This is why fraud is a crime: we pay its cost as a community. There is no punishment the law can mete out that will recover the cost of fraud, whether the victim is one of Madoff’s clients or one of the low-income home owners who was sold an ARM as a “lower-cost” replacement for a stable fixed-rate mortgage.
We ought to keep the perpetrators in the crosshairs here. Lots of American bankers spent years putting “quick score” profits above the integrity of the banking system. Lots of bank managers watched it go on, knowingly securitized bogus paper, and rewarded these practices, in a de facto institutionalization of lending fraud as a business model.
It’s evident that the American banking system is deeply corrupt, and seems likely that the banks are going to need help cleaning up their ethical quagmire. We should probably make a very critical review of the idea that banks should be empowered to manufacture money in an unregulated way, it seems to create some problems.
The fundamental commodity of the whole financial industry is trust, and the value of the banks is at a nadir as the direct result of the bankers’ breaches of trust. That’s the first massive mess we’ve got to clean up in this economy.
Honestly, I would, for the first time, save it. I would put the $1000 (I am married) in a savings account, I would attemopt to add $50 a month until I had enough to put it in a CD account,. Then in 20 years that $1000 would be $5000 or so.
That is what all Americans should do- SAVE- If we save we are prepared. if we save we are steady.
I am done fulfilling my every want. Time to hunker down and be smart. I am the only one that can support myself in the future.
$500???? get real ! when you are already a month behind on every bill that you have it is truly meaningless. if the government split up all the money that they have given Wall Street to the hard working people of America then that would be a stimulus.
We would cash it and put it in our safe. We have 401k’s, savings and other investments so now we just want to build up our cash on hand.
Depends on how it is paid out. As a lump sum I would put it away since I am in the process of saving to purchase a different vehicle. In dribs and dabs (10-20 a paycheck over a year)most like I won’t notice that I am getting it. Twenty per paycheck most likely will end up in the oil companies hands as they jack prices up as they are doing now.
all this stress over finances has taken its toll. 500 bucks isn’t enough to put a dent in my debt, but it sure could fund a nice little weekend trip…vegas baby!!!
I feel the $500/$1000 isn’t really going to do any of us any good. Take a look at the last stimulus check that was mailed out. The $300/$600 basically only boosted the economy for 1 to 2 months and then we were right back to where we started. I feel our government acted too quickly on bailing out companies who basically were incompetent in running their business affairs and yet instead of getting a slap on the wrist, were rewarded with billions of dollars. I am of the same opinion that the government should have given the bailout money to all individuals in this country. That would have been a tremendous help to our economy versus this little $500/$1000 we are going to get. All I’ll be able to do is pay my car payment with a little extra to buy those high priced groceries.
So far comments seem mostly spot-on. $500 would not cover one quarterly estimated tax payment for me either.
My mortgage is solid because I did not get in over my head, and I have no sympathy for people who did. I got all the same hard-sell pitches they did but held out for what I could afford.
I have no credit card debt, but I think some people who do would use a $500 check toward that. But it won’t matter unless Congress passes the Credit Card Holders Bill of Rights, because the card companies will just raise interest rates on old balances.
A $500 tax credit will not help anyone but those on the lowest economic rungs. I’m not against that but it should come from taxes on the top 10%, not from bailout funds.
CNN/Money has already reported the percentage of people who get loan workouts and are back in default within a year. We should not throw good money after bad. If we are going to spend money on workouts, they should include moving people down the housing scale a notch, helping them find homes they can actually afford. The number of empty homes already in foreclosure or bank ownership should provide plenty of options for that.
The banks should be forced to eat the toxic assets they created and if they fail, sell off their deposits and assets to stronger banks. The economy will never get better until that is taken care of.
It seems that the people posting to this are quite responsible with their money, have a clue of what is going on with the economy, and will use this money wisely. The boost in the economy that will come from this, if there is one at all, will come from the people that are irresponsible with their money and have 4 credit cards with 10k on each of them. They will buy things before they even have the money on something that they really don’t need in the first place.
The amount is too minimal to make a significant dent compared the the unregulated billions released to the banks. You think the bank execs put that money into operations or paying down debt? My bet is they paid dividends to the investors and big bonuses to themselves first.
We are be regulated by a $500/$1000 stimulus package that will make its way back to the same people who created this problem in the first place.
In 2008 I received $600 from President Bush, it went into my savings account where it has since earned about $10. If I get $500 from President Obama, it too will go into a savings account to make money. I don’t think giving people money will stimulate an economy. You have to teach the masses how to save when times are good, so they can survive through the toughest times.
I just got laid off, so I just hope I see this money. That would pay about 1/2 of 1 month’s mortgage.
Given that this stimulus would not effect me in the least since based on what I have read concerning the program. I do believe however that a stimulus that is targeted at specific activity for example relaxing the threshold for credits related to education expenses or for investment in alternative energy systems would provide stimulus in those sectors. Both of which appear to be in the core of the new administrations agenda.
Seriously? $500.00? No thanks. The government can keep it and p*ss it away on another bank bailout. Aren’t there another 180-200 banks that have filed (recently) for bankruptcy? Yeah, the list of who they are is “top secret” also, and not for public knowledge (which seems a little odd to me…seeming that the American people will soon have a stake in them or own them). Do a little research people. This is far from over.
I feel that it is a mistake to give any corporation, Business or private citizen any type of stimulus. We all need to start living within our means. Our current life style cannot be sustanined. Americans need to think more about helping one another and our government, as opposed to always looking for what we can get.
What would $500 do for me? Probably nothing since I owe a lot more than $500 on my bills. Obama should really consider cutting taxes permanently. If he reduces the tax they take from my paycheck and I know that I will keep getting that amount then I would feel more comfortable about spending it. I pay a ton in taxes out of every paycheck I would to see part of that huge chunk of money come to me rather than go towards taxes. LOWER TAXES!!
It’d be better if banks started lending the billions of dollars they got in tax payer dollars. Oh wait; yes that’s what TARP (BAILOUT) was about.
Are they Kidding. Obama made a comment when we received 600 or 1200 a couple that was not real money. He was right now he wants to do 500 or 1000. If this is what he is going to do say 1 thing and do another we are in for trouble. But in this country we put the real money in the wrong hands thats why we are in the problem we have.
I plan to put the money in a savings account and donate it to the candidate who runs against Obama in 2012. I can’t think of a better use for the money.
How would I spend $500? I have been hearing good things about Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse so I just might take my co-workers out for a nice meal. If you have been prudent with how you spend and invest your money and don’t live beyond your means then this is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy the “found money”. If the government insists on sending people free money I would be more than happy to use it to celebrate. If they think it will prop up an economy that is badly damaged I disagree. Too little too late!
Its hard to know exactly what I would do with $500 because 500 USD does not do to much anymore. More than likely it would just be used without even knowing it was there in the first place. Pay half my rent or credit cards etc. Currently I would probably just hold on to the money because I think its going to never later down the road.
Well considering most people are in debt, bill, or other such expenses, 500 dollars is piddly squat. Compare this to the 700 Billion “Bail out the Dumb, Greedy, and Incompetent” package, and we get shafted in round #1 and in round #1. Figuring there are 300 million Americans in this country, that is 2500 dollars PER AMERICAN baby to old. Now figure the work force is 150 million and that same check would be about 4600 PER PERSON. Now, that money would REALLY HELP. Seems politicians are too busy bailing out everyone else at our expense, while tossing the leftover our way and expecting a few smiles. Things really need to change and I have little faith in Both sides to do it.
giving everybody $500 or whatever amount will not kickstart anything except for inflation.. the more money the gov’t prints the less valuable each dollar becomes in real terms.. Why not use that money to fund projects that will create actual jobs.
Its a total waste of time to mail out that money a) it will not prop up the economy b) it will cause us to go into greater debt.
$500-$1000 will go directly into my savings account. I will hold off spending it (and I would advise many of you to do the same) as prices will continue to drop significantly on items we may want. Deflation is not all bad my friends not at all. Let the prices ebb we can then buy. I am still firmly believing that sometime this year or next oil will spike back up to $85-$100/barrel. You truely want to help the economy Obama, stop bailing out the banks give TAX-paying Americans the real money. Bank that are problematic should be allowed to fail what arises from the ashes will make the USA stronger by far in the future. Look at how the $ is being used, not to help loans but to grow bigger…Also STOP trying to save the Housing market the housing market will fix itself. Let the Homes forclose those speculators that bought up tons of homes too bad, for the homeowner that lost his/her job or was stupid when financing their homes. Tough breaks deal with it. Enough on Bail outs!!! Let the markets repair themselves.
i guess they are really out of touch with businesses and the middle class.this will not stimulate the economy but only creat more debt i am not that smart but i could stimulate the growth much better than they can.they think 500-1000 will fix everything guess they thought bush was right to start.no change just more of the same just differant party.they should get with real working business people to get this right the first time .not your every day suit and tie .
I agree with Martin in Chicago…$500 dollars is not enough to help any body. I reiterate…it would be less expensive to give every legal household $25000 to pay down their own debt and catch up on what they may be behind on.
They make you to spend it. It is not going to be a lump sum as before but a reduction of tax withhold. It is just $10-$20 per paycheck and you won’t even feel it. You will spend it without even knowing it exists.
Paying expenses. I have been in transition for 13 months and counting. Expenses don’t stop; real estate taxes don’t stop; mortgate payments don’t stop.
As Martin posted, if the bailout money had been given to every eligible taxpaxer within the populace as a whole, that would have gone a long way to eliminating the chronic debt of the working men and women of this great country.
The last stimulus check I got went to estimated taxes. This time it’s my money and I’m going to spend it-doing my part to prop up the economy!
I agree with most of these comments on here. The American people should have been given the money either in tax breaks or as a check. We should not be saving these banks, automakers, etc. How about those Citi earnings! Sweet, I’m glad we gave them billions just to slow the bleeding. Individuals and businesses have made mistakes about their finances and it’s time to learn from these mistakes. If you can’t afford to put 20% down on a house or that $500K house then don’t buy it. Let the bad businesses go under, stop giving out money and let’s struggle through this as a nation and be stronger in the future. Survival of the fittest.
I’d just add it my kitty – something I do well, but apparently my peers do not. It’s fun to save money – I love looking at my stash. I’m hoping the waters will soon be calm and I can go back into the market. I plan on making a tidy profit! The fiscal geniuses and fund managers must have known more than they’re letting on – this kind of setback didn’t just come out of nowhere. Shameful!
This is a joke upon the American taxpayer. I agree with the postings so far. This is not a reduction in taxes only a shell game for now. The only way to get any real tax reduction is for the Federal, State, and Local (Big Brother) Governments to radically cut spending. Our economy had 8 trillion dollars stolen from it in 2008, and so far our federal (Big Brother) Government has proposed 8 trillion dollars in bailouts for the same crooks who stole it, and offer us a mere $500.00 dollars? Wake up America we are being systematically enslaved, now and for generations to come.
Give me Freedom and Liberty and poverty, rather than Middle Class and slavery.
give it to us in lower taxes not in a check. Im tired of the government spending money they don’t have! I don’t spend money I don’t have and I expect the government to do the same!
I would save my money. Frankly, I think that every cent counts in this day and age. The only problem is that 500 dollars is not enough for many of us. We need jobs, not a temporary cash infusion.
If our leaders are determined to spend money in order to get us to spend money, they may as well give it to us. If the stated goals of all these bailouts are to prevent foreclosures and kickstart consumer spending, giving households a one time payout of $50,000 to $100,000 would accomplish this much better than $500. Or even $1,000. Our leaders are going to spend trillions and we’re going to have to pay it back. They might as well just give it to us – that way they accomplish their stated objectives and we at least get to spend the money that we’re going to have to pay back with interest.
I’ll probably fall under the “income restrictions” as I did under the last stimulus package. Even though we file as a couple, we didn’t make enough to qualify as a couple and hence the smaller tax credit.
As for this credit if/when we get it. Forward it to the city for house taxes.
I seriously doubt $500 is going to get the economy moving. It didn’t the last time Bush tried it. I would imagine that a lot of people will use $500 toward paying down debt and that won’t help the economy. Instead of bailing out banks, lenders, etc…they should have just given $100,000 to each american taxpayer. Now that would have gotten the economy moving again!
Well $500 is still $500 even though it really can’t do much at this time. I probably will take that money is put it into the financial sector at this time. As I read many of the analyst through the varies newspapers and articles, they all talk primarily about the stock and commodities markets falling even worse, but as I see it, the stocks in certain sectors are pretty cheap such as in the financial sector, Citigroup (C) and Bank of America (BAC). It is just upsetting that we are not getting more money after all, some of these companies are getting billions of dollars from that TARP fund which is primarily paid by the taxpayer. Oh and by the way, where is the taxpayers cut on all of this???
How about cutting the massive, inefficient federal, state and local governments so they’re not such a burden on taxpayers? Most people are going to take that money and either pay off bills, or save it, which is what we all (myself included) should have been doing the past 20 years instead of spending ourselves into oblivion. I do not believe we can borrow or spend our way out of this one. Americans are in for some hard times, because of the lack of foresight and “have everything I want now” mentality.
What would I do with $500? The same thing I did with the LAST stimulus check–got new glasses for me and Hubby. As it so happens, Sears is having a 2 for $99 sale, so maybe I’ll get 4 pairs (two for backups). Sears had a 2-for-1 sale when the last checks went out, too. Coincidence?
If I got $500 I would spend it on a new mountain bike. I have no student debt, no credit card debt, and I already save each month for a house and for emergencies, so why not spend a stimulus check?
If this is passed it would be applied to a high interest debt that I will hopefully pay off in the next year.
$500? That is seriously all that a person gets out of a whopping $825 Billion (yes, with a B) bailout plan? On top of the $750B late last year and the $250B tax cute early last year? I love seeing where my taxes are going, but instead I look at my neighborhood falling into crime, under performing schools, etc. All I can think is that if we give you all our taxes and you have spent this much money and all the American taxpayers are getting is worse off, that this will only make matters worse. I would take the $500 and go buy Bank of America stock, which I already own quite a bit of. At $5 a share, its the cheapest its ever been and if it goes under, so what, its just another $500 I have lost.
$500…That used to be a chunk of change. Now that is 2 weeks groceries for a family of 4 if your lucky. We have to get real here, instead of giving billions to the banks, give it to the people, let the people pay off their bills, which most are owed to the credit cards and banks anyway, the CC companies and banks get cash flow, and then the cycle can start all over again….How many flat screen tv’s or computers can the average household own? And what about “MADE IN USA”. We need to redevelop our manufacturing base and buy products made in USA, as that will put people to work. They might cost a bit more, but in the longrun, a better deal.
I agree with Martin (first commenter). What would I do with $500? Save it. I’m not putting it into the economy, are you crazy? That’s almost one month’s rent for me if I lose my job. Why would I frivolously spend it?
Now, let’s say, like Martin said, I got even $100,000 (a previous CNN article mentioned this is how much each taxpayer would have gotten from $750bil). I would first pay off my wife’s student loan, my car, my wife’s car, and our recent wedding. All in all I’d have about $30k left (with only rent and utilities to worry about, nice). I’d go buy a 60″ plasma TV with a surround sound system and 2 leather recliners for my wife and I, and enjoy myself. Probably go on vacation, maybe even replace one of our vehicles or upgrade to something nicer? And I could pay CASH to do so.
Look at it another way, if someone got $100k, they may pay off their mortgage. Now you’ve killed 2 birds with one stone. A taxpayer is out of debt, willing to spend more money (money -> economy) and the banks got still their cash, but it went through the consumer first instead of directly to the banks.
Seems like somebody up high didn’t think this through very well.
I’m a single RN, 61, employed with no credit card debt – only owe about a year on my car. So if I suddenly had $500: $100 would go to an animal shelter, $100 would go to my daughter for her savings and $300 would go into my savings. If I still didn’t have gift cards to local bookstores, I would spend some of it on books. But the only part of that $500 that would immediately go back into the economy would be the $100 for the animal shelter – cat and dog food.
Honestly it is going to take a whole lot more than $500.00 to get anyone out of financial trouble. All that money given to the crooks (Bank and Lenders) should have been given to those that earned it everyday( It’s our money anyway)- The American Tax-payer. Then each household could have almostly completely paid off their entire debt. Then we would have excess cash to push into the economy. Why not ask what would you do with $150,000.00? House, cars, credit cards etc. Imagine living a debt free life.
Honestly, none of the stimulus talk makes sense to me. Why give me $500-$1,000, when in the end you will have to tax me more, one way or the other, to get it back? If/When I get the dough, I will pay off my highest interest rate debt……..then wait for taxes to be hiked somewhere else (sales tax, gas tax, etc. tax) in order for the gov’t to get it back.
Everyone needs to be real. what is 500 really going to do? How is it really going to make the economy better? Give a tax break, like lower the tax rate!!!! That would put more money in everyones pay check each and everytime.
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i would buy my kids school suuplies and shoes and more food for them during summer my husband is working but only 32 hours week and im crippled trying get sos so one income during summer hardest on us
kids all teens and one preteen they saying mommy can we go schhool shooping i cant yet guy they say ok they good kids