http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081020/financial_meltdown.html Maybe this will be able to pay off for the inflation it creates. What exactly is the purpose of these, does anyone know? My best guess is that they are made solely to discourage saving. Once these checks go out, prices will eventually rise so it's a race for everyone to "buy now, buy now" before they do so. It's not only a disincentive to save the free money you get, but to not save anything at all. What's the point of saving money nowadays if inflation will continue to decrease it's value? Well, what's it matter if nobody saves? If bank failures mean anything to you, then it matters that nobody saves. Aren't loans backed by savings? Here we are moaning and groaning about not being able to get a loan when we're not looking at the whole picture. Inflation can only make things worse. Somebody explain to me, who grasps the whole picture, what the purpose of repeating stupid decisions are.
How big is the United States government going to be. Bush and the democrats are pushing all the bills through without caring about the debt and the burden it causes.
Well they've have already done this once his year, no? Well that didn't have any effect. Yep, spend, spend, spend - lower the interest rates and give people a cheque, that 'll get 'em out in the shops again. As this ever worked? I've never heard of a government just give money to people like this in order to avoid recession
No, I think it's a wonderful idea. I'm getting on the Obama/Socialist bandwagon right now. I'm entitled to your money. As soon as the "free" health care comes along, I'm quit paying my insurance and I'll have an extra $600 / month. Go Obama '08!
At some point our government is going to have to stop giving money away and start bringing some in to cover this debt we are in. When they do, we'll be paying on these things for a long time. On the other hand, i'm certainly not going to rip up my check if I receive one, so i'm a bit hypocritical.
That's the spirit!!! Now if we can just find a way to save $10 BILLION dollars a month...... hey, wait a minute!
I wish I could make money appear out of thin air like the government seems to be able to do! Let's devalue the dollar even more, I'm all for another stimulus package!
Yeah it was pretty asinine. Especially the way you fell right in line with lumping Obama in as a socialist. But in my post line 1 = joke. line 2 = response worthy. Interesting which one you chose to respond to.
The deepest threat is of a serious recession rolling into a depression. Purchasing is way down. This crisis is not just native to the US it is world wide. The biggest threat is for continued massive job layoffs as businesses close. One ominous threat in that regard going forward has to do with real estate. Housing construction is a mere pittance of what it was before this crisis hit. Housing construction will not pick up measurably any time soon as foreclosures continue to occur over time. Commercial real estate construction is facing drastic slowdowns for a number of reasons. It is extremely difficult to finance new construction. It should be with current economic conditions. On top of that a slowdown in the economy, mass firings, the closings of businesses, etc. will all increase commercial real estate vacancies. This sector and the hiring it produces will add to the job layoffs from the residential side. Institutional construction including governments, schools, hospitals, etc. was exceptionally strong. It boosted a lot of hiring. This is going to dramatically slow down as state and local govts are facing huge budget cuts. Schools will slow this down. As this dries up it will cut out the last third of real estate construction employment.....all of it feeding to unemployment. Real estate also creates a lot of employment in other industries, thereby contributing to further slowdowns. I only use real estate as an example of an element of the economy that is taking big hits....and it will increase into the future. I suppose (the emphasis is on suppose) that the concept of stimulus is to try and stem some of these negative impacts. Will it further inflate existing government debt? Absolutely. Any action or non action has subsequent consequences. One of the things a business does in the midst of a downturn is to try different things to end the downward cycle. So too with the government trying to deal with the negative economy. Right or wrong, I don't know, I'm just trying to address some of the whys.
I think that the stimilius checks are making a bad situation worse. Most of the goods being are buying are made in China;. so, there really isn't any stimilius. I would rather see the money spent on improving infrastructure. The Mississpi needs approx 25 billion in spending to handle increased exports. More money could be spent improving rail travel or used for extensions of unemployment benefits.
Ifthey were to spend money on stimulus, I agree, Bogart. Your descriptions are the types of areas where they should spend. Hopefully it puts folks to work and spends money in areas that in turn can help more people make more money. That is all dependant on a big "IF"
What kind of stimulus? If it is just checks going out to taxpayers - NO. If it is the government actually spending to make needed improvements to infrastructure - YES. The devil is in the details.
Obama will have everyone hooked on stimulus checks like crackheads to crack. The government believes in keeping a man down always wanting handouts.