Savings helps the economy too. Better put it under your mattress.

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Do you know what it's like to fall in the mud and get kicked... in the head... with an iron boot? Of course you don't, no one does. It never happens. It's a dumb question... skip it.

If Volker was the Fed chairman, right now, I imagine he would RAISE interest rates. This would be a reasonable response designed to save the dollar and halt inflation but it would certainly exacerbate the recession and cause a lot of hardship for the working / middle class for some years to come. Bernanke is likely to lower interest rates- great for people with debt, bad for people with savings and those on a fixed income. The question shouldn't be who is most "deserving" of a check in the mail but rather what is most likely to give the economy a kick in the pants. These things have been studied. Studies show that the onetime rebate is only slightly helpful and then, only when directed to people who really need to spend it right away. Stagflation is bad for everyone. I have written this 3 or 4 times, now, but apparently the only thing that stands out is the mention that it might even be helpful to people living on unearned income (mea culpa, I should not have used the inflammatory term "unemployed rich"!)

Like all cut off points $115,000 for a family of 4 sounds pretty arbitrary. In N.Y.C. that would be barely adequate. Where I live, it is nearly 3 times the average.

This is hilarious! Schumer and Barney are saying the tax cut should go to the working poor and maybe the unemployed; not to those making over $200,000. Here's what's so funny about that comment: It is the Dems who are always telling us that the RICH do NOT pay any taxes. Now----they seem to be having to acknowledge that they do!!!


Too funny. I love it when they are caught in having to backtrack on one of their long-held talking points.

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"This is a time for a national imperative not to fail in Iraq." Condoleeza Rice, January 11, 2007

Ha - in that case, j'accuse!

'Cause you know why?

You just missed the best idea since sliced bread!

So, don't sit there and make any claims ot being "patriotic", if you're too god(*)(*)(*)(*) lazy to read about a good idea on behalf of your country.

Shame on you.

like jp, you have departed from the original intent - a monetary stimulus to the lagging economy and how to best effect that - to a discussion of a tax rebate. read what Bernake suggested ... best way to multiply the effectiveness would be to distribute funds to those with the least means and that the stimulus should be a package of many things, for individuals and for business. by focusing only on the wealthy potentially being left out of the money grab you have missed the point Bernake made about how to best implement an economic stimulus

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“Mayor Palin fails to have a firm grasp of something very simple: the truth.”

[Frontiersman editorial, 2/7/97]

This is like an auction:

Clinton - $70 billion

Obama - $75 billion

Bush - $145 billion

Going once, going twice...Sold!

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See, free nations are peaceful nations. Free nations don't attack each other. Free nations don't develop weapons of mass destruction.

- G.W. Bush, 10/3/2003

You must not know many poor people, or rich people for that matter.

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See, free nations are peaceful nations. Free nations don't attack each other. Free nations don't develop weapons of mass destruction.

- G.W. Bush, 10/3/2003

From my understanding, those over a certain income will have their rebate capped at a certain dollar amount. Those making $115K (or whatever they settle on) will get the same as someone making $1 million. The proposal in Congress is aimed at primarily working people. This is in contrast to the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 which focused on the largest percentage cuts at the top levels.

When discussing who pays taxes, you continue to ignore excise taxes, payroll taxes and state taxes, which on the whole are regressive.

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See, free nations are peaceful nations. Free nations don't attack each other. Free nations don't develop weapons of mass destruction.

- G.W. Bush, 10/3/2003

Who said a word about "focusing ONLY on the wealthy???" Neither Reb or myself has said that. All I've said is....don't leave the wealthy out....which is what Dems propose.

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"This is a time for a national imperative not to fail in Iraq." Condoleeza Rice, January 11, 2007

And which is EXACTLY why the working poor already get an Earned Income Credit on their taxes...enabling them to get money from the system EVEN IF they've paid no federal income taxes!

They get it every year; not just as a one-time stimulus to the economy.

Dems always want to shift to discussions of payroll and state taxes during a discussion of FEDERAL income taxes. I have no problem with EACH of those being lowered. My state doesn't even have state income taxes. But that's not what the discussion is here. It's about FEDERAL INCOME TAXES and a proposed tax rebate based on those who PAY those taxes.

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"This is a time for a national imperative not to fail in Iraq." Condoleeza Rice, January 11, 2007