Quote:
Originally Posted by Dozer523
Like what?  |
For starters, and I think you had alluded to it earlier, paying off bills and other debt. To me, the biggest crunch we have is not so much the mortgage problem, but the unsecured credit problem that a lot of us face. Credit cards with rates upwards of 20%, coupled with a persons inability to hold off until they can actually afford the purchase, have created a situation where people either pay off perpetual interest. Worse yet, people simply stop paying on the cards altogether, and screw up their credit for a very long time.
Second, if we're giving out stimulus money, let's use it to pay off people's mortgages. Mortgages take up approximately 30% of a person's take home pay per month. Imagine what we could do with that 30% if it was freed up from a monthly mortgage obligation.
Third, I'd like to see those monies put away into people's retirement funds. Granted, that doesn't stimulate the economy, but it would set aside money for retirement that people are not setting aside now on their own. Over 30 years, a retiree could have a substantial sum of money set aside that started with a "stimulus-given" nest egg that they weren't even aware of (as far as coming out of their own pocket).
Fourth, and this one hits close to home, we could use it in some form or fashion to help make health insurance / medical costs more affordable. I don't know how we could do it, but it seems that there should be some way to keep costs (and, on the flip side, billings) down so that health care could be more affordable.
Ultimately, though, I think the stimulus / tax package isn't necessary at all. The four things I listed above are nice in a theoretical bubble, but three of the four above are dependent on a change in human nature. The stimulus / tax package will not change human nature.
In the first scenario, if you don't buy things until you can afford them, you don't have a credit card bill that piles up unearthly amounts of interest. If the government pays off my credit card bill, am I apt to cut up the card? Or would I just go spend more credit on things I don't need.
In the second case, I decided when I bought the house that I could afford "x" amount. What if I decided that a smaller house would do just as well? I had the control to determine how much I would be paying a month for my mortgage, whether it took up 10%, 20% or 30% of my monthly check, when I decided I wanted a $100,000 house instead of a $75,000 one.
In the third case (and in conjunction with the other two above scenarios), I have to discipline myself to contribute to (and manage) my own retirement fund. If the government gives me retirement money, and I want that big screen tv, will I pull the money out of that retirement account so I can watch NCIS in HD?
In my opinion, even with a $100,000 stimulus payment per person, we would still be in deep water within 5 years of the payment if human nature didn't change to take advantage of the fresh start we would gain from such a program. $13? I don't think it'll change any behavior at all.
Did I just argue for and against the stimulus in the same post?
Bandy