Will There Be A Second Stimulus Check? I Hope Not.
Man, do I hope not. The first stimulus check cost us $168 billion dollars, and that was before we had this meltdown in the financial markets which has cost us not only $700 billion of our tax dollars, but also trillions of losses in the stock market. They tried for another one a few months ago, but it was defeated. But now they are trying again for that second stimulus package, which is estimated to cost $150 billion – money that we just plain don’t have right now. Everyone knows by now that I think the government should spend money on social programs, but handing out cash to every single American is not a social program nor a way to help the economy. Surprisingly, this second stimulus package is not scheduled to be voted on until after the election – which is rare that politicians would miss an opportunity to pander to the electorate with promises of “free” money. I have said it before and I will say it again; these stimulus checks are akin to your Class President in high school promising a Coke machine in every classroom – it’s the buying of votes. I truly am surprised that they are waiting until after the election on this one, but there must be a reason for it that I am missing.
But back to the idea of a second stimulus check – I hope that when the vote comes up it is voted down. We do not have the cash to be throwing good money after bad; we are already doing that with the bailout. If they want to create a fund to pay for road repair or fixing welfare or something like that, fine – work on it and go for it. But a second stimulus check/package is not needed right now, won’t change the dynamics of our economy, and the first one was not even spent – it was either saved or put on a credit card to pay down debt. It was not used to stimulate much of anything. And for those who say “yes, please, send me the money!” – this already is your money, they are just borrowing it from you in advance and you will have to pay it back eventually. Same goes for the bailout if the government’s plan doesn’t work and the same went for stimulus check #1 – it is money borrowed from the future you to give to the current you – and you will have to pay it back. So while it seems nice that the government would send every person $1,000 or whatever amount they so choose, it is YOUR money they are sending, and you will be paying it back in one form or another. What happens then, when they want their money back? Everyone will complain about higher taxes/fees/whatever, and they won’t want to give it back.
Getting a check in the mail does nothing except momentarily put a few bucks in your pocket (if you are lucky enough to not carry debt, as most Americans do). It does nothing to fix the problem that created our economic ills in the first place – people and governments living on borrowed money and cash advances. And here we are again, thinking of borrowing more money in hopes that citizens will go out and spend it. The cycle is never-ending until we all say “NO” one of these days! Borrowing more money and then re-lending it to back to us in the form of these checks only increases the debt load that we all collectively carry. Why are we doing this to ourselves? Start making your own stimulus check for when you really need it – at least you will know that you saved it yourself instead of borrowing it from yourself!
I agree 100%. The government should offer to put this money in an IRA for us, to teach Americans that more spending is not the answer to our economic problems.
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Amen! It’s about time we stood up and told the politicians NO! I wasn’t in favor of the first stimulus check, and a second would be downright ridiculous.
Hey, when a politician can buy votes and not spend his own money, he will do it.
I’m not a fan of a second stimulus check either – especially on top of the bailout plan. Our country simply can’t afford it.
I don’t think there will be a second stimulus check because I don’t believe that the first one did anything. It might of even made the situation worse because most people either gambled away there money or spent it on something that they didb’t even need.
David, did you see this? http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/15/business/main4525094.shtml
I wasn’t a fan of the first round of checks. At the very least I felt, that they should have done like Clinton advised and used some of the money for government programs(which would have guaranteed that money would have made it into the economy). Sadly, the person everyone seems to think is going to be the economic savior had an economic advisor that touted the stimulus plan(Goolsbee). I kind of sigh when I hear how the Democrats are better on the economy. I think Harry Reid had it right. There isn’t a single one of them(or the GOP) who knows how to fix this mess.
[…] I never really thought it was a great idea, as I share the view that we should really be spending money our social programs which are badly imbalanced at the […]
[…] Will There Be A Second Stimulus Check? I Hope Not. With the bailout plan and other expenses our government has recently incurred, I don’t think we can afford another stimulus check. […]
If it improves my cash flow, how is that a bad thing? My landlord would much prefer my money now to my money next week.
All these people that commented on the idea of second stimulus check must be rich or are well off than most of us…Middle class there is no such thing hasn’t been for years. Republicans made sure of that by being for the rich & big companies, giving them tax breaks & all. As for this bailout that is something that never should have happen, that’s my & all us hard working lower class Americans hard earned tax dollars. What sgould have done which would have been a better idea is should have giving the American people excluding the ones that don’t pay taxes (big corps & all the CEO’s & such you know who you are). But would have made more sense to give that 700 trillion dollars to the tax payers than to do bailout. You noticed all the big wigs & CEO’s made sure they got their bonuses & pay raises before it even went toward bailout. Watch the news more offen people, watch the nominees you want another 4 years of Bush or someone that has been where we have been or are at this moment, Obama is that man, he wasn’t born with money or a silver spoon in his mouth like most of them. Obama knows exactly what the people want, that only happened once in my leifetime & that was when JFK was in office. He was for the people. Where as McCain is money & for the big corps & such, just like Bush. So ask yourself you want someone that works & knows what the people want or do you want someone that is for the big corps. & the rich. If you want McCain that tax break he talks about on heathcare…yeah right do your research people, wake up the insurance companies will get that money from the tax break we were told we would get…LOL yeah whatever. As well as continued fight in a war we never should have gotten into in the first place. I want insurance, and i can’t efford to pay outside insurance for a pre-exsisting condition, for I am able to pay the high cost that I am paying now, if it keeps at this rate if McCain gets elected, those americans that are in the same situation as I am, will have to cancel their policies if he gets in.
So Make the right choice, and don’t ask for another four years of Bush’s ideas.
I personally think if we ( the tax payers ) can bail out wallstreet, why not give ourselves another stimulus check and make it bigger than the small 600.00 from the last one.
Because you, unlike Wall Street, will have to pay it back!
I agree with getting a 2nd stimulus check. For those of us who can barely pay their mortgage or other bills, the money now is necessary. The 700 billion bail out did nothing! Banks are still weary of lending money! Even if you think about that fact, why give it to the banks, so you have to BORROW the money and then pay back more than what your borrowed. It would have been wiser to give people a stimulus check out of that 700 billion. I’m sorry but what you said about us having to pay back these stimulus check, by higher taxes, is not really a fair statement. You don’t feel we’ll end up paying for the 700 billion? By taxes, higher interest rates by the bank, etc. Yes I agree the 700 billion didn’t do any good how they divided it up! But alot of Americans are unfortunately in the position that they need a stimulus check to get by , or if you are worried about stimulating the economy, perhaps it would come before Christmas and people would actually buy some Christmas gifts with it! That would put back in the community would it not. As well as us borrowing our own money, unfortunately, we don’t have the luxury of worrying about that now. Money is needed just to live and not get kicked out of their house, or loose their car, etc.
The government didn’t worry about having to borrow money and having to pay it back later! Why should we have to worry? Americans are in a bit of a crisis situation right now and we need to worry about fixing this now, instead of how it will affect us in year to come. If you think about it, there are many laws, bills, debts… that can affect us later down the road in a negative manner, but no one says anything about those. How can helping people be bad! I dont’ see how putting the money for gov’t. funded programs can help either, not everyone can take advantage of those.
I couldn’t agree more. The politicians just need to stop but I don’t think that is going to happen. They are already planning another bail out package but are waiting until after the election. No surprise.
for the rich idiots at the top of this page, how can you say a second stimulus check wont do anything but get put in the bank or used to payoff credit cards, thats what fuels the economy and the first one didnt do much because ceo thieves like you guys were still destroying the economy, but now you will have some eyes on you. so go park your lexus and read the wall street journal and let the rest of the country enjoy life.
Rich or not rich, Joe, if you get a second stimulus check, you will have to pay it back plus interest eventually. The govt. does not have any money to give out, thus they will have to borrow it, thus you will be paying interest. It’s a dumb, dumb move by them to even suggest another check.
You know if you don’t like it you can always leave the country, NO ONE IS FORCING YOU TO STAY.
What does leaving the country have to do with stimulus checks? So you want the government to borrow more money and give it to you, so you can pay it back + interest later on? That equals liking one’s country?
Um, Brandy – I am a big supporter of Obama and I don’t want the free money. So what do you make of that?
I do not appreciate your tone and your vendetta against the 60% + of Americans voting for Obama today. Besides, I do not react well to people who call me uneducated or a sheep. When 50% of people voted for Bush, were they sheep too?
And yes, I am against the stimulus check AND I am an Obama supporter because I believe in a woman’s right to make her own health decisions, I want the war ended now so no more of our kids get killed for no reason, and because I think everyone should pay their fair share, including myself. Just those 3 quick reasons alone are enough for me to vote for a candidate.
Not everything in life is about money; sometimes its about people and empathy. So please, take your anger elsewhere if you cannot have a decent, reasonable conversation about politics. Tone gets you everywhere.
1. Opinion is fine. Rhetoric, anger and vendettas are not.
2. Obama would not tax Joe the “Plumber”, at least not at his income level. It’s a made-up character of a guy, and he would have to make $250K in business PROFIT before getting taxed more; not income. This imaginary guy is nowhere near that level, and neither is the company he works for. He admitted it himself on camera.
3. Obama does not support partial birth abortion – no one does and how could anyone unless the mom’s life was in trouble? He and McCain BOTH shot that bill down because there is already a provision in existing law to stop that practice. If you research it, you will find that to be the truth for Obama and McCain both. Palin wants women to carry baby to terms even if their own father raped them – sorry, but I cannot vote for that either.
4. How is your word of god threatened by Obama? I am not a religous man, so I dont care either way, but I am curious how a Christian guy threatens your word of god.
I think the we need another stimulus check to help us through these tough times, why not?It’s crazy how the rich are willing to let the poor bail them out time after time. But no one ever wants to help those who need it the most.If a second stimulas check is not issued things will only get worse. White, Black, rich or poor. we all need some type of relief. No more talk from the Govt. They need to walk the walk…
If they do another stimulas check it needs to be a mandatory direct deposit…That would save millions of dollers
I also is infavor of a second stimulus check. I don’t think the first one helped much for 2 reasons
1. The gas prices were astronomical and caused e-thing else to go sky rocketing
and
2. They weren’t big enough to do much.
If they can give AIG 150 billion dollars just for them to go on ilaberate retreats then they surely can give money to the rest of this country to help us out which in turn will help the economy.
I did not vote for Obama nor would I ever. He’s a good speaker that’s all he is.
David you in favor of the war to end now – aren’t we all but we also need to STOP and realize what will happen if that happens. Usama has already threatened to outdo 9/11 and it will no doubt happen because now we have a president that has NO experience and is known to hang out w/ a terriorist that has threatened this country we all love. Nothing is going to change with Obama in office but higher taxes. So, if he’s gonna raise the taxes then he might as well give us free money too, right?
That way we can afford to pay them taxes he’s going to raise.
The gov’t can make sure it is spent in the economy and not on debt if they want to. A credit type card something along them lines they are the gov’t they can do whatever they want.
While I don’t have a problem helping the people that have lost their jobs or the people on disabilty that can’t work I do have a problem helping the people who don’t want to work and sit on their butt and collect welfare checks – so why should they get money and not the people who do work and bust their butt yet to only live paycheck to paycheck.
Sherri, at least look up Obama’s tax plan before saying he will raise taxes. Agree with him or not, he will not be raising taxes on people making less than $250K…and people making more than that definitely don’t need a stimulus check. Since you are living paycheck to paycheck, you won’t be seeing a tax increase. Still think you should get free money for no reason?
“That way we can afford to pay them taxes he’s going to raise.” OK, but since he isn’t raising your taxes, I guess he doesn’t need to send you money, right?
PS- The war in Iraq had zero to do with 9/11, just an FYI.
One difference. When the people were sent stimulis check, most did exactly what the Prtesident said to do. USE it, SPEND it, Put IT into the system. $168 billion dollars, bailout for financial marketsm, was to insure the banks could make loans…They Aren’t. Instead they are raising interest on credit cards. The public never gets a break.
Actually Joyce, most people just paid down debt with the first check, not even understanding that the check itself was just more debt like a second one will be.
If the governement can use “my” future money to bail our millionaire executives, the it can use it to help me! It was this poorly run banking system that caused me, like many other Americans to be un and underemployed. No one else used the credit cards I now owe ridiculous amounts of money but me. However, had the big boys done their jobs, I would have continued to pay my bills. if doesn’t seem right that they are now benefiting at my expense! Yes send me a check!! If the $350 billion already wasted on this bailout was in the hands of the Americian middle class, we would have paid off some debt and spent money to reignite the economy. If there are no checks for us….then there should be no checks to the financial institutions, car companies, cities, etc.
Why do we continue to close our eyes and fall for any lie that gets told to us. Why are car sales off by 40 & 20 percent for American and Japanese cars and luxury vehicle sales are off by only 14 percent. The rich are not hurting like we are. The local boat show here in California saw sales in boats costing 50k and less shrink, while the 100k and above boat sales grew. The rich are not hurting like we are. The true purchasing power in America is in it’s middle class and we have been neglected for so long that the chickens are coming home to roost. Alan Greenspan made the comment back in 05′ that he was concerned that the income gap between the middle and upper class was growing too wide. He followed up with the comment that education was the answer to fix the middle class. Lets see, my wife and I both work to pay for what my Dad used to pay for by himself with only one monthly check while he banked the rest. We don’t have the luxury of paying for a 100k education that would boost my earnings by a $1,000 a month and financial aid is out of the question because I’m not poor enough.
The real issue is that paying money directly to Americans would be socialist. Nobody wants it to look like communism, so they find a different way. The way they chose is so much more free market, they give directly to companies that will use it to make better companies that create more jobs and wealth for their employees. How’s that working for us so far; we are in deeper than we have ever been. But hey, we didn’t give the money directly to people like those damn commi pinkos. If history proved anything it is that communism doesn’t work because the govermant never gives back to the people. The very system that is to create equality only made the income gap wider. Sounds kind of similiar to our free market socialist programs that only apply to the companies that our government choses to provide welfare for. Keep the money at the top and complain about how stupid the peasants are that made them rich to begin with. If we had money we might have a voice and make some real logical change to our system, we couldn’t have that now could we. They really are afraid of what the middle class can accomplish and the results has been to drive us down to a point that they are now shotgunning for a fix because they drove us down too far. My gosh, providing credit availabilty for us in our time of need so we can stay more indebted to the rich, thanks, but I still can’t afford it, try again. I find it funny that they can dole out 700 bil in fixes but the U.S. automakers can’t have any because they don’t have a plan. How can they have a plan when the people that buy their cars are the middle class and they can’t rely on our purchasing power right now. The U.S. automakers have unions, and everyone knows that unions are bad for a free market. Unions are only bad for the rich because they force them to pay a fair wage, provide proper benefits, and education for its employees.
Please, what ever we can do to help the middle must be done to help our economy. We really are the lifebllod of the country, besides, we will pay are taxes. Are those big companies gonna pay you back, no, we are going to pay you for them.
If you guys don’t want the Stimulus check, don’t accept it.
We most certainly need a second stimulus check. My wife and I have two children and we are living check-to-check. No, we don’t eat out, we pack lunches, and we don’t drive new cars(can barely afford to fix the ones we have). We really do need a second stimulus check.
So you want the government to give you money, for no reason whatsoever, so that you can owe it back to them later? Or even better, your kids will owe it back later?
There is no free lunch, especially when it comes to these ridiculous stimulus checks…I think people forget that this money is not free; it is a loan.
Would like to know what this david guy makes that he don’t need it.
[…] be spending money our social programs which are badly imbalanced at the moment.”David at My Two Dollars – “We do not have the cash to be throwing good money after bad; we are already doing […]