Getting money back from the government beyond a tax rebate doesn’t make any sense to me… I mean, a tax rebate is what you overpaid during the year, right? I’m not talking about my tax rebate, I’m talking about the money they’re giving me on top of that. Clearly some politician coming up for reelection while food and gas prices are increasing and we’re fighting an unpopular war was like “How much would it take to buy their votes?” and somebody else in a similar situation was all “Oh, between 3 and 6 hundred dollars these days” and Bush, looking at how much we’re spending in Iraq, just kind’ve went “Is that all? Done!” and wham! FREE MONEY!
Except nothing is free. Based on http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/ each citizen’s share of the National Debt is around $30,000. If my share of government money is negative $30,000 I fail to see where positive $450 came from. Either the government just created some more money out of thin air, which it can do because money isn’t tied to anything fixed, thereby decreasing the value of the money in circulation (inflation) -OR- the government borrowed some more money, increasing the national debt by an equal amount, and distributed this money to citizens.
Either way the problem with the national debt is that A) we’re charged interest on it and B) the money which will be used to eliminate that debt, if such a thing ever happens, will be from our tax dollars. So with the government being in debt the money they ‘gave’ me is either going to cause inflation, decreasing the value of my savings, or is borrowed, increasing my share of the national debt. Either way I’ll have to pay it back in the future, with interest. Its like a loan I didn’t apply for.
I must be getting something wrong because other people seem thrilled… which I think was the true intention.