Letter to the Editor
Keep spending!
Published Monday, April 21, 2008
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Stumble It!April 17, 2008
To the editor:
Boy am I excited about the tax rebate checks I will receive soon!
Just think, my government leaders, those we elect to think up really good solutions to really difficult problems, have decided to borrow money from China in order to give me some money, not to save, not to pay down my debt, but to spend, preferably on products from — China!
It is not enough that the Bush-Cheney regime, with the help of both parties has doubled our national debt in seven years. It is not enough that my great-grandchildren will be paying off this debt in 50 years. And it is not enough that we make our country strategically vulnerable to any adversary or competitor in the world who decides to buy our debt.
Noooooo, our government wants to borrow more money.
After all, presidents from Nixon on, including Clinton, have borrowed the Social Security surplus to make it appear that we have a small or no national deficit to the point where it will be bankrupt soon.
While every financial adviser in the country is telling us to pay down our personal debt, our leaders are telling us to ignore that defeatist attitude. Don’t worry; be happy, the party will go on forever! Spend! Spend! Spend!
I’ll be surprised if these checks, when they arrive, won’t include a sales flier from Sears or Home Depot advertising a double your rebate sale. But I am just an ordinary guy, not an MBA from Yale.
They know that debt is good, war is peace and that the bigger the lie the more believable it will be.
So, remember that in this time of financial peril and difficulty for our nation, the patriotic thing to do is to keep on spending. May the good times continue to roll?
Thom Foote
Fairbanks
Community Discussion
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right on! right on! consumerism is patriotic!! help fight terrorism! shop at wal-mart!
Deal with it Thom, you probably drive a Subaru!
I do not think Thom Foote has taken a high school civics class. The Bush-Cheney regime only recommended the tax rebate checks. It was our friends in the Congress that actually APPROVED the expenditure. Once again, it is CONGRESS (Democrat controlled) spending OUR money.
Blue5011,
Wrong! Laws don't get passed without the President's signature, so he is ultimately responsible. So who needs the civics lesson?
AKhusky,
Had the democratically controlled congress felt as you, then the bill would have never landed on the presidents desk to be signed in the first place.
Instead of doing (what you believe) is the right thing (voting the measure down) they instead IMO likely voted in favor believing to do otherwise was political suicide for democrats in general. The same could be said of the president despite not being up for re-election.
Finally for all those who are upset that you are having some of your money returned. You are more than welcome to return the check or better yet you could cash it and send the proceeds to me. I promise to purchase only products made in the USA with the funds :)...from local retailers even...
Wish I had a Subaru.
It's not Democrat/ Republican.
I can't believe at this stage of the game folks continue to make out like one is more frugal than the other.
The whole mess is disgusting.
For all of you who are mad you are getting your money back...
It could be worse...
I make too much so get nothing in return - hope you enjoy spending your money along with mine :)
Yet another victim of the 'progressive' income tax system...
I feel sooooooo left out
I guess if you are mad you are getting money back - work some overtime and make more...then you wouldn't have to worry about that check....
olypopper- I am pretty sure that he is a contractor or builder and drives a truck.
akguy- I believe this rebate is being sent to everyone who filed this year.
Also just because someone gets a tax refund does not mean they do not work hard enough. Some people put more in monthly to get a refund yearly so don't be so quick to judge.
With that said, the tax system is still in place to help the rich get richer and give the poor a little hope, its just not made for the middle class. I for one am happy I will be getting a little extra help this year.
Show me the money!!!!
From the IRS website:
"Eligibility for the stimulus payment is subject to maximum income limits. The payment, including the basic amount and the amount for qualifying children, will be reduced by 5 percent of the amount of income in excess of $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for those with a Married Filing Jointly filing status."
akguy is right - it is completely possible to be making too much money to receive a rebate. Ironically, if you didn't make enough to pay taxes in the first place, you may still be eligible though!
then don't spend the money. ignore the plea from the government and save the money instead. it is better that it is in YOUR hands to make the decision with rather than in the hands a democratic congress to spend on stuff like buying new shoes for crack addicts in chicago.
If you dont spend your rebate check, the terrorists win.
Tundrabunny- thanks for that, had no idea. I bet this opend a lot of eyes.
I will still be living her next fall and winter and plan to use that money on what has caused my family the hugest stress this winter which is to put it into filling up my fuel tank. Who knows if the way the economy is going if that will even be the price it is now? What I do know is that 40 below comes no matter what.
Look at it this way. First they give you a refund, then they borrow more money to keep spending, then they pay interest on that money when (if) they pay it back. So then they tax us more in the long run to pay for what they're spending now, plus to cover the refund.
It's not a refund, folks, it's a loan with a lousy interest rate. Even if you don't spend it, don't save it, don't even cash the check, you're going to have to pay it back and more. You don't even have a choice. They signed your name on the dotted line for you.
Predatory lending, government style.
Well said Alaska Curmudgeon!
Olypopper what does driving a Subaru have to do with the government's debt?! I am proud to say I drive a Subaru! Actually, I just traded in my gas guzzler and am getting 7 more miles per gallon! I'd like to think I am AHEAD of the learning curve. How many MPGs do you get? 10? I guess that's what you can use your rebate for, a few tanks of gas.
And you better bet that that "rebate" is going to go straight into my savings account. No flat screen TV for my home, I'll just be happy to keep my home heated come winter!
Why can't anyone write a letter to the editor that's written without sarcastic connotations in every sentence? Don't get me wrong, Mr. Foote brings up an important subject, but he undermines the situation by trying to sound funny. John Stewart get's away with it on "The Daly Show" but I certainly don't take anything he says seriously.
The problem is that the President and Congress are attacking a recession the same way that we've attacked recessions since the Great Depression. The assumption is that the problem is a drop in consumption (a major component of GDP). Up until a couple of years ago, that was correct. Now the problem is a lack of investment (a smaller component of GDP).
There are two problems here. First, people in this country don't save enough, so there is not enough money to go around for borrowers (which is where investment comes from on the corporate scale). Interest rates go up to compensate (and raise your home mortgage rate, if it's adjustable). Second, if we wanted to expand the personal investments, we would have to lower capital gains taxes and the like. This is politically unpopular because it is seen as benefiting the "rich." In reality, it would be benefiting anybody who has a retirement plan.
We have a patient (the country's economy) whose heart rate is slowly dropping. We're trying to give it a shot of adrenaline for a temporary fix when we should bite the bullet and go for the major surgery to give us long-term stability.
YAAAA who's he think he is, using humor to point out the truth!! I hate it when those people use it to ram down our throats, the truth!! Stop doing it! Blind and humorless is the way to go people!!!
YouMustBConfused
That's not funny!
TRICKLE DOWN THEORY MUST NOT BE WORKING????? Seems that the loot is all stuck in the top of the tree and the roots are NOT getting any nourishment. TIMBER, she is coming down!!!!
Trickle down does not work anymore because the US no longer makes anything. Look at the top Fortune 500 companies and tell me how many of them make a product in the US. At this point the entire US economy is looking a lot like a pyramid scam and I'm afraid that it's about to topple over. As an economic partner the US is become more a liability than an asset.
Confused: My point wasn't to have all humor removed from our lives. Just that if someone wants an issue addressed to be serious about it instead of trying to make jokes. When I want people to take me seriously, I don't try and sound funny.
You insinuate that I think the author is a liar, yet I clearly stated that I support his opinion, just not his letter. Perhaps you should work on interpreting literature a little better, it looks like some of it may have confused you.
Our economy is shifting from production to service based. Aint gonna work.
I take Mr. Foote's "literature" very seriously even with his humor...as I also do with Jon Stewart. Ya see, dismissing his point...ah nevermind. If you don’t want to take what these people say as serious, be my guest. I like to laugh and cry at the same time. Mr. Foote and Mr. Stewart have been pointing out "Serious Issues" for our community and the world for quite some time. I understand their point and educate myself on the issues they make light of to better understand them. It is very enlightening and refreshing even if it is not up to your "literature standards"
YouMustBConfused
From the REAGAN DIARIES is an actual quote
that Reagan wrote about George 'W' in his diaries, recently edited
by author Doug Brinkley and published by Harper Collins
"A moment I've been dreading. George brought his n'er-do-well
son around this morning and asked me to find the kid a job. Not
the political one who lives in Florida; the one who hangs around
here all the time looking shiftless. This so-called kid is already
almost 40 and has never had a real job. Maybe I'll call Kinsley
over at The New Republic and see if they'll hire him as a
contributing editor or something. That looks like easy work."
From the REAGAN DIARIES; entry dated May 17, 1986.
..I wonder what kind of jobs Ronnie did before he became an actor, and a snitch for Joe McCarthy in Hollyweird..??
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...
http://www.google.com/search?num=100&...
http://www.google.com/search?num=100&...
...it's the economy,stupid.
"The end is near when the masses learn they can vote themselves bread and circuses." (That's a paraphrase because I don't recall the exact quote nor do I recall who said it.)
How many of you don't vote because "it's too much work" or "it's too inconvenient" or "one vote doesn't really matter"? If you don't vote, your comments here are nothing more than the wind whistling in the trees.
If you do vote, does your vote reflect your own self-interests? Or, does your vote reflect what you believe is best for the city, borough, state, and country, even if it's gonna cost you something?
What you're seeing now is simply what the American people asked for, based on the way they voted and who they elected as their representatives. (Or, allow others to choose for them by not voting.)
How we vote is only part of the problem. Another big part is the "I want it RIGHT NOW ... I'll pay for it later" attitude by so many people. I don't have a lot of sympathy for people who bitch about wealthy corporations when they're handing those corporation huge piles of money for interest on less-than-necessary purchases.
A third part of the problem is we consistently fail to honestly invest in education. Billions are spent on extracurricular high school and college sports programs while language, history, mathematics, and science departments have to beg for nickels and dimes. What do you expect when the most promising prospects for graduates are in the entertainment and pro sports fields?
Yes, I intend to accept and spend the tax rebate, first on some badly needed dental work. After that, I'll use any extra to pay property tax and some bills, hopefully with a bit left over to help keep my vehicle running.
No, I don't have a lot of savings. It's kind of hard to save and invest when you're on a poverty level fixed income. On the other hand, I don't have a lot of debt because I save up and pay cash for the things I need. That means no movies at the theatre, no Nanooks hockey games, and an extreme limit on dining out. (And, I grit my teeth when an unexpected expense wipes out my savings.)
Yes, the tax rebate is a quick-fix bandage. Congress voted for it and the President signed it because the American people want quick fixes rather than working towards a long term improvements.
A 600 dollar stimulus check: Whup-de-doo; won't even buy an ounce of gold. But by the time you receive it, maybe it'll still buy a loaf of bread. ----Hope springs eternal.
I'm looking forward to my stimulus check. I plan on spending it on brand new 35" TSL SX's for my truck. Which, btw gets about 4 to 5 miles to the gallon and likely spews ridiculous amounts of pollutant gases into the atmosphere.
Ahhh Freezy Frap your ramblings are so, so, so....YouMustBConfused