Friday, February 13, 2009

The Other Stimulus

A 27-year-old "rebel economist" known only as "Michelle" [now identified as Michelle Muccio of the Acton Institute] has an alternative for the blank check currently proposed around Washington: "Politicians are going to spend $800 billion dollars which they claim will stimulate the economy. For the same amount of money we could eliminate the payroll tax for the rest of the year, giving the average worker thousands of dollars back in their pocket. Instead of more government spending, why not just let the American people spend their own money?"

How does our heroine propose this? Long story short, eliminate the payroll tax for one year. For example, if you have an annual income of $30,000, you would get at least $2,000 back. You could put it towards a new car, a new house, playing the ponies -- whatever would best stimulate the economy. What are we to make of this? The alternative is to resort to the guidance (and we apply the term loosely here) of such luminaries as Congresswoman Maxine Waters of the House Financial Services Committee.

The down side of Michelle's proposal? This would make it more difficult for the President to keep every promise of instant relief, to anyone lucky enough to "spontaneously" get hold of a microphone at one of those town hall meetings. Of course, what better way to encourage initiative in America, than to take the fruits of their labor away and "spread the wealth around" to those who, for whatever reason, were not able to work for it?

Do the math, people. We report, you decide.
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1 comment:

Dad29 said...

that happens to be an idea I endorsed the other day...

the LeftyBloglodyte who responded advised that Only The Government Knows How to Stimulate Best.

we're not dealing with rational people.

besides, it's not about the money. It's about Fascism/control.