How stimulating.

I just got home and found in my mailbox a notice from the IRS. I liken hearing from the IRS to hearing from the doctor's office... no news is good news. Generally speaking an envelope from the IRS is a harbinger of bad tidings. But this time I opened my notice with much trepidation only to be informed that I am being awarded an economic stimulus check! Hurrah! I am eligible for up to $600 come May and boy could I use it. I've got a bike that needs a tune-up, I desperately need a haircut, and I need to set most of it aside for school-related expenses in the coming year, such as textbooks for summer school, semester bus passes and such. I will probably also buy myself a sandwich.

But I happen to be very lucky in my current financial situation, and by extension, also very unique. I don't have any credit card debt and I live off my savings so I don't need to worry about getting laid off right now. My understanding is that a lot of my fellow Americans have different designs on this money that they are about to come into--namely, paying off credit fees, credit card bills, insurance bills, loans, mortgage payments, etc. In other words, not many people are going to feel so flush when they get that check in May. They're going to be paying off their debts, which I don't think is going to do much for the economy except slightly recede the water level of the financial crapper we find ourselves in. I just read a statistic that since the late 1960s, Americans' collective personal debts have increased from just under $10 billion to over $600 billion in 2004 (and it's probably even higher now with the mortgage crisis and massive layoffs.)

Don't get me wrong--I have never thanked Bush for anything in my life and yet I am grateful for the cash. But I think this whole scheme of his is stupid and dangerous. We don't even have this money in the first place, it's just going to be added to our lengthening IOU from China. And when that bill comes due a few years down the line I don't think I'll be thanking Bush at all. Probably spitting on his grave and cursing his children is more like it.

It just astonishes me that the leader of the "small government" party has approved such a massive intercession the moment the economy starts to look unruly. Not even the socialist-leaning Roosevelt administration took this step during THE GREAT DEPRESSION. Roosevelt said that what people need is to work, not to live on free money. John Maynard Keynes, the maverick British economist at the time first proposed the idea of economic stimulus during the worldwide recession of the 1920s and 30s. But other economists of the day rejected the idea, saying it would depress consumer confidence if citizens got a check from the government every time the economy seemed weak. I don't mean to downplay the economic hardship that many people are experiencing right now--I know it's a very real thing. But if they didn't go for this idea during the greatest economic crisis of our history, and even Roosevelt--Social Security-creating, government-sponsored art projects and pro-universal health care Roosevelt--didn't think it was the right thing to do, then what the hell does Bush think he's doing? And more to the point, what the hell does Congress think they are doing? I know they don't want to look like they are engaging in too much partisan bickering which might have turned more people against them, but the speed at which this half-baked plan swept through the executive and legislative branches is frightening. And we will all know who to thank when our debts come due.

So as soon as you get your check folks, may I suggest you take it and go get yourselves a tall drink. You're going to need it.