Friday morning George Dubya announced that the first set of rebate checks would be in the bank on Monday. The first monies will go to those who filed electronically. According to the web site I can expect my check next Monday and when it hits the bank, it won't be there long. It is going toward the PayOffTheVan fund as are all extra monies at our house these days. I have a plan - Pay off the van, replace appliances and save, save, save until DH retires. Unlike the government, I understand that plans were made to be broken but you have to start somewhere.
This whole rebate thing doesn't make alot of sense. The government does not have the money to give us - they had to borrow it from China. Just like they did when Katrina hit. They have no emergency fund for those unexpected things that always happen. So they borrow from China and tell us to go spend it to stimulate the economy. Going on my premise that 20% of the people will do anything, there will be people that will not pay down credit cards or save it for a rainy day. They are going to hit Walmart, fast and hard. Guess what? China gets the money, a second time. Forget about stocks, I want to get in on that action!
It seems like bad financial advice to tell a country who already in trillions of dollars of debt to go buy more stuff instead of saving for a rainy day or paying for the stuff you already bought. 40% of Americans say they are going to pay off bills with the money. Sounds like the government should have made this into a voucher deal. Show us your receipts for a whole bunch of stuff - then we will give you the money... but who is going to trust that theory. Kind of like buying blind and the government's track record is a little off.
The most amazing thing is how fast they are getting the checks out. The April 15 tax deadline was less than 2 weeks ago. HELLO, who is really behind this? I would obviously think China althought they are having their own issues with the torch and up coming Olympics. Whoever it is, I want them to be president. Maybe then we could really get something done. Enjoy the Rebate, it is costing us Big Bucks...
