Woo-hoo! Rebate checks going out Monday. Our troubles are over.

[nichomachus]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080425/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_economy;_ylt=AkzM48EVePitt0HRI5VFeJis0NUE"> Bush says rebates going out Monday should help economy

WASHINGTON - President Bush said tax rebates will start going out Monday, earlier than previously announced, and should help Americans cope with rising gasoline and food prices, as well as aid a slumping economy.

"Starting Monday, the effects of the stimulus will begin to reach millions of households across our country," Bush said Friday in remarks on the South Lawn of the White House.

The Internal Revenue Service had been saying direct deposits wouldn't start until next Friday. Bush said paper checks would begin going out on May 9, a week earlier than previously announced.

"The money is going to help Americans offset the high prices we're seeing at the gas pump, the grocery store, and also give our economy a boost to help us pull out of this economic slowdown," Bush said.

The poor sap has no idea of the shape the economy is in and doesn't realize that this will have more effect than pissing in the ocean -- although I expect to hear the MSM glowing about "the stimulus" the same way they do about "the surge." Every momentary uptick in the "indicators" will be attributed to the "stimulus."

Mine is already spent. AC repairs. I'm just waiting for the check so I can pay them.

[bdamomma]

1. those checks will do nothing for the deteriorating economy

just a bandaid. Bush just throwing scraps to all of us. And he is laughing while his friends make millions of dollars.

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. Two 'free' fillups at the local gas station and more profits

for the oil companies...... Oil just shot up again because the US just shot at a little boat.

[peace13]

3. After fifty years I finally get food stamps and free gas.

It appears everyone except the very poor will get this assistance. Sometimes I feel like this is all a bad dream but even I would not have been sick enough to think this one up. So sad.

[Mountainman]

4. So I just pay some bills a bit earlier than planned.

I willing to bet a majority of the money is going to pay debt on spending from the past.

[napi21]

11. It is likely that 80%+ of the funds from these checks will go to pay

bills, food, and or gas for the car. I don't have any proof of that, it's just my gut feeling. So many people have been seriously affected by the radical rise of food & gas prices, not to mention the millions who are caught in the housing crisis.

I'm not going to tell you that I'm not going to cash MY check. I'm using it to HELP pay off some past due medical bills. YES...yet anoth crisis...medical costs! We had $2,500 in medical bills from when my hubby was taken to the er for a suspected heart attack, and YES we have good insurance! The $2,500 is the co-pzys!!!!

And some DUer yesterday told me I was being too pessimistic and that I should look at the bright side of things! Sh*t...I can't find any!!!

[Hydra]

12. Tell that DUer to STFU

The more comfortable among us are telling the rest of us not to spoil their day. Guess what? I don't need anyone to spoil my day- the gov't does it for me.

[AlCzervik]

no one should tell you how you should feel about the current climate or your own financial

situation, thats just crap. It is scary out there right now.

[napi21]

17. Thanks. Sometimes I get so depressed because no matter where

I look I see a MESS! EVERY DAY there's another news report about something ShrubCo has been hiding, and it's ALWAYS bad news! Yesterday it was proof that ShrubCo has been lying about the # of soldiers suffering from PTSD. They insisted it was only about 700, but the truth is it's around 100,000 and rising! How is ANYBODY every going to fix even half of the disasters this crowd has created?

Sorry...I'll quit whining now.

[Mountainman]

20. Where I work there are going to be 30 layoffs come June.

I can't stop having anxiety over whether I am one of them or not. Some things are starting to go really good for us but the rug could be pulled out at any time.

[angstlessk]

5. so all the talk about his inflated optimism is NOT unfounded...being mailed AND received on the same

day??? is this the same post office I grew up with??? checks going out Monday, stimulus beginning Monday??...i recon he expects people to purchase with credit till they receive their 'check in the mail'??

[rox63]

6. Mine's going to help pay for some remodeling I had done to my bathroom

back in March. So it's just going to help pay off debts, not to buy new stuff.

[TlalocW]

7. Mine will actually help someone

I promised a friend who's had a hard time making ends meet due to various health reasons over the years pay for hopefully her next to last round of general college courses so she can then take her few remaining major classes and graduate and get the hell out of our college town, which she's still stuck in.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but we've gone through these "rebate" checks before, and don't they somehow get figured into the next year's taxes so that say if you were to normally owe $100.00, you would instead owe $700.00, or if you were due $800.00 back normally, your actual rebate would be $200.00? Plus, interest is probably charged so aren't these in effect loans the government is forcing you to take?

TlalocW

[peace13]

14. According to my accountant this one has no bearing

on next years income or taxes.

[TlalocW]

26. Really

That's kind of a surprise. Isn't this like the 4th time in the last decade or so that we've gotten these? Didn't the republican congress under Clinton send out some that did have a bearing on the upcoming year's taxes?

TlalocW

[peace13]

29. The one before this was taxable.

That was under the * mis-administration. Peace,Kim

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

24. All I can say is

:headbang::yourock::headbang:

[TechBear_Seattle]

8. I won't be getting squat; I made too much last year

*grumgle* Government hand-outs to the poor while the rich get screwed yet again *grumble*






Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to channel the GOP. :hi:

[AlCzervik]

10. me neither, thats ok someone needs more than i do.

[pdx_prog]

9. Mine will be in the first batch...

Hey....if any of you don't want yours I will always take it.

No, it's not going to fix the situation we are in but it's certainly not going to hurt either. It is putting a few hundred bucks into the pockets of working people and that can't be all bad.

[Hydra]

13. Except that they're gonna make us pay it back later

Mind you, I'm not complaining. I need it to offset the taxes I had to pay on my poverty level income.

[napi21]

15. NO you don't have to pay it back! You did the last time, but not this

one. This one IS NOT an advance on next years refund like the one was a few years ago.

[Hydra]

19. No, no

This "stimulus" will be added to the national debt...which is at this moment:

$9,344,093,417,866.18

at an interest level of 6%(I'm sure China is getting more), that is:

560,645,605,071.9708

More than a 1/2 Trillion in interest each year...now, back to point:

$168,000,000,000 stimulus package * 6% = 10,080,000,000

Another 10 million in interest fees alone just this year.

Debt based economies are STUPID.

[napi21]

21. OK ya got me. Most DUers who say "you have to pay it back" are

talking about the "refund advance" we got a few years and think this check is the same deal. Of course you're right, we WILL have to pay it back PLUS INTEREST.

[pdx_prog]

16. We will pay it back one way or another....

We will pay it back even if we don't get it......I would rather get it...:)

[backscatter712]

18. I'm probably going to save mine.

I know, it doesn't stimulate the economy. (Well actually, it stimulates the bank's economy...)

But since I currently have a decent job, but it's at a VC-funded startup, I really need to make sure I have an adequately-sized oh-shit fund. Granted, after a few months of hyperinflation, the few thousands I've got will eventually have the buying power to get a nice dinner, but I need what buffer I can get.

[GreenPartyVoter]

22. Phew! We need that money to take kitteh to the vet

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

23. At the very least I can get out of credit card debt...

I have been working my butt off to get out from under it so it will be nice to have none left !

[TlalocW]

27. That's what most people will use this for

Paying bills, which will have no effect on stimulating the economy.

TlalocW

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

28. No doubt there is only two ways that paying off creidt card debt helps

1) The CC companies do employ people
2) No more spending money on interest that I can use other places..

[Junkdrawer]

25. I had a modest refund and asked it be credited. They sent a check instead...

They're desperate to get cash into peoples hands.