An Idea for the September Stimulus Package

[louis c]

Please don't blow me up, but something dawned on me and I wish to explain it.

There is no question that we will need a second stimulus package this year. However, it must be to pick up a lagging US economy.

How about this? $350 gift cards for every taxpayer or benefit recipient. The gift card would look like a credit card or any other gift card. It could be used in any store that accepts credit cards, and it would apply directly to the US treasury for payment. It must be used before the end of 2009.

This would be a great advantage to stores, restaurants and malls. The taxpayer would have an extra $350 just in time for school clothes or early Christmas presents. Rather than going into savings or to pay down debt (both admirable actions, but certainly not stimulative) it would put about $250 billion right into an ailing economy.

I just thought I'd give the idea a whirl here at DU.

[Myrina]

1. I like the idea, but think the $$ should be bigger.

Like, $1000. And it should be the type of debit card that can be used to pay phone/cable/etc because I think with that much 'spare' money, people would pay bills (which helps 'necessity businesses' bottom lines) and shop (which helps retail/grocery/food/etc bottom lines) ... the limited amount of the Bush stimulus really didn't provide enough 'spare income' to give a kick to the economy.


:shrug:

[louis c]

2. The amount is secondary

to the idea. At first it sounded foolish. but the more I thought about it, the more sense it made. Paying down bills is not quite as stimulative as buying goods. This would put people to work, get them out into stores and create the "Keynesian multiplier" need to give the economy the secondary boost needed after the first stimulus package kicks in. The amount would be $700 for a two taxpayer household and be enough to spur on Christmas sales.

[bluestateguy]

3. Great idea

People could use it to buy groceries or gas for the car, which injects money into the economy too.

[louis c]

4. Well, it's worth a try.