Hi everyone,

A few days ago, Congress approved the “economic stimulus package,” which will provide every single tax filer with adjusted gross income (AGI) of $75,000 or less with $600 and every joint filer with AGI under $150,000 with $1,200. If you have dependent children, you get an additional $300 for each dependent child.

I feel that this stimulus package that is supposed to ‘revive’ the economy is close to a ’scam’. Yes, we can be happy to get some free money, let’s take it and run.

But will it actually do something for the economy? Single hand-outs by the government or anybody for that matter don’t really change the habits of people, unlike a tax rate change that has lasting effects. The $600 that we received earlier this decade as a stimulus did help because it was a part of lowering the lowest tax bracket to 10%. But this one is a one time deal, so it will do very little. So why is the government doing it?

The only answer is politics! Afterall we are in a election year, and no politician can afford to look that he is not concerned about the welfare of our people and that he or she is caring.

The main thing this will do is to put our country into more debt. The $150 billion will cost the government close to a $1 million per hour, assuming a 5% interest rate.

If you have no debt, save it and increase your financial wealth! If you have outstanding credit card debt, pay down some debt. We don’t have to be as irresponsible as the federal government.

Patrick