“The checks aren’t in the mail, but they will be soon.” So begins an article from USA Today. The President signed legislation on Wednesday to rush rebates from $300 to $1200 to millions of Americans. Congress, President Bush, the Federal Reserve and Wall Street are “hoping the money will burn such a hole in people’s pockets that they won’t be able to resist spending it.” And the spending is supposed to provide an energizing jolt to our nation’s economy.
When I was growing up my parents would say to me, “That money is burning a hole in your pocket.” It was a negative assessment of my desire to spend whatever little money I had attained. And here’s our government encouraging us to act like little children, in a very negative way . . . spend, spend, spend.
What would happen if we all took our rebate checks and paid off the existing debt that we owe? Or if we all invested our checks in interest yielding savings accounts? Or, I’m really going out on a limb here, if we said “No” to the new flat screen tvs, vacations and clothing, realized that we already have more than enough, and gave our new windfall away to those in desperate need?
It wouldn’t make sense to the economists but I have to wonder, that if in God’s economy, we might once again experience God’s blessing upon us as a people?
What if we each took our rebate money and spent it on clothing, supplies, etc. for people in need in our area (maybe the places we served during our I-Serve series)? Think of what an impact RiverTree could have on our community!
Greg,
I wrote about this on my blog awhile back as well. You can see it here: http://thoughtsofagyrovague.com/?p=114
I truly hope people will see beyond themselves a little and use some or all of that check to help others in need!
I don’t know if you remember but right after 9/11, the President and then New York City Mayor both came out encouraging people to go shopping. The worst attack on American soil and the best our leader’s could come up with was shopping therapy? What if they had, right then, encouraged everyone, including car makers and scientists and the every-day Joe one the street to start finding ways to reduce our insane dependence on petroleum.
The world is upside-down.
That is exactly what we are going to do with our tax refund. My wife and I have some debt that we want to start chipping away at. A BIG portion of what we get back is going straight to those credit cards and then they are going straight to the shredder. A small percentage will go into savings.
The extra rebate that is coming in the spring will also have the same fate.
Hopefully, we can get into the mindset of getting out of debt and these big payments should act as a source of inspiration.
Thanks to the government for getting me out of debt! I do not, however, believe that was their intention :)
This post has prompted some great discussion. You are right, NYMart, we need to be attacking root causes instead of band-aide solutions. I doubt very much that the root cause of our economic troubles is that Americans just aren’t spending enough!
Also, you’ve got to love the idea that our government is doing us a huge favor by giving back some of our own money. ha ha.
We’re definitely planning to use the money to pay down debt. The idea of using it to help others is a great one as well.
-D
My normal Federal and State refunds are going towards my car payment and this one will too. Those refunds and a nice gift from my Mom, at Christmas, are going to allow me to pay off my car one year early! Then I can pay off my credit cards much faster and begin to live within my means using cash! What a crazy concept! ;-)
While I love the idea of getting a $1,200 rebate, I think our Goverment is twisted up-side down in this concept. Instead of going out shopping and buying things that none of us really need, we need to pay down our debt…
We as Americans rely too much on credit and loans (yes, I’m guilty) and we wonder why we are broke and living paycheck to paycheck.. it’s because we’ve racked up our credit cards and we’re paying dearly for it through monthly payments.
My husband and I will be paying down our debt with our rebate. We will also put our tax return into savings and with my profit sharing I got from work, I am paying off a car loan a year and a half early.