economy casarole

ive been reading various sundry articles about the state of the economy. ive come up with some thoughts of my own, but i want to preface this with the fact that i took maybe two econ classes, so not an expert, and at this point the looming recession (GASP!) is more than just an american problem. this is a worldwide concern.

disclaimers aside, heres the way i see it:
what stimulates the economy? spending. who has become increasingly poor with their spending decisions and pretty much gotten us in this mess? dumb people and stupid businesses. how do we fix it? give said dumb people more money to spend like morons!!!! NO! bad government. you keep that money, because that little tax rebate that we all are about to get (about $600 per person) amounts to quite the sum. lets say half of all americans will get this, meaning they pay taxes and the various other requirements. so 300million divided by two then multiplied by $600 comes to $90,000,000,000. also known as a fucking shitload of cash that your entrusting to people who have shown they dont know what the fuck their doing with their money.

so what my alternative? first go back in time and smack some sense into our lawmakers. next, develop big government projects to spend this money that is inevitably going to be cut from some program to stimulate the economy. i can think of a few pretty easily. a one percent of that would be a great start to getting detroit that mass transit it has needed since the second world war. perhaps get the new publicly owned bridge between detroit and windsor with half a percent of that. and guess what a billion and a half dollars dumped into the detroit area economy would do. and im sure these type projects can be found all over the us. remember that bridge that collapsed in minneapolis. perhaps we could go around and check out and repair the scores of other bridges that usdot has deemed 'structurally deficient.' you could spend a few bucks on research too. finding a way to produce ethanol that doesnt take away from the food source and isnt propped up by subsides(corn). give some money to stem cell research to help those of us who suffer from chronic illness at the hands of RA, diabetes, cancer and untold others. and while were one health care, if we have that much money to throw around, why not let some people get treatment for their health with all that cash.

but, its probably too late for all that. so lets look at what likely will happen with this $600 we will be receiving. all those people who are defaulting on mortgages and going into bancruptcy are going to go out and buy fucking flat screen tv's made in aisa, which helps us tremendously. those who have some brains will likely hang on to that dough for something special that they have been wanting. heres the problem, in order for that 'economic stimulus' to be effective, that money needs to be spent right away. and those who will are already up to the eye balls in debt so the problem doesnt go away.

like i said, maybe i dont know what im talking about. i hope not. because if im right, were all a bit fucked. only saving grace for me is that i live in the nation's capital where never ending govt cash keeps the world turning. thing is, its not here that the stimulation is needed, its in places like michigan, where my own cousins have been forced to move out of their house and in with other relatives because they cant afford to pay for heat.