Tax Help - What Will the Stimulus really "Stimulate"

As the tax year nears an end, the one thing that has stuck out in my mind is how excited folks are to be getting some "free" money from the Stimulus Package.

In my mind I'm trying to figure out just what this freebie package is really going to help. What are you going to be spending your free money on? And just how are we supposedly going to help boost our economy as the legislators predict.

Consider these scenarios and you decide for yourself.

• If you spend your money on clothing then you're sending more money over to China, Mexico and the Middle Eastern countries.


• If you spend your money in Walmart, Target or any of the other chain merchants, then you're again sending more money over to other countries.


• If you buy new furniture.....well, there you go again sending more money overseas.

Any way you look at it, a large percentage of the stimulus money will be going overseas whether we want to think about it or not.

How many folks do you know that will actually put that money in savings and let it grow or even hold on to it for any period of time? My guess is that a large majority will just plain blow it as soon as they get it in the mail.

Here's a thought for those politicians who want to "stimulate" something:

• lower the price of gas at the pumps and you might see more folks traveling and spending that money within this country


• take that money and spend it on improving our education system


• or helping the homeless

There are a millon ways to boost the economy but the one boost that would benefit this country more is to make Americans feel less of a strain on a daily basis at the pumps or in the grocery store rather than a one-shot deal. It makes me think that it's just another way of pulling the wool over our eyes or passifying us for a short time.

We've been told that this will be treated as a tax credit on our returns for next year, but I remember in 2001 when we got the "advance" on our refunds and it had to be deducted from refunds. Trust me, I remember all those folks coming in to have their returns prepared and not realizing that it had to be "paid back" and how mad they were when they left.

It's hard to imagine how the Federal government can just "give away" $185 billon in free money. My rule of thumb is that "nothing comes free" and "anything that sounds good isn't necessarily good".

Of course, this is solely my opinion and you know what they say about opinions!