(No, I am not talking about the "tip jar" for diaries.)
How much per week do you tip cab drivers, waiters, and other occupations?
Can you afford to increase that by $5 per week? $10 per week?
The best stimulus is putting money directly into the hands of people who need it and will spend it. Since more government stimulus is out, can we do this collectively? Isn't this a way for the 60, 70, 80 or 90% and over strata to collectively help those farther down?
Any improvement in the economy will help Obama and down ticket candidates.
As we should know,
Direct government spending -- through unemployment benefits, food stamps, work sharing or infrastructure spending -- top the list, giving you more than a dollar's worth of stimulus for a dollar's worth of spending. Ezra Klein.
Tips are private stimulus -- payment to people who will spend it and not save it.
What if two million people started giving cab drivers, waiters, etc. tips adding up to $5 more per week? Or a million people tipping $10 more per week. Or a hundred thousand people giving an additional $20 or more? (those liberal 1%-ers).
And maybe this could make a difference in swing states like FL, OH, NV, WI, NC, CO.
Finally, this is not "trickle down" economics -- That is making payments to the wealthy "job creators" who will (cough, cough) hire more people. This is in the nature of unemployment or food stamps payments -- cash of equivalent directly into the hands of those who will spend it.
Adapted from a prior diary.