Undoubtedly, the payroll tax holiday set to commence, well, next paycheck, will provide some small measure of help for some people. I think I heard some blathering head on CNN talking about an average biweekly boost of around $40. I think that's probably a bit on the high side, and I would guess the median amount is probably closer to $20, but every little bit helps, I guess.
I'm a big fan of using the tax code to accomplish worthy goals, getting people to trade in for more fuel-efficient cars (even if they were made in Japan), handing out fat tax credits to people who do certain types of energy-saving home improvements, deferring taxes on retirement account contributions, that sort of thing. It's good for the economy, even if it doesn't provide the sort of immediate jolt that might be desired right now.
Which brings me to the other sort of tax relief, the sort that I was never a big fan of, whether it was George W. Bush pushing it, or President Obama accepting it, grudgingly or otherwise, in order to get shit done. I think it's downright shameful that we have to accept the sort of gross, wasteful idiocy insisted upon by the Republicans in order to do a little bit of good for people who actually need the help.
The part that has me shaking my head the most isn't the big pile of extra tax relief lavished on people who don't need it and probably won't spend it, it's the payroll tax 'holiday' that got folded into the package along with it. Why? OK, I do realize that the money's getting comp'ed, but it's still the sort of thing the previous President would do - hand out relief based on who deserves it more, that being based on who makes more money. If I thought it would do any good, I would have insisted that it phase out at some lower amount of gross income, say $40,000, and make it 4 points. But whatever.
If you're one of those people who probably needs the extra twenty bucks to keep you from listening to Montel Williams urging you to make that deal with the devil...er...payday loan center, you can probably stop reading right now, because I'm going to talk to the rest of us, we who are still employed at good jobs with decent salaries. If you just let that money sit in your checking account, and your budget expand to match it, you are going to get really pissed off when that particular tax break expires. And what would you have done with that money? It's not enough for a big-ticket item that was likely made in the USA, like a new Chevy. Not even close. No, that money will get spent at places like Target, or Wal-Mart, on more cheap plastic crap made in China. I have a better idea.
You probably have a 401K or some other form of deferred compensation, or maybe an IRA. When you're done reading, go to the website where you manipulate said retirement account, and increase your contribution level by two points of gross income. Quick, painless, and you'll thank yourself later.
Maybe you're one of those people who lurks here, and posts the occasional donut-bait bullshit about how you can invest your own money better than Social Security can. You know who you are. Well, now is your golden opportunity to either put up, or shut up. Surely there is some stock, mutual fund, commodity future, or other financial instrument (I suggest euros) that you can be investing in that beats Social Security by a mile. Do you feel lucky? Well do you, punk?
Of course, if you're not one of those professional trolls who gets paid by the post to spread some right-wing "think" tank's horse manure around, you might want to remember the previous paragraph to smack your idiot brother around with when he has a few too many beers at the next family gathering and gets a little louder and more obnoxious than usual. Yeah, Chuck. I mean you. What are you doing with your two percent? Buying incandescent light bulbs to hoard in your basement? I thought so.