Here is a simple proposal:
Help the economy grow by getting millions of people simply to tip cab drivers, waiters and other service workers a few extra bucks each week.
I always wonder what more I can do to help elect Democrats -- that is, apart from contributions, phone banking, letter writing, etc. We all know that the economy is the single most important factor in elections, but is there anything we can do individually to influence a huge economy like ours?
Clearly more government stimulus is off the table because half of the government is controlled by lunatic Dickensian villains.
But maybe there can be people-powered stimulus. A NY Times Op-ed today, Philanthropy for the Rest of Us makes this case through the example of Christmas Seals.
For some reason, I've gotten into the habit of leaving about a dollar extra on the tips I pay for cabs, restaurants, etc. (The NYC Taxis are very helpful in this, giving you a "choice" of leaving 20%, 25% or 30% tip when you pay.)
A few weeks ago I began to wonder whether people doing this on a mass scale could have some effect on the economy.
Ezra Klein wrote:
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, while cuts to taxes affecting businesses and upper-income individuals -- such as the corporate, dividend, capital gains and alternative minimum taxes -- give you less.
In other words, 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 70, 80 or 90% and over to collectively help those farther down?
Though I read Krugman religiously (and Atrios, Brad DeLong and Felix Salmon secularly), I am not an economist.
But I wonder,
What if two million people started giving cab drivers, waiters, etc. tips of a dollar more than usual, adding up to say, $10 a week?
That's a billion injected into the economy in a year. Would that make a difference?
If not, what higher number of people or amount of tipping would make a difference?
$10 or $20 a week paid by 5 million or 10 million? Those in the upper percent echelons could, of course leave even more.
Please let me know if you think this is a loony idea, whether it has possibilities or whether there is some variation that might make more of a difference.
(And I promise not to make any "tip jar" jokes. . . Wait. I just did, didn't I?)