What shall we do with the $600 or $1200 economic stimulus tax rebate we are receiving from the IRS?  This is unbudgeted money, we should use for something special.

We could use it to pay down credit cards, but that's no stimulus at all.  The money will just go into the black hole of megabanks and CEO salaries.

We could go on vacation and buy jet fuel or gasoline from Dubai or Abu Dhabi so they can buy our ports or banks.

We could buy a big screen TV and make jobs in China.

Bush says "Be patriotic! Go shopping!"

No, the best thing I can do to help fix our economy is to contribute this money  to elect Democratic candidates.  How about you?  You can afford at least part of the money for Democratic campaign contributions.  

We've heard a lot about the Economic Stimulus Package checks that we US Citizens are supposed to be getting from the government.

But it looks like Extra Sensory Perception will be needed to actually get one of these mysterious, invisible payments.

Today I got my $600 economic stimulus payment. Once I confirmed that it had been deposited into my checking account, I immediately transferred all $600 to my credit card balance. I have one credit card, limit $5500, balance at 6:00 a.m. $3100—balance at 6:03 a.m. $2500. I am still not happy with that balance, but that is a different diary.

I considered all kinds of ways to spend that $600: deposit it in my IRA, spread it out to the three charities I donate to on a monthly basis ($200 each); pick one or six new organizations to give the money to; sending it to Dick Cheney with a note stating I didn’t feel the taxpayers had supported him enough and please, would he accept my heartfelt ‘thank you’, mailing it to the City of New Orleans...

But never once did I even consider spending it. In the end I decided to pay down debt—my own personal at the expense of my children and grandchildren’s future.

http://zfacts.com/...

http://www.treasurydirect.gov/...

Just curious how did you all spend our money?

I'd like to think that the majority of Americans are not just good people, but smart people...and more often than not, also trusting people.

It's that "trusting" thing that has me nervous. And a recent speech from The Decider confirms it.

It turns out, and I guess we shouldn't be surprised, that one fan of Bush and Co.'s "economic stimulus package" is Wal-Mart, which cashed in with its own predatory "consumer's stimulus package." Basically: Wal-Mart encourages customers to charge their gasoline and Family Size Doritos to their Wal-Mart cards with no money down, to pay 20% interest later when the magical stimulus package fails to improve their bank accounts. Further, it turns out that a big fan of all the fandom is Canada's Economic Times:

"We applaud the President and Congress for recognizing the economic struggles of everyday Americans and moving quickly to provide much needed tax relief," Wal-Mart said in a statement Wednesday.

So lemme get this straight: Bush spends billions financing an endless unfeasible war as our currency is increasingly bought out from under us by China and Saudi Arabia; education, infrastructure maintenance, social programs, and veteran benefits are gutted as pork-barrel boondoggles to Republican districts increase exponentially...

    For the second time in his presidency George Bush has had to provide an "economic stimulus" to the failing economy. When will these clowns get it? These short-term band-aids will not fix a broken economy. These rebate checks are just a way for the politicians in Washington to be able to accept their checks from the lobbyists without guilt. The truth is just like the last rebates they will do little to rescue an economy that has inherent flaws. Rather than do the hard work needed to create a working economy, the Washingtonians have opted for a symbolic gesture designed to appease the masses in time for the fall elections. It is a win/win for both parties and a loss for the American public.

A Republican’s version of economic stimulus is to take a fat wad of bills out of the right-hand pants pocket and shove it into the left-hand pants pocket while drooling.

(If you recognize that last paragraph as a polite euphemism for autoerotic economic stimulation, please don’t tell anybody.)

I'm sure that I'll be in a minority, but this is foolishness.

I just called Senator Lugar and told him that this economic stimulus plan is ridiculous.

Glenn Greenwald reports and decries the Congressional Democrats' refusal to enforce the Congress' subpeona power.  http://www.salon.com/...  Apparently, the reason for the Democrats' action is they anticipate some sort of Kumbaya moment with the President where the two branches together rescue financial markets and the economy.  You can be sure, as he has done in every one of his dealings with the Democratic Congress,  W will use Congress' credulity to press his advantage to enrich the rich in the guise of the rescue package. (I met Daschle recently and thanked him for working for the nation after 9/11 but we know now he was just taken...)  When will these weenies in Congress learn?  Maybe they are waiting for another MoveOn mistep to show they have balls to the MSM.

When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated forty years ago in Memphis, he was calling for a campaign that would unite the poor and working classes of all races behind a shared economic future. Today, with ever increasing income gaps, rising oil prices, rapid climate change, expanding outsourcing, and economic instability, Dr. King's dream is as necessary as ever. As we honor King's life and vision tomorrow, it's time for his dream to be reborn, not only to meet the still-lingering challenges from his time but also the unique challenges of ours.

Today, as Congress prepares a giant Economic Stimulus Package, there is no better way to honor Dr. King’s memory and continue his struggle than to demand that Congress go green and go equal in the stimulus.

The economic stimulus package could simply go towards short-term consumer spending that may temporarily prop up our economy, or it could help lay the foundation of prolonged economic prosperity.   We could invest in new iPhones or in a sustainable, just, and prosperous energy future.  It's up to Congress now to decide which.