Let's Go Blues

anyone get theirs yet?

I should get mine by the 9th. I am in the middle group.
For people receiving direct deposits, those with a Social Security number ending in 00 to 20 will have their economic stimulus payment deposited to their bank account by last Friday.

Those with Social Security numbers ending in 21 to 75 will get their direct deposits by May 9 and those with Social Security numbers ending in 76 to 99 will get their deposits by May 16.

Will you stimulate the economy with your check? Or will you stimulate your savings?

I'm going to stimulate my genitals by taking the money to Diamond Cabaret and getting a blow job.

Got mine. Paying off bills.

We are due to get our two checks by the 9th.
And that money is going towards the new house we are building this summer.

However...if we weren't building a house, that money would be going in the savings.

It's funny, Bush wants us to put this money right back into the economy...but that isn't the smart thing to do for a LOT of people.
This generation is the first generation ever as a whole, to be spending more than they are making. That's not good...at all. What most people SHOULD be doing with this money, is put it in the savings or pay off high interest balances. But that wouldn't "stimulate the economy" and it wouldn't help the Republicans in this year's election...so they want you to spend it and buy stuff.

I've said this before...I'm lucky my wife is really into saving, investing, etc...because if it wasn't for her, I'd probably be one of the many spending more than they are making.

If you can afford to spend it and have some money in the savings, then that's cool...but if you are in debt or don't have much in your savings, be smart with the money. Pay off some debt and/or put it in the savings account.

I doubt these checks have any effect at all on the economy. It's not like everyone is getting an annual check year after year to help out...this is a one shot deal.

I heard some economist on the news say something that is sadly true. If people use the money to pay down a credit card, it wll work, but a month later, because they will see a lower balance and run it up again.

The average family that has credit card debt has on average near $12,000 of it. $600 or $1,200 or $1,800 could certainly put a dent in it, but most people have their heads so far up their financial asses that, you're right, they'll just go run their cards up again soon enough.

But lets say hypothetically, that the average household gets $900 total. And half the households use that money to pay their credit card balances or other private debts down, that would still only put a dent in about 5%-6% of the total credit card debt this country owes (if it was all put towards credit card debt) or about a half of one percent (0.005%) of the total private debt obligations we owe foreign countries that lend us money (if it was put towards any debts).

So allthough I have never been one to give back free money, and I'll gladly take it, this is just a short term solution to a much larger problem that this country refuses to address. One day in the future countries are going to stop lending us money so much to buy the shit they make and instead provide those goods to their own people as more middle class societies emerge around the globe. Currently we have no plan in place to protect us from such a situation. The current thought is that the world needs Americans to buy their shit but one day that will go away when they figure out we can't pay our bills.

A taste of that is happening right now as foreign sources of credit have dried up, the economy has started to slip and alarm bells are going off all over. If that scenario wasn't a big deal then no way would government go into emergency response mode, hand out money to anyone with a tax return, put the Federal Reserve in action to create inflation, reduce interest rates and severly weaken the dollar. Seriously, that scenario is so frieghtening that the U.S. government would rather create a lot of inflation and then publish a bogus CPI figure than deal with the consequences of being starved off of foreign sources of credit. That's a major issue.

marco wrote:The average family that has credit card debt has on average near $12,000 of it. $600 or $1,200 or $1,800 could certainly put a dent in it, but most people have their heads so far up their financial asses that, you're right, they'll just go run their cards up again soon enough.

But lets say hypothetically, that the average household gets $900 total. And half the households use that money to pay their credit card balances or other private debts down, that would still only put a dent in about 5%-6% of the total credit card debt this country owes (if it was all put towards credit card debt) or about a half of one percent (0.005%) of the total private debt obligations we owe foreign countries that lend us money (if it was put towards any debts).

So allthough I have never been one to give back free money, and I'll gladly take it, this is just a short term solution to a much larger problem that this country refuses to address. One day in the future countries are going to stop lending us money so much to buy the shit they make and instead provide those goods to their own people as more middle class societies emerge around the globe. Currently we have no plan in place to protect us from such a situation. The current thought is that the world needs Americans to buy their shit but one day that will go away when they figure out we can't pay our bills.

A taste of that is happening right now as foreign sources of credit have dried up, the economy has started to slip and alarm bells are going off all over. If that scenario wasn't a big deal then no way would government go into emergency response mode, hand out money to anyone with a tax return, put the Federal Reserve in action to create inflation, reduce interest rates and severly weaken the dollar. Seriously, that scenario is so frieghtening that the U.S. government would rather create a lot of inflation and then publish a bogus CPI figure than deal with the consequences of being starved off of foreign sources of credit. That's a major issue.

thankfully, I have ZERO credit cards!

I have plenty of credit cards, but in the 30 years since I got my first one, I have never carried a balance unless it was a 0% finance type thing. They are a great convenience as long as you don't buy something you can't afford to pay for.

Guppy wrote:

marco wrote:The average family that has credit card debt has on average near $12,000 of it. $600 or $1,200 or $1,800 could certainly put a dent in it, but most people have their heads so far up their financial asses that, you're right, they'll just go run their cards up again soon enough.

But lets say hypothetically, that the average household gets $900 total. And half the households use that money to pay their credit card balances or other private debts down, that would still only put a dent in about 5%-6% of the total credit card debt this country owes (if it was all put towards credit card debt) or about a half of one percent (0.005%) of the total private debt obligations we owe foreign countries that lend us money (if it was put towards any debts).

So allthough I have never been one to give back free money, and I'll gladly take it, this is just a short term solution to a much larger problem that this country refuses to address. One day in the future countries are going to stop lending us money so much to buy the shit they make and instead provide those goods to their own people as more middle class societies emerge around the globe. Currently we have no plan in place to protect us from such a situation. The current thought is that the world needs Americans to buy their shit but one day that will go away when they figure out we can't pay our bills.

A taste of that is happening right now as foreign sources of credit have dried up, the economy has started to slip and alarm bells are going off all over. If that scenario wasn't a big deal then no way would government go into emergency response mode, hand out money to anyone with a tax return, put the Federal Reserve in action to create inflation, reduce interest rates and severly weaken the dollar. Seriously, that scenario is so frieghtening that the U.S. government would rather create a lot of inflation and then publish a bogus CPI figure than deal with the consequences of being starved off of foreign sources of credit. That's a major issue.

thankfully, I have ZERO credit cards!

I have a few credit cards...but zero credit card debt. We pay those things off each month.
I haven't carried a balance since college...which was like 11 years ago.

I'm going to use mine to buy the city of Detroit, and have it moved to Kansas.

barnburner wrote:I'm going to use mine to buy the city of Detroit, and have it moved to Kansas.

What will you do with the remaining $599?

deadphish wrote:

barnburner wrote:I'm going to use mine to buy the city of Detroit, and have it moved to Kansas.

What will you do with the remaining $599?

$300 - on January 21 - Move Crawford Texas to Kansas.

$299 - on January 22 - Move Kansas to Burma.

Leedog wrote:I have plenty of credit cards, but in the 30 years since I got my first one, I have never carried a balance unless it was a 0% finance type thing. They are a great convenience as long as you don't buy something you can't afford to pay for.

Thank you Leedog.

I just don't get it. Aside from really large purchases that people HAVE to make from time to time (car, stuff with the house, etc, etc) how the hell does someone rack up thousands of dollars on crap? You don't spend money you don't have. I think it's simple. Have had a credit card for 4 years now and never had a positive balance on it after a month. Granted I'm not buying a whole lot but that's the point

marco wrote:The average family that has credit card debt has on average near $12,000 of it. $600 or $1,200 or $1,800 could certainly put a dent in it, but most people have their heads so far up their financial asses that, you're right, they'll just go run their cards up again soon enough.

But lets say hypothetically, that the average household gets $900 total. And half the households use that money to pay their credit card balances or other private debts down, that would still only put a dent in about 5%-6% of the total credit card debt this country owes (if it was all put towards credit card debt) or about a half of one percent (0.005%) of the total private debt obligations we owe foreign countries that lend us money (if it was put towards any debts).

So allthough I have never been one to give back free money, and I'll gladly take it, this is just a short term solution to a much larger problem that this country refuses to address. One day in the future countries are going to stop lending us money so much to buy the shit they make and instead provide those goods to their own people as more middle class societies emerge around the globe. Currently we have no plan in place to protect us from such a situation. The current thought is that the world needs Americans to buy their shit but one day that will go away when they figure out we can't pay our bills.

A taste of that is happening right now as foreign sources of credit have dried up, the economy has started to slip and alarm bells are going off all over. If that scenario wasn't a big deal then no way would government go into emergency response mode, hand out money to anyone with a tax return, put the Federal Reserve in action to create inflation, reduce interest rates and severly weaken the dollar. Seriously, that scenario is so frieghtening that the U.S. government would rather create a lot of inflation and then publish a bogus CPI figure than deal with the consequences of being starved off of foreign sources of credit. That's a major issue.

great post. ++

It's the 9th and NO CHECK YET! Anyone receive less than they were expecting? I've heard of people getting less than what they thought they were getting.

BTW, we did direct deposit thru H&R Block. Does this mean we'll get the stimulus check thru direct deposit as well?

deadphish wrote:BTW, we did direct deposit thru H&R Block. Does this mean we'll get the stimulus check thru direct deposit as well?

As far as I know, it does. Mine hasn't shown up yet, though.

Check this:

Some taxpayers may get a smaller stimulus payment than they expect, the IRS said. If you have a past-due federal or state income tax bill or some other type of past-due federal debt such as student loans or child support, your stimulus payment likely will be reduced by what you owe.

I wonder how loosely this policy will be implemented...