Comments on: Stimulus Package Was Needed But It Won’t End the Crunch

By: Reflections: Stimulus package and Tax Rebates « Personal Finance

Reflections: Stimulus package and Tax Rebates « Personal Finance — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:59:38 +0000

[...] Stimulus Package Was Needed But It Won’t End the Crunch (@ Bible Money Matters) and says “Is it just me or do these guys all sound like they’re really not sure what to do to turn things around? Are they just trying a bit of this, and a bit of that – hoping that something will stick? That’s the feeling I’m getting.” [...]

By: David Dzidzikashvili

David Dzidzikashvili — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 22:07:06 +0000

Obama’s stimulus plan should also envision changing regulations & economic policies to have short-term & long-term effects on unemployment, middle-class and the market stability. Strengthening the middle class and creating more job opportunities should be the primary objective of the package, rather than handing the blank check to the Wall Street and failed big corporations.

By: Weekly Round Up- Guest Post Week | Good Financial Cents

Weekly Round Up- Guest Post Week | Good Financial Cents — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 20:49:16 +0000

[...] In addition to guest posts, Pete over at Bible Money Matters flattered me by asking to conduct an interview. Interview me? I didn’t know I was that interesting. Be sure to check it out and also check out Pete’s blog. Here’s another great post from Pete discussing the Obama Stimulus Package. [...]

By: Miranda

Miranda — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 02:38:41 +0000

Trickle down hasn’t worked for more than 20 years and it won’t work now. If we’re going to throw money at the problem (and we will), it might as be at individuals. Give every household a tax-free stimulus of between $10,000 and $100,000. Same cost, but it might actually achieve the objective our leaders have: Kick-start consumer spending. Of course this solution isn’t really a long-term fix. But no one seems willing to do the long-term thing. So if we’re really serious about economic stimulus through consumer spending, give the money to the consumers to spend. They can get out of foreclosure, clear off their credit cards so they can start again, and a few of us will invest judiciously and save.

Tax cuts aren’t the answer: What happens in a few years when we have to pay for today’s spending? We’ll have to raise taxes. Cutting taxes and increasing spending make a recipe for even bigger disaster.

Mirandas last blog post..Full Time Jobs Devolving Into Part Time Jobs

By: Abigail

Abigail — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 19:30:39 +0000

Well, given that Bernanke’s grand plan was to give a ton of money to banks and then, several months later, decide to make them actually track where the money is going… I don’t place a lot of faith in his estimation of what will work. This is the same guy who said we had to pump tons of money into banks so they’d loosen up on loan restrictions. They took the money and STILL clamped down.

I have no doubt that he’s an excellent economist. But economic theory and reality are proving to be very disparate these days.

As for whether the tax cuts will be for everyone or just those who pay taxes… Pretty much every worker pays taxes, so I’m not sure what you’re asking. In fact, most of the lower-earners still have taxes taken out so they can get a lump-sum back at the end of the year. (Terrible idea — 0% loan to the government.) That said, tax cuts are, as ever, only for the people who file. If you pay taxes and file, you’ll owe less in taxes, which means potentially more money back. Perhaps Obama will also increase the Earned Income Credit, which can give even people who paid little to no taxes some money back.

I’m wondering about the efficacy of the tax cut. A lot depends on how they implement it. If it’s a tax CREDIT, then it will go directly against the amount of tax you owe, meaning an extra $500 back, if you paid sufficient taxes. (Otherwise, it will mean $500 less that you owe.)

If it’s just a tax cut, it will affect how the government figures out what you owe for taxes. That is much harder to predict the end-result for. Either way, it works out to just a few dollars per paycheck extra — or a result that doesn’t occur until April 2010 for most folks.

As for whether the stimulus package is enough overall… Probably not. Obama isn’t planning on resting solely on this, I think. But most historians will tell you that FDR’s reforms only made the Great Depression slightly better. Real recovery didn’t start until WWII. I just hope we can avoid resorting to a war to perk up our economy.

Abigails last blog post..Another sale of interest

By: CreditCruncher

CreditCruncher — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 19:20:43 +0000

if we continue thinking the government will come in and save us from this mess, we may never get out. You can’t solve a problem using the same thinking that got you in it.

We, the people, should get together and help each other. I found this idea on the change.org that i recommend you to check:

http://www.change.org/ideas/view/solving_the_credit_crisis_from_the_bottom_up

If you vote for it, it may get presented to Obama’s administration on inauguration day.