i'm terrible at math. i do know how to balance my checkbook, though. one financial fact remains constant, regardless of your checkbook balancing abilities: if you don't spend more than you have your checkbook will balance (eventually!), and you won't bounce checks and need to borrow money to make ends meet. that financial fact is lost on corporate america when it comes to their dysfunctional business dealings with citizens. and worse yet, government has become corporate america's enabler, looking for a way to bail out wall street when they've made bad business decisions, mostly by loaning americans more money than they should have.
many americans are at fault, too. if you're making $60,000 a year (for argument's sake), why in the world do you need a $500,000 home? is it any wonder checkbooks aren't balancing on either side of this issue?
of course, i am oversimplifying this. i'm not alan greenspan or even suze orman. but being the simple person i am, i've come up with a simple solution: the u.s. population is currently a little more than 300 million. instead of spending $700 BILLION bailing out wall street, just give each and every citizen a one-time, tax free "economic stimulus payment" (esp) of $1 million.
do you really want that $500,000 home? now you can pay off the mortgage! ridiculous balances on credit cards? gone! no medical insurance? now you can afford it! do you have student loan debt or fret over tuition for your kids? no more worries!
we could take it one step further and designate that half a million from this esp goes directly into an ira, leaving each citizen with a cool half million to spend. either way, talk about stimulating the economy!
once your cool mil (or half mil) is gone, you're out of luck. if you get yourself into financial trouble you'll have to find your way out. and there won't be anymore economic stimulus payments for oh, let's say, 50 years, so spend and invest wisely.
you get the idea. as with most issues, with a little creative thinking and less bipartisanship and one-upsmanship from our political leaders, it could work. they'd have to make a drastic change in their mindset and put citizens rather than corporate america first, which admittedly is a more difficult issue to solve than this "financial crisis." but hey, i'm willing to give them a few weeks to sort it out -- i think i can afford to wait that long!
many americans are at fault, too. if you're making $60,000 a year (for argument's sake), why in the world do you need a $500,000 home? is it any wonder checkbooks aren't balancing on either side of this issue?
of course, i am oversimplifying this. i'm not alan greenspan or even suze orman. but being the simple person i am, i've come up with a simple solution: the u.s. population is currently a little more than 300 million. instead of spending $700 BILLION bailing out wall street, just give each and every citizen a one-time, tax free "economic stimulus payment" (esp) of $1 million.
do you really want that $500,000 home? now you can pay off the mortgage! ridiculous balances on credit cards? gone! no medical insurance? now you can afford it! do you have student loan debt or fret over tuition for your kids? no more worries!
we could take it one step further and designate that half a million from this esp goes directly into an ira, leaving each citizen with a cool half million to spend. either way, talk about stimulating the economy!
once your cool mil (or half mil) is gone, you're out of luck. if you get yourself into financial trouble you'll have to find your way out. and there won't be anymore economic stimulus payments for oh, let's say, 50 years, so spend and invest wisely.
you get the idea. as with most issues, with a little creative thinking and less bipartisanship and one-upsmanship from our political leaders, it could work. they'd have to make a drastic change in their mindset and put citizens rather than corporate america first, which admittedly is a more difficult issue to solve than this "financial crisis." but hey, i'm willing to give them a few weeks to sort it out -- i think i can afford to wait that long!
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