Economic stimulus?

Ok, I don't get involved with politics. I'm not looking for an argument, but here's my $.02 on the whole 'economic stimulus package' bullshit.

IT WONT WORK!

Why?

For the most part it will not work. I am sure there are large numbers of people who really could use a little boost in the income department right now, so in a round-about-way it certainly will help them.

But let's talk about the other people. There are people who are in debt due to frivolously spending their money. There are other people who are just honestly in debt for normal day-to-day living. And then there are the people not in debt.

The people who were frivolous with their money will most likely not pay down the debt that they currently have. They will go out and buy something new and shiny. That is, after all, how they have been spending their money up until this point. Hence they are in debt.

Those people certainly will temporarily help the economy buy purchasing things. No doubt about it. That is a short-term gain, however. What happens six months down the road when the credit card bills keep coming? When that person either gets laid off or has to work reduced hours thus getting a smaller paycheck they will not be paying the bills. They will be forced to stop spending money. Or they will go into foreclosure.

Stop spending money? Foreclosure? Last time I checked those two things were super-bad for the economy. We currently are in the beginning stages of a recession and those two topics are already coming up over and over.

Net result for the empty-headed money spenders? EPIC FAIL! Ok so we just hurt the economy a bit there.

Let us move on to the next gathering of people. Most families have some sort of honest debt from day-to-day operations. A charge to the charge card for gasoline here, groceries there...it adds up. There are of course the regular bills such as the electricity, water, heat, house, etc, and those aren't going anywhere.

I think most of these people, if they are smart, will take that money and put it right towards the bills. I doubt that they will suddenly have the urge to go buy something for fun. Their past track record shows that they don't just go spending willy-nilly. These bills are usually for the staple things that they will have to buy one way or the other, so again, I don't see how this helps the economy.

Our final group of participants are those with little or no debt. This one is quick: if they have little or no debt then they are wise with their money and will either a) horde the rebate, or b) they have so much money to begin with that it does not affect their spending habits anyway.

So what is going to happen here? Are we getting a quick shot in the arm, perhaps? Six to twelve months from now are we going to be in even worse trouble? Last time I checked you can't fix money issues by handing out more money.