1 Boring Old Man

Bush signs stimulus bill rebate checks expected in May
February 13, 2008

WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Bush on Wednesday signed the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, calling it a "booster shot" for the American economy. "The bill I’m signing today is large enough to have an impact, amounting to more than $152 billion this year, or about 1 percent of the GDP (gross domestic product)," the president said in the brief ceremony in the East Room of the White House.

The government hopes the measure, which will send most Americans tax rebate checks by May, will either prevent a recession or make one relatively brief. The package also includes tax breaks for equipment purchases by businesses, as well as payments to disabled veterans and some senior citizens.

The bipartisan measure moved through Congress at relative break-neck speed, going from initial discussions to enactment in less than four weeks. The package will pay $600 to most individual taxpayers and $1,200 to married taxpayers filing joint returns, so long as they are below income caps of $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for couples. There is also a $300 per child tax credit. The rebates will put about $120 billion in the hands of individuals in the hope that they will spend it and boost a faltering U.S. economy…

Remember the Economic Stimulus Package of 2008? On this 2 year DOW graph, it’s where the DOW first fell down to 12,000. May [when the checks went out] is where it falls steadily from 13,000 to 11,000. It held between 11,000 and 12,000 for a few months, then tanked seriously in early October.

My point? All this talk about fiscal conservatism and the debt is political hackery. The  Republicans cut taxes, increased spending, piddled around with stimulus, ran up the debt, and created an unholy mess. Now they’re arguing that he health care reform will cost too much, ignoring the fact that the health care INDUSTRY is killing our economy while leaving many Americans with no access to health care at all.