vt.Buzz ~ a political blog

Political notes from Free Press staff writers Terri Hallenbeck, Sam Hemingway and Nancy Remsen

2.08.2008

Your $600

Most of you will be getting a check from the federal government for $600 this spring. It is what I would call no small chunk of change. Never mind that the federal government can't afford it, the economists tell us it will stimulate the economy.

I might put mine into our house repair fund, which I hope someday will be large enough to pay for actual house repairs if my husband and I can ever agree on what sort of repairs we should be making.

Phil Scott, the race-car/dump truck/bicycle driving state senator from Washington County, is not prone to legislative gimmickly, but he was a driving force behind a resolution the Senate passed this week urging Congress not to send the money to the people, but to pay instead for road and bridge projects.

Scott said he asked people in the community how they might spend their $600 tax rebate. Pay off debts, a few said. Put it away for a rainy day, others said. One said if it had come in time for the Super Bowl he'd have bought a new TV. Though some would argue this is stimulating the economy, it did not strike Scott as a sensible thing to do when the states are starving for highway money, which he argued would also provide construction jobs.

Scott's plan failed. Congress passed the stimulus package without a mention of the Vermont Senate's objections. You're going to get your $600, never mind that the federal government can't afford it.

What are you going to do with it and will it really stimulate the economy? (And no, you don't really need a new TV.)

- Terri Hallenbeck

posted by vt.Buzz | 2:24 PM |

Comments:

I'm going to pay about $35k in fed taxes this year and I won't see a dime.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 3:07 PM, February 08, 2008

What a screwed up thing. You could have a refund of all but $50 of the taxes taken out of your check each week in 2007 and still get a $300 or $600 check.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 3:18 PM, February 08, 2008

I'm going to invest mine so I'll have extra money for when tax rates increase in order to pay off national debt.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 3:25 PM, February 08, 2008

"getting a check from the federal government for $600"
It is not a gift, it's borrowed money. Guess who is going to pay it back?

"get your $600, never mind that the federal government can't afford it"
A lesson Congress learned from the sub prime borrowers??

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 3:30 PM, February 08, 2008

I can't decide how to spend this.
Should I try to supplement the retirement pension I don't get anymore? Or perhaps I should save it to supplement the reduced Social Security payments projected for my generation? Or maybe I should offset the $30,000 hit to my IRA account the sub prime mess has cause. Seriously, I am going to pre pay some my propane bill for next year and forget about it.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 3:58 PM, February 08, 2008

The $1200 that our household will receive is just about identical to the amount that our property taxes will go up - $1180 - if the town and school budgets proposed for our town are approved on Town Meeting Day.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 4:11 PM, February 08, 2008

I call BS

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 4:34 PM, February 08, 2008

I say borrow as much money from China as we can and then stiff 'em. What the hell? God is on OUR side after all.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 4:44 PM, February 08, 2008

I'm buying $600 worth of lottery tickets.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 4:47 PM, February 08, 2008

I'm going to spend mine in Montreal.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 4:50 PM, February 08, 2008

On St. Catherine Street, $10 at at a time.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 4:54 PM, February 08, 2008

spend fast it is not worth what it used to be.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 4:57 PM, February 08, 2008

I will give mine to JWCOOP so he can finally afford to take those Charm School lessons he has always wanted.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 5:32 PM, February 08, 2008

Which economists say that this will stimulate the economy???

I don't think that there are any.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 5:41 PM, February 08, 2008

election year gimmick.

Best use of the money is to pay off debt.

Cut up your credit cards or get yourself one of those prepay cards.

Get rid of all your debts so all you have to worry about is taxes and chow (well, beer and cigs too)

muuahhhh

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 6:03 PM, February 08, 2008

The last time I got one of those checks I signed it over to America’s Second Harvest and sent it to the White House with a stamped envelope, and a note suggesting President Bush match my contribution. He didn’t, but the check was received by Americas Second Harvest.

Unfortunately, this year my taxes will be up because of double social security on 1099 income, so I’ll probably just send the check back to the government so they can buy more bombs and bullets.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 7:19 PM, February 08, 2008

Nah, they'll just send your dough to exxon. They don't buy munitions. They do what all gops do, max out the visa and stick the kids and the grandkids with the bill.

If it wasn't for gops, we wouldn't be in this fix.

# Posted by:

JWCoop10 | 8:58 AM, February 09, 2008

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 9:37 AM, February 09, 2008

Gee, seeing how the dims created and maintain the welfare state we're in now, I really don't see how the gops are at fault. After all, it's the dims that promise a chicken in every pot!

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 9:58 AM, February 09, 2008

"JWCoop10 said...

Nah, they'll just send your dough to exxon. They don't buy munitions. They do what all gops do, max out the visa and stick the kids and the grandkids with the bill.

If it wasn't for gops, we wouldn't be in this fix."

"Please provide verifiable proof of these statements JW or admit this is just more of your unsupported opinion."

Six years of gop rule - Record surplus turns to record deficit and debt first bush recession, 9/11, Afghanistan, Iraq, Abu Ghraib, Gitmo, Rendition, Black Sites, Katrina, Wire-tap Gate, Waterboard Gate, Gonzo-gate, Scooter, the Dukestir, Abramoff, Ney, Foley, Stevens, Delay, etc, etc, etc.

Is it your contention that Bush wasn't President on 9/11/01, little fella? Is it your contention that Bush wasn't President during the Spring of 01 when the US slipped into a recession? Is it your contention that Bush wasn't President on 8/6/01 when he was warned Bin Laden was up to something and could use commercial jets as weapons of attack, little fella?

Dazzle me, little dude.

Dismissed.

# Posted by:

JWCoop10 | 10:05 AM, February 09, 2008

bubba said...

"Gee, seeing how the dims created and maintain the welfare state we're in now, I really don't see how the gops are at fault. After all, it's the dims that promise a chicken in every pot!"

In other words, bubbles got bupkis.

Gee, seein' how the gops caused the Depression, I don't see why we should have to work, pay taxes or pay or bills to gop campaign contributors. Gops screwed it up, let them fix it. Let 'em pay for the War in Iraq while they're at it, too.

Dismissed.

# Posted by:

JWCoop10 | 10:12 AM, February 09, 2008

And what does this:

"Is it your contention that Bush wasn't President on 9/11/01, little fella . . ."

Have to do with this:

""Nah, they'll just send your dough to exxon. They don't buy munitions. They do what all gops do, max out the visa and stick the kids and the grandkids with the bill.
If it wasn't for gops, we wouldn't be in this fix."

"Please provide verifiable proof of these statements JW or admit this is just more of your unsupported opinion.""

?

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 12:24 PM, February 09, 2008

jw....your 10:05 posting has NOTHING to do with supporting your statement the Government 'will send your dough to exxon' (and by the way the e in Exxon should be capitalized).

"...Abu Ghraib, Gitmo, Rendition, Black Sites, Katrina, Wire-tap Gate, Waterboard Gate, Gonzo-gate, Scooter, the Dukestir, Abramoff, Ney, Foley, Stevens, Delay, etc, etc, etc. " How does this related to Exxon getting your dough?

"Is it your contention that Bush wasn't President on 8/6/01 when he was warned Bin Laden was up to something and could use commercial jets as weapons of attack, little fella?"

I never said it was. You did. Isn't that clear to you?

And what would a great thinker like you have done on 8/7/01 with this info? It's easy being a Monday morning quarterback. Even you can look smart(er). What did Bill Clinton do when he had his opportunities to take out Bin Laden? I thought you tree huggers and assorted left wing loons where generally opposed to political assassinations?

Are you really a GW Bush fan? C'mon...you can say it. It's alright.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 12:29 PM, February 09, 2008

Most people wouldn't have been on vacation for a month while the country was facing a threat of attack.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 2:16 PM, February 09, 2008

It's a good thing Clinton was on duty and always vigilant or else the USS Cole wouldn't have been attacked and those Embassies wouldn't have been bombed... oh wait...they were. What was he doing? Oh yeah, that was the week there was a new intern.

Come on.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 3:37 PM, February 09, 2008

Bush and Company ignored warnings by CIA and went on vacation, unconcerned.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 3:39 PM, February 09, 2008

FBI also warned the Bush administration to no avail.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 3:39 PM, February 09, 2008

Ten confirmed opportunities to take out Bin Laden by Albright, Clinton, and the traitor Sandy Berger. How many lives would have been saved by just one bullet! But then again, liberals would have called that "torture" - executions are only OK if performed on innocent babies or Kurdish women and children. If any one ever deserved the ultimate penalty more than Berger for not only his treason in not taking out Bin Laden, but for stealing classified papers from the National Archives, I don't know who!

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 5:30 PM, February 09, 2008

"It's a sad day in the USA when bush, cheney and rove cede the moral high-ground to hitler, himmler, goebbels and goering."

It's a sad day when people carelessly use references to Hitler and the Nazis.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 10:00 PM, February 09, 2008

"Seein' how Saddam was executed for crimes committed in 1982 and the Kurds were gassed at Hallabjah on 3/17/88, they seemed to be fine with the incompetent, corrupt, up to their eyeballs in Iran Contra swine that was the Reagan Administration, either, spinderella, since they didn't put up much squawk at the time, if ya like your arguments and your cases based on fact and evidence as opposed to wing-nut wet dreams."

That's not a sentence. It's not clear what it is at all.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 10:03 PM, February 09, 2008

JW. You are hanging out on this board at midnight on a saturday.

Geesh. Get a life little fella.

Get mental help for your own sake.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 7:39 AM, February 10, 2008

"Seein' how Saddam was executed for crimes committed in 1982 and the Kurds were gassed at Hallabjah on 3/17/88, they seemed to be fine with the incompetent, corrupt, up to their eyeballs in Iran Contra swine that was the Reagan Administration, either, spinderella, since they didn't put up much squawk at the time, if ya like your arguments and your cases based on fact and evidence as opposed to wing-nut wet dreams."

You can respond by hurling all the insults you want, little fella. But the above is not a sentence.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 8:24 AM, February 10, 2008

"we in the real world"

You don't live in the real world. You live in your bedroom with your pajamas on in front of your computer all day and all night, interrupted only when the nice people bring in the medicine.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 8:28 AM, February 10, 2008

JW,

Did some of your late night posts get deleted from the board?

If so, congrats to the BFP team.

I suspect there is a limit to even to your free speech.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 3:50 PM, February 10, 2008

To object to this tax rebate is to assume that our government spends each and every one of OUR TAX dollars wisely and properly. As anybody knows this is far from the case. Our congressional representatives decide on a daily basis that instead of fixing a bridge or building a classroom they are going to study the seven toed grasshopper, pay a farmer to grow crops feed hungry people and countless other pork type items.

Fair taxation is an important part of a free and fair government. Spending each and every dollar as you would in your own house in the responsibility of our elected officials. When this is accomplished let them ask for more and I will be happy to pay my fair share. Until that time they should not object to giving back a few of MY dollars to ME.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 1:15 PM, February 11, 2008

They are not YOUR dollars, they are MINE.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 1:30 PM, February 11, 2008

I'm going to buy Chinese stocks, because when everybody runs out to the malls to shop with their government checks, they will be buying Chinese stuff.

Ain't globalization great?

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 4:28 PM, February 11, 2008

Yeah, gloablization is great. In addition to buying cheap computers made with Asian microchips so they can play Myspace or Utube, the hippies can buy their fair trade coffee from the Carribean or Africa, their handmade jewelry or clothing from India, their love beads Indonesia or Nepal, their favorite wine from Chile or New Zealand, and their favorite cheese from from . . . wherever.

Why is globalization bad?

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 7:00 PM, February 11, 2008

Globalization or free trade isn't the problem, it's the execution by the administration and the former gop congress that's the problem.

It's not free trade if it's not fair trade. These deals have to be renegotiated so they're fair and executed and administered competently.

In other words, a larger Dem Majority in Congress and a legitimate, competent President.

10:36 PM, February 11, 2008

# Posted by:

JWCoop10 | 10:36 PM, February 11, 2008

That sounds like a disguised way of saying protectionism.

Who defines what's "fair" in trade agreements. Should we refuse South Korea access to our automobile markets until they, too, have unionized labor and pay their workers $45/hour to tighten a bolt, on an assembly line, like we do here?

Should I not be able to buy handmade jewelry from a struggling peasant artisan in Nepal because my government doesn't like their government's policies on human rights, or some such?

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 11:26 PM, February 11, 2008

jw you moron - who pushed for and signed the NAFTA legislation? A Republican president? I'll give you a hint, little fella' - his wife wants to be the next president. DUH!

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 6:33 AM, February 12, 2008

It really doesn't matter to JW what the issue or facts are. In his mind everything bad is tied to the Administration (doesn't matter which one as long as it was a Republican one.) He is blinded by his irrational hatred.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 7:38 AM, February 12, 2008

NAFTA was drafted by the George H W Bush administration, and fully supported by him.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 10:08 AM, February 12, 2008

True, no one doubts that Bush supported it; however it was contingent upon legislative approval by all concerned. Clinton made it a major priority in 1993, and it finally was ratified and signed in January, 1994 by Clinton. The House had passed it with 102 DEMOCRATS voting yea and the Senate with 27 DEMOCRATS voting yea. Sure sounds like it had just a "little" democrat support, doesn't it? jw? jw? Are you still there?

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 11:09 AM, February 12, 2008

jw will be back in a minute. right now he is taking his meds

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 11:53 AM, February 12, 2008

"(And no, you don't really need a new TV.)"

Well, yeah you do. You need HD in 2009.

# Posted by:

Anonymous | 10:49 AM, February 13, 2008