Where are you going to spend your rebate check?
Facts regarding the controversial economic stimulus package as found on the IRS Internet site at www.irs.gov are summarized here.
Stimulus checks begin being mailed in May, 2008.
To qualify, you must file your 2007 tax return.
Checks will be available via direct deposit if that is the option provided on your 2007 income tax return.
Eligibility.
"In most cases, the payment will equal the amount of tax liability on the return with a maximum amount of $600 for individuals ($1,200 for taxpayers who file a joint return) and a minimum of $300 for individuals ($600 for taxpayers who file a joint return).
...Low-income workers who have earned income above $3,000 but do not have a regular filing requirement must file a 2007 tax return to receive the minimum stimulus payment. Similarly, Social Security recipients, certain Railroad retirees, and those who receive the veterans’ benefits mentioned above must file a 2007 return in order to notify the IRS of their qualifying income."
"Parents and anyone else eligible for a stimulus payment will also receive an additional $300 for each qualifying child. To qualify, a child must be eligible under the Child Tax Credit and have a valid Social Security number."
Note: Limited to those with Social Security Numbers only! Please read all exclusions.
Once U.S. citizens receive the package rebate checks, instead of paying off debt, they are reportedly going to turn around and spend most of it at places like Wal-Mart.
What is wrong with shopping at Wal-Mart, you ask? For some, it remains their only option. This is understood.
However, the money spent at Wal-Mart will most likely go straight to China.
Here is the reason that the rebates may most likely go straight to China if spent at Wal-Mart. Click Here For Link To Article
"China is Wal-Mart's most important supplier in the world. The overseas procurement home office in Shenzhen, a city of South China's Guangdong Province, has played a key role in the firm's global purchasing business.
Wal-Mart shifted its overseas procurement centre from Hong Kong to Shenzhen in February 2002 to better serve the purchasing and exporting business.
"If Wal-Mart were an individual economy, it would rank as China's eighth-biggest trading partner, ahead of Russia, Australia and Canada," Xu said."
The word is getting out about our free trade issues, however. More Americans are realizing that our trade issues are directly affecting our economy. For instance, the jobs that are now at stake regarding the $40 billion contract for Air Force aerial refueling tankers that has been awarded to a partnership between Northrop Grumman and the European parent of Airbus, instead of the American manufacturer, the Boeing Company (refer to this link to The New York Times article.
An article on CNN.com relates the feelings of the American population quite eloquently. Click Here For Link To Article
"We are a nation crawling into a fetal position, cramped by fear that America has lost control of its destiny in a fiercely competitive global economy. The fear is mostly about jobs lost overseas and wages capped by foreign competition."
"Median household income in 2006, at $48,201, was barely ahead of where it was eight years earlier. So the prospect of a recession has made the anxious middle class even more so. Coming in a presidential election season, the approaching storm clouds have turned the economy into the No. 1 issue on the campaign trail. Fear is a potent force in American politics, and Democratic Party leaders have astutely tapped into rising voter unease about globalization."
"No matter which candidate or which party takes control of the White House one year from now, free trade will - in the words of Hillary Clinton - take a "time-out." That's because Congress - which will most likely remain in the hands of the Democrats regardless of who wins the White House in November - took away President Bush's ability to negotiate trade deals by quietly letting so-called fast-track authority lapse last summer. And lawmakers won't hand that power back to any new President - Democrat or Republican - without major new federal programs (and new trade rules) designed to ease the stress of globalization on U.S. workers."
What do you and I do in a time like this?
For one, we stop borrowing money. Additionally, we remain aware of the economy, the trade, and the large companies that are involved. We make wise choices regarding our spending so that the money can actually bolster the U.S. economy, instead of a foreign economy.
On the Glenn Beck show on CNN, he has addressing this issue head-on. Click Here for Transcript Page
"Once again, our politicians have shown that needlessly spending billions more of your tax dollars has a bipartisan appeal. They can come together on spending your cash."
"For once, I really wish our do-nothing Congress would have actually lived up to their name. Your children’s future is much, much worse off tonight...."
"...does anyone know what values these parties stand for anymore? I used to think that Republicans stood for smaller government and free markets, but that’s almost laughable now. Under this package, the people who paid no income tax will get full, as they like to call them, rebates. My grandfather would have called them what they really are, handouts."
"...it allows government-chartered lenders like Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to double the size, or almost, of the loans they’re allowed to buy. Never mind that those companies may have over $16 billion in bad loans already on their books, which are your books."
"Deficit, deficit. Where I have heard that deficit? Oh, I remember it was from the Congressional Budget Office, which just announced...the 2008 deficit is expected to grow to $250 billion, and that is without the stimulus package or a recession factored in."
"Free markets create wealth. Governments destroy it. Look around the world if you want proof. Twenty percent of the countries that have the most economic freedom have five times more wealth per person than the bottom 20 percent."
"STEPHEN MOORE, SENIOR ECONOMIC WRITER, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: ... We haven’t talked about the housing component. It’s, you know, I call this Uncle Sam subprime lender. Because what we’re going to do in this package, now that all the banks have finally smartened up and said, you know, "Maybe we shouldn’t be making these -- these loans to people who can’t repay them, who don’t have good credit ratings, who can’t make a down payment...
And now under this package what’s going to happen is the Federal Housing Administration, which is insured by you and me, Glenn, and Amity, we’re now going to be the subprime lenders. And you’re going to have another catastrophe in housing. But now, it’s not going to be the banks that are going to be losing money; it’s going to be the U.S. taxpayer."
"BECK: Yes. Stephen, I don’t know if you saw in "The New York Times," but Hillary Clinton revealed herself today as a spooky socialist, where she was talking about all the things that she wants to do, and she wants massive control on the markets and bigger, stronger government."
"MOORE: Yes. And this is my point. I mean, Hillary Clinton, this wasn’t yesterday, but a few months ago, she said America can’t afford all my ideas. And finally, she said something truthful."
Now that the question of the economy (which was in trouble before Bush came into office) is now in play, who do we vote for during these Presidential Elections? This is a seriously, thought provoking, mind-bending, brain-teasing, keep-you-awake-at-night question. The candidates certainly haven't lessened the stress. Instead of thinking of what will sound good coming out of their mouths, they may want to start thinking about what will actually function on paper going through the U.S. Congress to make changes once they are in office.
Sources:
www.irs.gov
www.chinadaily.com.cn
CNN.com
www.nytimes.com
The Glenn Beck Show on CNN
www.glennbeck.com
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