Stimulus Check: What to do!
Barry Worrell July 2008

Last week Linda and I got our stimulus check from George W. One of the first things I noticed was the number of the check. If that number is correct, we were one of more than 500 million people. It also looks as if it came from Austin, Texas, but I suspect Austin had printed a few checks before they started printing these, and I came to this conclusion because there are only about 350 million people in the United States. I know this because I checked out the population on the internet. Even while I was there, they only add a few more as I looked at the number.

The next thing is to decide what to spend it on. We could just put it in the bank and save it, but George wants us to put it back into the economy. That was the purpose of giving us the check in the first place. I'm not sure if it will help the economy or not, but I do know they have people to figure out if it helps or not. Even if everyone in the country gets a check, that would add up to…… well, a lot of money. I wonder if anyone counted the cost of  processing this deal. Who pays for that?

You know, the government could have decided not to sent the checks,  spent the money for us, which would have eliminated our decision on how to spend it, saved us the processing fee, and everything would have been alright.  Then we could have said, "Wow, wasn't that nice of them." "I certainly feel better about the economy now."

Anyway, back to my spending. We thought about this and some of the things we discussed were a new oven, or a refrigerator. This check won’t cover half of what it cost for one of those, even though these appliances still work. But we know that's not a valid reason not to replace it.

We don’t need a new TV, computer, or any audio gear, and as I write this, I’m feeling pretty good about myself and how content I’ve become in my retirement. Sure, there are things we would like to have but do we need them?  No.

Oh yeah, there's that gas thing. We could take a two week trip to places I don't want to go and the check would pay for the gas. But then there's meals, trinkets, and motels that would make me spend more of my...................well, maybe that's the general idea after all.

By George, I've got!  I'll just take the check and only spend a few dollars a day . That should keep the economy going for about 6 months. Just long enough to see what the next President comes up with.