A rough calculation - discounting the time and manpower required to authorize and print the 30K for each American - would be 290,000,000 people (excluding those under 18) x $30,000 = $8,700,000,000,000.00.
Eight-point-seven trillion dollars is roughly half of our national debt (15 trillion dollars). It probably goes without saying that China would not lend us this much money - our only option would be to print the money ourselves. If we printed that much money the dollar would lose more value, more quickly, than anyone's ever seen. The plan injects money into our financial system and encourages spending, but it's illogical to think that spending and debt are a cure to a spending and debt problem. We're encouraging citizens to spend and go into debt when the way out of this is to save and produce. Of course, this won't happen because we manufacture nothing and save nothing.
Stimulus programs are the equivalent of having a bad day, going home, snorting an gram of coke and feeling fantastic for a little while...
Upon waking the next morning (afternoon), however, you feel worse than you did before and nothing really changes. So, the next night, you go out and snort an 8-ball and the same process repeats itself.
With every new stimulus we ensure that the eventual economic crash will be even worse. Still, part of me thinks Kerouac's plan would be fantastic because we could print half of our national debt in one go, live like kings for minute or two (or, if you're smart take your 30k, exchange it to a different currency, and run like hell), and then let the whole thing implode and start from scratch. At this point we're probably better off...
Eight-point-seven trillion dollars is roughly half of our national debt (15 trillion dollars). It probably goes without saying that China would not lend us this much money - our only option would be to print the money ourselves. If we printed that much money the dollar would lose more value, more quickly, than anyone's ever seen. The plan injects money into our financial system and encourages spending, but it's illogical to think that spending and debt are a cure to a spending and debt problem. We're encouraging citizens to spend and go into debt when the way out of this is to save and produce. Of course, this won't happen because we manufacture nothing and save nothing.
Stimulus programs are the equivalent of having a bad day, going home, snorting an gram of coke and feeling fantastic for a little while...
Upon waking the next morning (afternoon), however, you feel worse than you did before and nothing really changes. So, the next night, you go out and snort an 8-ball and the same process repeats itself.
With every new stimulus we ensure that the eventual economic crash will be even worse. Still, part of me thinks Kerouac's plan would be fantastic because we could print half of our national debt in one go, live like kings for minute or two (or, if you're smart take your 30k, exchange it to a different currency, and run like hell), and then let the whole thing implode and start from scratch. At this point we're probably better off...