If you had a million dollars, could you stimulate the economy?

[Codie]

to answer your question. I COULD stimulate the economy with a million. I probably would not though! I would probably pay off my house and put the rest of it in some type interest bearing account to take care of my kiddos college and my retirement, which in this situation would come a lot earlier than it would have if I hadn't gotten the 1 million.

[Tommyh]

I would to but everyone would be required to hunt with a rifle.

I've got a couple that need testing jason

[TexbowJ]

x2

How about this, we dont spend 1 red nickle.

We let the companies fail that should fail and the ones succeed that are run well.

People will suffer for a very short period of time and the void will be filled.

Okay you dont like that one try this, stop the short term capital gains tax for 4 years and see what happens. You will have tons of new small business and investments flowing like crazy...

You've got that right ! To a small biz man, the hike up to a 35% tax rate, IS NOT WORTH IT.

Get this: If you own stock in a corp (small business) and you sell it, then you owe just about the entire amount in cap. gains (35%) and then to get the $ out, you'll have to pay a dividend tax (lowest rate 15%) on top of that.

Nice, aye? Capital gains tax is out of control.

[TexbowJ]

I say figure out who pays taxes in this country and divide the "bailout" money amongst those. That would give the people that normally spend the most a nice chunk of change and it would hit the stores and banks.
Of course most of mine would be at an archery shop, gun shop, day lease, feed store, etc., but would be "in" the economy...
A little would be used for some credit cards, etc. as I don't owe much now that the IRS is taken care of...

I did the math, it'd be around $5,000 for each taxpayer. And, you're exactly right!

[Bill]

Danny's math is off a little, but his idea is right-on.

The big $$ bailout/ stimulous money spent or committed is almost $10 TRILLION according this article, enough to pay off 90% of the mortgages in the US. The hell with the rest of the globe, most of them would hate us if we stopped sending them (our) money tomorrow.

U.S. Taxpayers Risk $9.7 Trillion on Bailouts as Senate Votes

By Mark Pittman and Bob Ivry

Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) -- The stimulus package the U.S. Congress is completing would raise the government’s commitment to solving the financial crisis to $9.7 trillion, enough to pay off more than 90 percent of the nation’s home mortgages.

The Federal Reserve, Treasury Department and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation have lent or spent almost $3 trillion over the past two years and pledged to provide up to $5.7 trillion more if needed. The total already tapped has decreased about 1 percent since November, mostly because foreign central banks are using fewer dollars in currency-exchange agreements called swaps. The Senate is to vote early this week on a stimulus package totaling at least $780 billion that President Barack Obama says is needed to avert a deeper recession. That measure would need to be reconciled with an $819 billion plan the House approved last month.

Only the stimulus package to be approved this week, the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program passed four months ago and $168 billion in tax cuts and rebates approved in 2008 have been voted on by lawmakers. The remaining $8 trillion in commitments are lending programs and guarantees, almost all under the authority of the Fed and the FDIC. The recipients’ names have not been disclosed.

“We’ve seen money go out the back door of this government unlike any time in the history of our country,” Senator Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, said on the Senate floor Feb. 3. “Nobody knows what went out of the Federal Reserve Board, to whom and for what purpose. How much from the FDIC? How much from TARP? When? Why?”

Financial Rescue

The pledges, amounting to almost two-thirds of the value of everything produced in the U.S. last year, are intended to rescue the financial system after the credit markets seized up about 18 months ago. The promises are composed of about $1 trillion in stimulus packages, around $3 trillion in lending and spending and $5.7 trillion in agreements to provide aid.

Federal Reserve lending to banks peaked at a record $2.3 trillion in December, dropping to $1.83 trillion by last week. The Fed balance sheet is still more than double the $880 billion it was in the week before Sept. 17 when it agreed to accept lower-quality collateral.

The worst financial crisis in two generations has erased $14.5 trillion, or 33 percent, of the value of the world’s companies since Sept. 15; brought down Bear Stearns Cos. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.; and led to the takeover of Merrill Lynch & Co. by Bank of America Corp.

The $9.7 trillion in pledges would be enough to send a $1,430 check to every man, woman and child alive in the world. It’s 13 times what the U.S. has spent so far on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Congressional Budget Office data, and is almost enough to pay off every home mortgage loan in the U.S., calculated at $10.5 trillion by the Federal Reserve.

‘All the Stops’

“The Fed, Treasury and FDIC are pulling out all the stops to stop any widespread systemic damage to the economy,” said Dana Johnson, chief economist for Comerica Inc. in Dallas and a former senior economist at the central bank. “The federal government is on the hook for an awful lot of money but I think it’s needed to help the financial system recover.”

Bloomberg News tabulated data from the Fed, Treasury and FDIC and interviewed regulators, economists and academic researchers to gauge the full extent of the government’s rescue effort.

Commitments may expand again soon. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner postponed an announcement scheduled for today that was to focus on new guarantees for illiquid assets to insure against losses without taking them off banks’ balance sheets. The Treasury said it would delay the announcement until after the Senate votes on the stimulus package.

Program Delay

The government is already backing $301 billion of Citigroup Inc. securities and another $118 billion from Bank of America. The government hasn’t yet paid out on any of the guarantees.

The Fed said Friday that it is delaying the start a $200 billion program called the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, or TALF, to revive the market for securities based on consumer loans such as credit-card, auto and student borrowings.

Most of the spending programs are run out of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where Geithner served as president. He was sworn in as Treasury secretary on Jan. 26.

When Congress approved the TARP on Oct. 3, Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and then Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson acknowledged the need for transparency and oversight. The Federal Reserve so far is refusing to disclose loan recipients or reveal the collateral they are taking in return. Collateral is an asset pledged by a borrower in the event a loan payment isn’t made.

Fed Sued

Bloomberg requested details of Fed lending under the Freedom of Information Act and filed a federal lawsuit against the central bank Nov. 7 seeking to force disclosure of borrower banks and their collateral. Arguments in the suit may be heard as soon as this month, according to the court docket. Bloomberg asked the Treasury in an FOIA request Jan. 28 for a detailed list of the securities it planned to guarantee for Citigroup and Bank of America. Bloomberg hasn’t received a response to the request.

The Bloomberg lawsuit is Bloomberg LP v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 08-CV-9595, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

For Related News and Information:

To contact the reporters on this story: Mark Pittman in New York at mpittman@bloomberg.net ; Bob Ivry in New York at bivry@bloomberg.net .
Last Updated: February 9, 2009 00:01 EST

[stan]

I guarantee a million dollars would stimulate me.

[Tommyh]

to answer your question. I COULD stimulate the economy with a million. I probably would not though! I would probably pay off my house and put the rest of it in some type interest bearing account to take care of my kiddos college and my retirement, which in this situation would come a lot earlier than it would have if I hadn't gotten the 1 million.

this is why they dont want to give it to the people. they want us to continue spending like drunken congressmen and not worry about it like before.

The reason companies are getting the bailout is because of favors being paid off, contributions being recognized, and friends helping friends out.


and the SHEEPLE keep putting the same crooks back in office election after election!