The Stimulus: Me Personally

Without addressing the macro arguments on the proposed economic stimulus package, I can offer the following personal observation on the design. Not presuming to speak for the other folks in my income bracket, for this taxpayer those class warrior Democrats who want an income cap on eligibility are right: I would save rather than spend any tax rebate and therefore would not provide any demand stimulus to the economy. And again leaving aside whether President Bush's proposal to include business incentives to investment (and hence presumably down the road to increase the supply of goods to end users) makes any sense in a period of demand decline and resulting over-supply, I can also cheerfully add that if I don't place the hypothetical rebate in a high-yeilding cd in a weak institution with FDIC insurance (making the USG insure the higher than market return money on money it gave me), if i were to do it today I'd be likely to invest it in a specific foreign stock or foreign ETF, which presumably doesn't do much for the American economy or those workers who depend on it.