Bush Proposes Plan for $145 Billion to Boost Economy

On Friday, President Bush asked for $145 billion dollars in the hopes of giving rebates to individuals and businesses with the hopes of, as he put it, “giving a shot to the economy.” In a sense, a shot is like a booster shot for a vaccine. You get it to ensure that the vaccine is still strong. However, in these terms, what they’re doing is hoping that with the money that people will get, they’ll go out and use it. They’ll buy retail goods and the hopes are, with the entire nation spending their money, it might give the economy a boost while they try and figure out something that is a bit more permanent. Regardless of what they do, though, something needed to be done because the economy, as can be seen from the constant drops in the stock market, has been spiraling towards recession every day.

So, how much are we looking at receiving and when? The Bush administration would not say how much money each person was going to get; however, there are rumors that it could be as much as $800 per individual or $1600 for a household. Truth be told, that could really help the economy. However, until Bush and Congress met to discuss this, there were no real answers given. But, the other question that was asked is: when? When can we see our money? That all depends now on how fast Congress can agree on a plan. They’re looking for bipartisanship, but if Congress can agree quickly, people can find checks in their hands by early spring. Although the likelihood of that happening is rare since Congress can rarely agree on anything, if they do agree fast, by March or April, people could find themselves just a little bit richer.

But, Bush went even further and offered an incredible gift to the Democrat controlled congress. He told Congress that this was a separate issue from the permanent tax breaks that he wanted to enact. In a sense, what he was saying was that this boost to the economy was more important than his desire to get permanent tax breaks. And, he was saying that he still wanted to push the bipartisan agreement. That will give him some praise in, not only Congress, but amongst the people of America in a time when he is not exactly the favorite person to talk about. This money could really help the economy; however, there is some speculation over what good this could do? Will people buy consumer goods or will they just pay off their debt? Will they go out and treat themselves to things or are they just going to put it towards bills? Bills don’t boost the economy. Spending it in stores does. We’ll see, though. Hopefully it does work.