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Feds reach deal on stimulus package

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22782454/

So I get $600-$1200, and businesses get huge tax writeoffs...while the government borrows/prints more money to pay for the program, thus further eroding my savings and future purchasing power.

But since they don't count savings in economic activity, it's a stimulus!

This recession should have happened in 2002, but nooo...we couldn't have that...that was right after 9/11, so we needed a shot in the arm in the form of subprime housing to artificially stimulate demand.

How much more will it hurt when it finally DOES come as the feds keep trying to delay it?

Please stop, feds. I don't know how much more "help" from you guys we can take!

Money giveaways are always popular in an election year.

If it had been Hillary who had proposed something like this originally, every Republican and his brother would be lined up to bash her brains in as a typical wild-spending liberal. I'm glad there's a conservative president who holds the line on wasteful spending.

For the life of me, I can't understand Bush's thinking any more. One day he vetoes bills like S-Chip because they are wastes of money and the next he comes up with this.

silverscreenselect wrote: For the life of me, I can't understand Bush's thinking any more. One day he vetoes bills like S-Chip because they are wastes of money and the next he comes up with this.

LB please make a note, SSS and I agree on something.

themanintheseersuckersuit wrote:

silverscreenselect wrote: For the life of me, I can't understand Bush's thinking any more. One day he vetoes bills like S-Chip because they are wastes of money and the next he comes up with this.

LB please make a note, SSS and I agree on something.

Duly recorded....

silverscreenselect wrote:For the life of me, I can't understand Bush's thinking any more.

(From memory)
Venkman: If we're wrong, so what? We'll all go to jail happily, quietly even. But if we're right, then Lenny -- you will have saved the lives of millions of registered voters.

--Bob (Ghostbusters fan)

silverscreenselect wrote:Money giveaways are always popular in an election year.

If it had been Hillary who had proposed something like this originally, every Republican and his brother would be lined up to bash her brains in as a typical wild-spending liberal. I'm glad there's a conservative president who holds the line on wasteful spending.

For the life of me, I can't understand Bush's thinking any more. One day he vetoes bills like S-Chip because they are wastes of money and the next he comes up with this.

This was a bipartisan giveaway, SSS- don't try and pin this on Bush.

They're all shameful up on the Hill.

Best part? Jobless claims were down for the fourth consecutive week, and they STILL go through with the "stimulus" package.

Throw a little money to the masses to keep them mollified (even though we're paying for it all even as we "get" it), and continue to work solely to bail out the bankers and investors that created the mess in the first place....also at our expense.

If the news report I read is correct, I'll be getting $2400. I have to hope, however, that it won't be like the last time they did something like this and it's really just a prebate against next year's refund. I have my exemptions set so that I get very little refund, so if that's what this is, I'm gonna be hurting come April 2009.

The checks should start arriving in May.
Bet the politicians wish the checks could arrive the first Monday in November.

Our country is all messed up.

There was a day that when the country was at war, they would try to sell war bonds.

So in a time of war and ginormous deficits, we get some money to spend on Chinese goods to increase the trade deficit.

What is our country going to be like 5, 10, 20 years from now?

TheCalvinator24 wrote:If the news report I read is correct, I'll be getting $2400. I have to hope, however, that it won't be like the last time they did something like this and it's really just a prebate against next year's refund. I have my exemptions set so that I get very little refund, so if that's what this is, I'm gonna be hurting come April 2009.

It is- it will be reported as income for your 2008 return.

Last I checked, though, it was capped at $1200 per family.

We get nothing.

We don't get to take the child tax credit either.

We do pay a lot of AMT taxes, from what I understand these tax cuts help make sure that many more people fall under the purview of AMT.

Jeemie wrote:

TheCalvinator24 wrote:If the news report I read is correct, I'll be getting $2400. I have to hope, however, that it won't be like the last time they did something like this and it's really just a prebate against next year's refund. I have my exemptions set so that I get very little refund, so if that's what this is, I'm gonna be hurting come April 2009.

It is- it will be reported as income for your 2008 return.

Last I checked, though, it was capped at $1200 per family.

Income, I can deal with. The last set of "stimulus checks" were treated as Refund pre-payments, so lots of folks wound up owing money the following April who normally would not have.

And, as BiT posted in the other thread, it's $1200 per couple PLUS $300 per dependent child. There are income limits, but we're nowhere near the married couple phase-out point.

TheCalvinator24 wrote:And, as BiT posted in the other thread, it's $1200 per couple PLUS $300 per dependent child. There are income limits, but we're nowhere near the married couple phase-out point.

Ok. Last that I had heard, there was going to be a firm "family" cap at the $1200/$1600 level. As I read some news reports, it is now a couple payment and a child payment. I will have to wait to read the actual details.

I will be surprised if they declare this to be "income" for most people. Rather, it properly is an early rebate reflecting the changes in the tax code (moving up or eliminating the lowest rate level). (It is income to those getting $300 even though they have no tax liability.)

If you calculated your withholdings so that you exactly pay your tax liability, this rebate should not make a difference. When they did this action a few years ago, it made no difference in my tax plans (and I am one of those people who "does" their next years taxes based on the current year's rates/rules, to determine how much I should be having withheld.)