Stimulus payments are “in the mail.” The first time I heard the phrase “stimulus package,” I thought it sounded like an email I don’t want to open. When I learned what Bush’s plan to boast the economy actually entailed, I still couldn’t believe what I was reading.

The aim is to boost consumer spending and help mitigate problems caused by the slowing economy.

The program calls for rebates of up to $600 for single filers making less than $75,000. Couples making less than $150,000 would receive rebates of up to $1,200. In addition, parents would receive $300 rebates per child. Filers who do not owe income taxes but have at least $3,000 in income would get a $300 payment.

Let me get this straight. The U.S. is 9 trillion dollars in debt and we’re borrowing another 187 billion (from China of course), which will be portioned out to privileged first world Americans so they can buy buy buy as the only solution to save the economy.

It reminds me of the scene, “Cousins,” from Coffee and Cigarettes. A rich and famous cousin gets a visit from her sassy less-well-off cousin. After catching up over a cup of coffee and a cigarette, the rich and famous cousin gives her sassy less-well-off cousin a present (some makeup I think). After she learns it is “swag” (a British term, I guess, for the free gifts given to rich and famous people for free in the hopes that they will make more money when people see her using it), she says something that is right in line with our stimulus package.

“Its funny, don’t you think, that when you can’t afford something it’s like really expensive. Then when you can afford it, it’s like, free. It’s kinda backwards don’t you think?”

Rich and famous cousin responds: “The world is a bit like that sometimes.”
(view scene below)

Also, now more clearly than ever before, our economic system is truly exposing itself for what it is, a system that requires perpetual growth or it will quickly collapse. Capitalism, as an economic model, requires that we buy and consume—not as a privilege, but as a necessity. I can’t be the only one that has a huge problem with this.