Should the Feds Give Us More Tax Rebates?

Sometimes I think the federal government is run by chimpanzees. They obviously haven't learned the truth in the old adage, "If your outgo exceeds your income, your upkeep will be your downfall." Now there's talk of giving most or all of us a tax rebate to "get the money back into circulation and help avoid a recession."Seems to me they're doing a pretty good job of keeping it circulating themselves.

Considering the huge cut they just made in the interest rate, I think giving rebates would only be fair to those of us whose retirement income depends on interest. I'll never understand where cutting the interest rate is any help to anyone. It may encourage more people to buy houses they can't afford and will probably wind up losing. Maybe that would help the housing market, temporarily, till more houses that people couldn't afford in the first place were dumped back on the market. But aside from that, I can see no way it would benefit anyone that much.

I recently ran across a paper in my dad's things indicating that he borrowed $600 from the bank when he bought the house he lived in for the last fifty years or so of his life. The interest rate he paid was 6%. He apparently had no problem with that. With today's higher wages, etc. I don't understand why people can't afford to pay as high a rate of interest as our ancestors did.

We all need to learn to manage what we have. And that needs to start at the top. The government needs to learn to use some common sense in handling our money. We need to send to Washington people who know what it means to work for a living, who appreciate the value of a dollar.

The older generation should set the example for the younger generation not to buy things they can't afford. And the younger generation should learn to wait a few years to accumulate the things their parents have worked for for decades.

Those of us who started out in cheap rented apartments or houses, using second-hand furniture, really appreciate having better things when we get them, because we worked hard to pay for them. We want better for our children, but we want them to learn to work and save and wait till they can afford better, as we did. Otherwise, they may wallow in debt for the rest of their lives. Or they may never appreciate the better things in life because they have always had them.

If the government decides to give the rebates, I wouldn't refuse mine. But to be honest, I'd rather they keep that money and use it in ways to help get our country out of debt. Any amount they would give me wouldn't be enough to change my life much. I'm sure that would be the case with most. But the whole amount added together might be enough to make a difference--somewhere. Someone who knows how to manage money should go to Washington and show them how it's done.