Economic Stimulus 2008

If anyone has been paying attention to economic news in the U.S., she will know that a vast swath of the tax-paying population (including me) are receiving $600 "economic stimulus checks," designed to save the economy from recession.

Heh. No, really, guys. Come on. There is nobody in this country for whom $600 is enough to serve as a life preserver. If you need a life preserver, you're likely looking for something on the order of $20,000 or more.

The whole "stimulus plan" seems to me like Congress and our president stayed up late one night, and in a fit of trying to sympathize with actual, struggling Americans, tossed this idea out in a grand "Let them eat cake!" moment, without thinking through the rest.

This is how I visualize their planning process:



This is the first glove, up to the pinky, of a pair I'm knitting for my fellah from Ann Budd's patterns. As yet, it covers the least useful finger of them all, and the rest are left to figure something out for themselves. Fortunately, I have skills, but how many people don't?

My stimulus check came a couple weeks ago. I donated a little to Doctors Without Borders:



I donated a little to the Nature Conservancy, to support their efforts in Costa Rica, chiefly rain forest conservation.

The rest I'm packing away in various schemes designed to (a) take advantage of a plunging stock market and (b) dodge this crazy inflation rate. We'll see how many more fingers I can cover before I run out of yarn and the hard winter comes.