Would a check for $1/4 million keep you from going postal?

I just heard a cspan caller suggest a great idea, he said the crooks in our government should give us all a check, (I came up with the amount), and 'then maybe that'd keep us from going postal on them'.

I think this is a very sound idea, they don't really want us making a big mess in the streets instead of Xmas shopping, and it'd be a hell of a lot cheaper than a 700 billion dollar bailout.

Whaddaya think?

A check for every single taxpayer to the tune of a quarter million dollars? Are you nuts? We don't have the money, and if people start getting checks like that, it means it's time to get out your wheelbarrows, 'cause they've turned the presses on and aren't turning them off anytime soon. Hyperinflation is not where we need to go.

I've heard this argument used before...and the rebuttal is that when you flood so much money into so many hands, you risk cheapening the currency. Just think of how our "living wage" has moved up over the years, but the quality of life hasn't. 20 years ago, 30k was decent money...today we're seeing people claim they can't cut it on 100k. It's all relative.

Also, a lot of credit is "funny money"...dollars one never will hold in their hands but figures thrown around to keep the wheels of the market or business going. The money only matters when its withdrawn from circulation or the market...when credit gets tight and people go to the sidelines. A one-time check, no matter how big, won't get that money in the commercial system that generates the real wealth.

Personally, I'll gladly take 250k...where do I sign???

I believe I read that the bailout divided among every American citizen works out to around $6000 apiece. Probably wouldn't make that much difference to most.

But I do want to see some dividend checks from the stock in banks that we all now own. And if not:

Assuming the credit markets don't fail without some intervention from the govt, thus us actually being able to cash hypothetical checks, the resulting inflation would put us on Zimbabwe's unfortunate path.

how many times is this math going to have to be done on this board?

$250,000 * 150,000,000 (VERY rough estimate for working adults...probably low) = $37,500,000,000,000 (that's $37.5Trillion)

I expect better from you...even at this early hour :-)

sP

why don't they let the banks fail, and let the borrowers who were going to lose their homes have their debt forgiven?