OK, the Conspiracy: Stimulate WHAT?

Friday, I said there is a conspiracy afoot in this country, and here it is:

The economic "stimulus package" is designed not for our health but for our harm.

Short term and long term harm.

And it is money that will put millions doubly in debt. First, the government borrows the money (well over 100 billion dollars) to give to the people, a grand election-year bonus. Then, since many millions will not use the money to pay down their debts, they will, in effect, buy more not with cash but with credit.

And if not for gas bills and groceries, most of the money will go to foreign countries, exacerbating the national debt and the trade deficit. The money would be better spent, by the government itself, on bridges, parks, bike paths, air traffic control, the Peace Corps, a few hundred new, state-of-the-art high schools and tickets home for some of the troops.

You really have to question the fortitude and the ethics of elected leaders who would lead us down the path of loan sharks. Sending people a rebate check, encouraging them not to save it or even invest it but to spend it ASAP is like suggesting they snort some white powder.

Best option: cancel the whole thing. Government: just say "NO" to borrowing more money for any reason. And government, if you need money, take it out of the Pentagon's gold-lined coffers. Maybe cut down on the number of contracted mercenaries we've got padding the Pentagon's payroll.

And since this election-year scheme is the product of a majority in Congress and encouraged by the president, it is nothing less than a conspiracy to keep us consuming as fast as we can, even if what we're really doing is paying the gravedigger.

Doesn't this sort of "stimulus" just seem so adolescent and cowardly?

It's like taking Viagra for erectile dysfunction instead of just laying off. It's like smoking crack. It's like flying brooms and magic carpet rides. It's not even remotely the work of a mature nation going after the real roots of its problems. Whoever signs off on this (or thinks it is anything but a very bad idea) ought to seek out the closest AA meeting.

They (leaders like the ones we have) want us to remain complacent, vulnerable, indentured, addicted. And so even if your idiot and evil leaders think short term greed, you can think long term good.

At least use that money to pay down debt.