President Bush and congressional leaders agreed that a short-term economic stimulus package, roughly equivalent to one percent of GDP was needed to get things back on track. As part of the proposal, most U.S. citizens will get somewhere between $500 - $600 per person, depending on what the President does with the bill when it comes out of the Senate.

The rationale behind giving most Americans this money is that, if they spend it, a much needed injection of capital will be thrust into the business sector. In theory, this will help to secure jobs longer and keep more businesses from failing. If your annual income is high, though, you may not get the full amount or anything at all, and if the Senate has its way, unemployment checks will be extended for many Americans whose benefits are about to expire. I have to say that this didn't sit well with me at first, but then I heard an economist say that statistically the government gets about $1.70 per dollar spent return on investment with this strategy because almost every nickel of UI money is spent and not saved.

In order for the stimulus package to have its best results, everyone will need to spend all of the money given to them. So, if the wife and I get the full amount, then here's a list of things that STRUCK me:

1. New Thermal Insulated Coffee Maker - Zojirushi EC-BD15 Fresh Brew Thermal Carafe Coffee Maker

2. Two new Cell Phones - LG VX8500 Cherry Chocolate Phone (Verizon Wireless)

3. A Case of Starbucks Coffee - Starbucks Starbucks Coffee, Regular House Blend, 2.5 oz. Bags, 18 Bags/Box 258194 / SBK258194

4. Elliptical Trainer - Schwinn 430 Elliptical Trainer

5. Ten Percent deposited into kids 529 College Savings Plan.

Here's the problem - there's a lot of people who will get this money that won't do what the government needs them to do, which is spend it! Most people will do like me and my wife and only spend part of the money, while using the rest of it to pay down debt or add to existing investments. As a result, unemployment may remain flat rather than go down, and unless there is more things to help push things in the right direction, it will be an expensive way of prolonging the inevitably recession to come (or, perhaps, are already in).

I think the Senate proposal is better than the President's initial one, but I also think that there needs to be more to this than just giving us money to spend. I'm not going to complain about it, but I hope that the economists advising our leaders are telling them to continue doing more to address the root causes of this downturn.