things that make me go hmmm....

I'm a conservative person, I mean that from a financial, political and social stand point.

So with all this bailing out going on, I got quite a kick out of this "Birk plan" I don't know if you've seen it so here is a copy of it.

Subject: The Birk Economic Recovery Plan
Hi Pals,

I'm against the $85,000,000,000.00 bailout of AIG. Instead, I'm in
favor of giving $85,000,000,000 to America in a We Deserve It Dividend.
To make the math simple, let's assume there are 200,000,000 bonafide U.S. Citizens 18+. Our population is about 301,000,000 +/- counting every man, woman and child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at
adults 18 and up..

So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billion that equals
$425,000.00.

My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a We Deserve It
Dividend.

Of course, it would NOT be tax free. So let's assume a tax rate of 30%. Every individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes.
That sends $25,500,000,000 right back to Uncle Sam. But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in their pocket.

A husband and wife has $595,000.00. What would you do with $297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in your family?

Pay off your mortgage - housing crisis solved.
Repay college loans - what a great boost to new grads
Put away money for college - it'll be there
Save in a bank - create money to loan to entrepreneurs.
Buy a new car - create jobs
Invest in the market - capital drives growth
Pay for your parent's medical insurance - health care improves
Enable Deadbeat Moms and Dads to come clean - or else

Remember this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+ including the folks who lost their jobs at Lehman Brothers and every other company that is cutting back. And of course, for those serving in our Armed Forces.

If we're going to re-distribute wealth let's really do it...instead of trickling out a puny $1000.00 ( "vote buy" ) economic incentive that is being proposed by one of our candidates for President.
If we're going to do an $85 billion bailout, let's bail out every adult U S Citizen 18+!

As for AIG - liquidate it. Sell off its parts. Let American General go back to being American General.
Sell off the real estate. Let the private sector bargain hunters cut it up and clean it up. Here's my rationale. We deserve it and AIG doesn't.
Sure it's a crazy idea that can "never work."

But can you imagine the Coast-To-Coast Block Party! How do you spell Economic Boom? I trust my fellow adult Americans to know how to use the $85 Billion We Deserve It Dividend more than I do the geniuses at AIG or in Washington DC .
And remember, The Birk plan only really costs $59.5 Billion because
$25.5 Billion is returned instantly in taxes to Uncle Sam. Ahhh...I feel so much better getting that off my chest.
Kindest personal regards,

T. J. Birkenmeier, A Creative Guy & Citizen of the Republic
PS: Feel free to pass this along to your pals as it's either good for a laugh or a tear or a very sobering thought on how to best use $85 Billion!!

Now before we even consider expanding this for 700 billion, let's look at it this way....

Where did the 85 billion dollars come from in the first place? Think about it, $425,000 to every person 18+ (Before taxes) had to come from somewhere, or they (as the Government just absorbed it, either by introducing more money into the market, thus decreasing the inherit value of the dollar, or by just taking it as part of the federal budget (snort).

I'm no economist by any stretch of the imagination but to me it stands to reason, if the Government bring in money through taxation... wouldn't that mean that the 425,000 that would have been paid out to every person 18+ is now being PAID by every person 18+, I know what you're thinking, but Matt, the Government will levy taxes on those big corporations, like the oil companies, they'll just sock the money from big oil...

Well where does big oil get it's money? Government taxes One Company (let's just use Exxon as an example) for 10 billion in some sort of new tax? Exxon just shrugs and adjusts the price of every gallon being sold to make up for it. So who ends up paying for that in the end?

And since when has the Government ever been able to take over something and then produce better then the private sector? If you don't include the military I think the score is 0 and counting.

Case in point: The Post office, if the Postal Service runs so well, why do people pay fed-ex and UPS, and DHL instead of just going to the post office?