Rant: Economic Stimulus Package

To open, this is NOT complaining about getting a "tax rebate check." I rather enjoy money, especially if I didn't have to really do that much to get it. Not to get too political on this blog, but I think that the "Economic Stimulus Package" is probably the best thing George W. Bush has done while in office. Especially now since gas prices are climbing dramatically and it is the summer, the extra funds are more than welcome, especially since I'll be getting $900.

My rant is focused not on the check that will be mailed out to or direct deposited to millions of Americans. My qualms are with the way the government has chosen to notify everyone that we are getting the money. It's not enough that it's all over the news or that local Congress members and other government officials and even the President are seen over and over on CNN and Fox News and all that talking about it for months.

No. They have to send us mail.

And not just one piece of mail. Two. And that's not all.

There are billboards, newspaper ads, and even TV commercials to inform us.

And why am I mad about this? Not that I'm annoyed about seeing the ads everywhere or that I'm getting money. I'm ticked that the government feels the need to bombard us with ads and mail about how we are getting money, spending TAXPAYER money to do so. It's not that I'm mad that they are telling us we are getting money, it's thinking about how much it would cost to send out 100 million pieces of mail on taxpayer money.

I'm getting married soon and recently bought stamps. I only bought 200 regular stamps for the RSVP envelopes and 200 59 cent stamps for the large invitation envelopes. Those weren't all of the invitations we are sending out, it's only really for starters. So on a total of 400 stamps, I spent about $202. If that's just for 400 total stamps, think about how much it would cost to send not one, but two pieces of mail, NOT INCLUDING the check itself to hundreds of millions of Americans.

Don't get me wrong, I don't know the numbers. I don't know how many people are getting these rebate checks or how much it costs to send those kinds of pieces of mail, but I'm pretty sure its a damn-lot.

And that's not including all the other types of media the government is using to inform us. We all know that television advertising is hella expensive. The other day I saw an ad with a young woman talking about how she's getting a rebate check and how she's gonna spend it. But why? Why would you take out a TV ad if you have all the news networks giving you free advertising. Isn't Charles Gibson mentioning it on ABC World News or Larry King mentioning it when he's talking to economic experts about gas prices? Hell, even local news mentions those rebate checks at least twice a week.

So this is my message to the US Government: the next Economic Stimulus check that you send out (and I hope you do this again next year cuz that would be awesome) DO NOT mail out notification after notification or take out full page New York Times ads to get the word out. There is a reason why news outlets mention it three different times a broadcast. I know we waste something like $489 billion a year on the war in Iraq (not a real figure), why do we feel a need to waste more money on telling us that we are getting money. Just tell journalists about it and send us the damn check.

Okay, end of rant. Next entry will be about fun stuff.