Paul Krugman’s column this morning warns against the stimulus package that the House of Representatives has passed on to the Senate. Professor Krugman’s grounds, principally, are that the current agreement will give most of the “rebates” to people who don’t necessarily need it all that much and what they will do is put it in the bank or pay down debt. Good things to do, no doubt, but not the activities that will add any churn to the economy that multiplies the value as the money goes from one hand to the next.

I spent some time looking through Representative Ortiz’s web site to see where he is standing on the issue, but couldn’t find a statement (or even a topic that looked close), so I wrote his this morning to get his opinion. Here’s the letter:

Dear Mr. Ortiz:
After reading Paul Krugman’s column in the New York Times this morning, I am compelled to write to find out where you stand on the currently forming “stimulus package.”

What Dr. Krugman is concerned about is that the tax rebates, essentially, are going to go into savings accounts and profit columns rather than actually being spent. That will be the case for my wife and I, if a “rebate” check comes our way. We’ll appreciate it, of course, but, because we don’t have a specific need right now, it’ll go in the bank.

Educate me. How should I be looking at this?

Sincerely,
Stan Raines

I’ll let you know if and when there is a response.