The economic stimulus package

The Bush administration is currently operating under a Keynesian theory of economics. Keynes, a British economist from the post WWII era, believed that where there is an economic downturn, there are consumers who are not spending. His solution to this problem is for the government to put more money back into the economy. Basically, this means that since the United States economy is battling against an impending recession, the government is trying to put more money into consumers hands in an attempt to rectify the situation. In theory, this makes perfect sense. However in practice………wait…….oh, that’s right no one has ever made a real attempt to practice Keynes theory before. The government is planning on dispersing a cash rebate of $600.00 dollars per single working individual who also fall within other certain criteria, but for the most part, the entire middle class will receive this rebate. The rebate is intended to be given with the hope that as thegood Americans we all are, we will spend the money on high-quality, American-made products, (everybody run to your local Sears). There are a few problems with this hope. Primarily, the problem which is partly responsible for the need for these refunds in the first place is that American’s have more of a demand for foreign-made products. $600.00 sure can buy a some nice electronics, which as we all know are overwhelmingly manufactured overseas. Secondly, American’s are all in debt. People are living above their means through credit, many responsible adults will take this money and pay off some debt. Which bears the question, what to do with the federal economic stimulus refund?Personally, I’m not over my head in debt so I have the option of both paying off some debt and maybe attempting to be a good little American and buying some American products. I’m partially complacent on the issue because I really don’t think the refunds will help and I’m of the pessimistic view that if the government doesn’t tell us what to spend this money on, (which I’m very thankful for because how undemocratic would that be), consumers will spend most of this money on the same things we’ve been spending our money on. In this situation I think the best way to understand this is, if nothing changes then nothing changes.