THOSE DARNED REBATE CHECKS!

My best friends boss, a bleeding heart liberal (limousine liberal if the truth be known), was making snide remarks about the tax rebate checks coming back from the sink-hole known as the Federal government. He said the checks would be used for one of three things:

- Pay down credit card debt
- Pay off the bill you haven’t the money to pay
- Save it for later when you won’t have the money for something

This was a snide and none too brilliant slam against President Bush and the repatriation of our confiscated wealth. What he was haltingly trying to say was that the money won’t be spent on goods, thereby helping the economy, but the spending will be hidden. He was trying to be cute in the second one by alluding to a present economy he sees in the dumps. Perhaps if he was a tad more alert in the Jimmy Carter "malaise" days, he would know what a poor economy is like. Anyway, his murky point was these checks are a waste, we peons don't know how to "spend them right", the tax cut will only be a drain on the economy, increase the deficit, rob food from kids plates, etc.

Bull. Money is fungible. If the checks go to paying down debt or goes to savings, that frees up other money that can be spent on other stuff; that will help the economy. Even if it is stashed in a mattress with every bit of free cash that person has, it is still a return of ill-gotten gain. Taxes are our money!! That has been the conservative mantra for like forever. Liberals can’t seem to grasp that concept, yet they will still cash the checks sent to them. Never will you see a liberal return the money to the IRS because they think they are under-taxed.