re: #166 Cygnus

I received this in an email this morning - what perfect timing:

This year, taxpayers will receive an Economic Stimulus Payment. This is a very exciting new program that I will explain using the Q
and A format:
Q. What is an Economic Stimulus Payment?
A. It is money that the Federal government will send
to taxpayers in an attempt to boost our economy .

Q. Where will the government get this money?
A. From taxpayers.

Q. So the government is giving me back my own money?
A. Only a smidgen.

Q. What is the purpose of this payment?
A. The plan is that you will use the money to
purchase a high-definition TV set, thus stimulating the economy.

Q. But isn’t that stimulating the economy of China?
A. Shut up.

Below is some helpful advice on how to best help the US economy by spending your stimulus check wisely:

If you spend that money at Wal-Mart, all the money will go to China.

If you spend it on gasoline, it will go to the oil rich countries… not us.

If you purchase a computer, it will go to India .

If you purchase fruit and vegetables it will go to Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala (unless you buy organic).

If you buy a car, it will go to Japan.

If you purchase useless crap, it will go to Taiwan.

And none of it will help the American economy.

We need to keep that money here in America . You can keep the money in America by spending it at yard sales, going to a baseball
games, or spending it on beer (domestic ONLY) or tattoos, since those are the only businesses still in the US.

.

The trouble with that sensibility is… it’s simplistic, and incorrect. Anything you buy here in the US, even if it IS something made overseas, still has a good part of that money going to Americans.

You go to WalMart, buy a product that’s made in China… and, yeah, some of that money goes to China, but not near 100% of it: Sure, the actual (fairly small) cost in China to make the item, and then ship it from the factory there to the seaport, plus maybe the price of it on the ship from there to the USA (depends on who owns the ship, actually), but once it GETS to the seaport in the USA, at that point the rest of the money goes to Americans: Those that ship the item from the American seaport to one or more of WalMart’s warehouses, and then from there to the different WalMarts. And, of course, a good part of that money goes then to WalMart itself… which is an American company. It is run here, it is BASED here, and the owners all LIVE here. And also, that money goes to the employees of WalMart, who spend it locally. So, a fraction of the money goes to China, or wherever, but the majority of it still goes to the USA.

The same principle applies to gasoline (a good part of the money you spend goes to the local gas station and its employees, and then to the companies (truckdrivers and stuff) IN America that BRING the gas TO that gas station), computers (particularly if you buy the computer at a local mom-and-pop type store, but it also applies if you buy it from CompUSA or… well… WalMart), fruits and vegetables (you’re supporting the grocery store, too, remember, and all THEIR domestic shipping companies), and even automobiles (remember: even some Japanese cars are manufactured RIGHT HERE IN THE USA for domestic sale, employing AMERICANS, and… oh yeah… they don’t cave to, or have, unions, those same blooming, obstructionist and moneygrubbing unions that largely support, and are supported by, the Democrat party), and other “useless crap.”

So yeah, spending money ANYwhere — except maybe in cases where stuff you order is being drop-shipped DIRECTLY from China TO your door FROM the company you’re ordering from (say, a website in China) — WILL help the American economy.