Unreality Check: America can't Borrow Its Way Back to Solvency (Economy‪)‬

AT THE END OF JANUARY, President Bush and Congress passed an economic stimulus plan, the central component of which is a scheme whereby the U.S. government borrows and distributes a minimum of $110 billion to low- and middle-income taxpayers, purportedly to replenish a fraction of the money being sucked into the vortex created by the sinking housing market and plummeting dollar. On April 25, the first wave of payments went out, four days ahead of schedule. By the end of June, 130 million Americans will have received checks--up to $600 per person, $1,200 per couple, $300 per child. "This package will help American families increase their purchasing power and help offset the high prices that we're seeing at the gas pump and the grocery store," President Bush said.