I Don't Get It -- This Package Doesn't Stimulate Me

All over the Internet this month, people are talking about their stimulus packages. Heck, there is even a Web site called How I Spent My Stimulus where people are submitting photos of how they spent their $600, $1200 or $1800 from the government. Arjewtino blogged this past week that the stimulus is making everyone stupid.
He's right.
You know why?
The stimulus package is just politics. You may have heard there's an election coming up and that Republicans are getting a little worried. Of course, the Dems can pander, too.
In the long run, it's only going to benefit those who are rich -- the people who are going to take the money from you while you , ahem, help stimulate the economy. Like ESPN's Colin Cowherd said today on his show: During the good economic years, like Clinton's presidency, everybody got rich. But during tough economic times, it's the rich who get super-rich.
You know who is getting rich these days? The oil companies.
Not us.
Think of how much gas prices have risen since the war in Iraq started five years ago. Think your stimulus package covers that difference?
Rising costs
How is your food bill these days? My weekly supermarket trips cost as much as my old car payments. (And it doesn't help that my teen-age boys have decided that 7 meals a day just isn't enough, even if at least three of those meals are either cereal or ice cream).
Yep, we got our check. And no, we're not sending it back. We may actually spend it on a need, perhaps a dishwasher that actually works.
But what about the cry for responsible government spending? Isn't that what the Republicans are all about? Don't you think this check is sort of a welfare program? What about the big budget deficit? Didn't we all used to care at some point about what we're leaving behind for our kids' kids and their kids?
And forget oil. The latest economic news to send a shiver down my recessionary bones is beer. Because of disappearing discretionary income, beer drinkers are opting for the "economy" brands. Can you say, I'll take a six of Milwaukee's Best?
I hate to be so depressing, but times are bad. And they're just going to get worse. Whichever new administration gets in is going to have its hands full.
Then again, never mind.
Maybe it's time for a vacation to Fiji.