economic stimulus? take a hint!

It's raining outside, and I just got back from Best Buy. That's right, I went to Best Buy in the rain. Not only that, I waited in the rain for over an hour before the store opened. Why? Well, it is quite simple; I value my time less than a lot of people. I think my time is worth no more than $10 per hour. Becuase of this, I spent the last two hours waiting to get a piece of plastic valued at $20 (only at Best Buy). Best Buy advertised this week that they were officially opening a new store in my hometown. To stimulate some interest, and business, they made a calculated corporate decision to give the first 50 people in the store a free $20 gift card. I like to get free money, and since my time isn't worth more than $10 per hour, I decided (along with a couple of friends) to go for it. What does this have to do with anything? I am not entirely sure, but I will work an angle. I think Best Buy is a respectable, well established company. They seem to be doing well for themselves, and they are certainly concerned about growing their business. They weighed their options and decided that it would be a good investment to put money in the hands of their customers so that they would spend that money purchasing their inventory. I don't think this is difficult economics to understand: when people have money, they spend it. I do. Everyone I know does. There are people who don't but for the most part if I hand out $100 to everyone I meet it would be spent before the week is over. Here is my point, our government just decided to spend bukoos of money to "stimulate the economy." It is very likely that nobody is reading this blog, but of you who are, you may not ever see a dime of that something hundred billion dollars. How is that supposed to stimulate the economy? I think the Best Buy executives (and W. the former president) have it right. When people have money, they spend it. If we are borrowing a gagillion dollars, use it for productive purposes, not to organize larger government run agancies which may or may not be effective. It just doesn't make sense. I know that today, Best Buy is going to improve their economic situation (at least in my hometown). Our country may or may not. Businesses wouldn't do it if it didn't makes sense on paper; they have a lot more to lose than some elected official. If my business fails, I lose my job, my benefits, my income, and countless other things that I appreciate. If an elected official blows a large sum of money on an ineffective stimulus package, they run on a different platform for their next term. Who do you trust? I can't think of a way to make this conversation spiritual, but I would like to. I guess that will be for another day. There goes my political-economic rant. Enjoy, as I enjoy my free $20!