Trickling Up II - Addendum

Both yesterday and today I received many comments on my recent Blogs about the Economic Recovery. Unfortunately they were delivered by email or on the telephone.

One point that was made was that I hadn’t included any benefits for the Old Pharts who own their homes outright. It’s a good point because there are many retirees, on a limited retirement income, that still must pay property tax and land or condo fees.

So the first Amendment (this is sounding like a bill in Congress) to my proposal is:
People that own homes (outright) valued at $750,000 or less would get a one time cash payment of $10,000.

Another point made was that I excluded people whose homes did not decrease much in value, but have lost their jobs (or have been laid off) and their unemployment compensation barely covers their mortgage and utilities. Somehow I forgot about these people.

Therefore we must add Amendment #2. Individuals on unemployment compensation would get up to $1200 per month to pay their housing costs until they were reemployed. But this would only apply to people that made less than $150,000 per year before becoming unemployed.

The third point that was made was the most interesting of them all. “What are you going to do for the people that have already lost their homes to foreclosure?” I will assume that they are currently renting and would qualify for the rental segment of my proposition in my last Blog.

But just for fun, let’s add a third Amendment. People in this category would get what they lost in mortgage payments. But, this money is only to be applied to the purchase of another home of lesser or equal value. The FHA would grant the loan regardless of credit history. This will give them a second chance to either do well or screw up again.
Finally, one friend, who worked in the Banking Industry for years, postulated the following plan in his email to me:

"Good ideas - another package idea - people to people-no government hand outs.

There has to be at least 1 million parents capable of giving the tax free gift of $12,500 to their children. Assume they have 2 kids- $25,000 total.

Multiply 1 million x $25k - $25,000,000,000 into the economy instantly.

How about parents buying their kids something valued at $1500? I am sure there are 10 million parents that can afford to spend $4500 or even $3000.

10 million x 3k = $30,000,000,000

Multiply the numbers- they are staggering."

The Beach Bum