The check’s in the mail, or so they say. It all depends upon whether or not you qualify for the so-called rebate. If you don’t, no check and you lose out on your chance to stimulate the economy! What is it with the Bushes? Remember when Bush senior tried to stimulate the economy by encouraging people to Christmas shop early. He even went to a mall in Frederick, Maryland to buy some socks but found out that he didn’t have any money and had to borrow some from a Secret Service agent. “It’s the economy, stupid,” became his swan song. Bush junior seems to be following Dad’s lead.

Millions of people won’t receive a check as they either didn’t pay any income tax or tax credits wiped out what was due. In Pennsylvania, the state will garnish rebate checks from those “deadbeat” dads who owe child support and allow the state to provide the social safety net for their offspring. Those who believed they would get $300, $500 or $600, depending upon the category they fall into, now know this won’t be the case.

Your rebate depends on the lesser of what you actually paid or five percent of what you paid, if you paid anything, but no more than $300, $500 or $600 regardless of how much you paid.

Furthermore, according to the tax law that provided for the rebates, what you are getting is an advance on the new tax rate of l0 percent for the first $6,000 if single, or $10,000 for heads of households and $12,000 if married and filing jointly. Instead of changing the payroll withholding rates, the rebate was dreamed up. Your taxes for 200l will be computed the same way as last year and the new tax brackets will not kick in. Which shell is the pea under? Are we in the twilight zone of “voodoo economics” again?

As the stock market continues to spiral downward and more American companies take advantage of the NAFTA and spin off jobs to Mexico, the old and tired solutions no longer seem to apply, such as Federal Reserve Chairman Greenspan’s one trick pony show of lowering interest rates. Now if all of this weren’t enough to convince most people that the economy is now our most pressing issue, Bush junior still insists that investing a portion of one’s social security tax in the stock market is the way to provide for your future retirement. As the old saying goes, “tell it to the Marines.”

What’s the answer you say? Why all this carping without a suggested solution? Well, I have one. Let’s undo what was done in the Reagan years and bring back the tax deductions for interest on loans, credit cards, car loans, etc. Also, the deduction for the cost of health insurance without the 7.5 percent formula applied towards your total income. The same goes for uninsured losses that require the 10 percent formula after the $100 deductible. All of this used to be standard stuff for the hard pressed American taxpayer and was sacrificed for “trickle down” economics and “lower” tax rates, which benefitted about 1 percent of taxpayers.

Christmas in July may have come for some Americans, but don’t spend it all in one place!