President Barack Obama just signed the stimulus package, including a teensy, weensy, mini, itty-bitty windfall for average folks.

Last year’s stimulus rebates obviously didn’t turn the economy around. So for round two, the delivery method is changing from a lump sum to a little bit dished out in every paycheck. The government is making this work by withholding less tax from our paychecks.

I’m not sure exactly how it would work for Americans who don’t work or are out of work, but will share more details as they come.

CPA Todd Koch doesn’t qualify for the “windfall,” which he said amounts to about $13 per week. But he’s still curious about what readers are going to do with their extra $13 per week you’ll see in your paycheck starting in June.

“Will they spend it on Big Macs or make monthly payments on a new washer or will they pay down their credit card? Or will they just not notice and change nothing?”

My guess is that I’ll be in the camp of “change nothing.” I might notice, but it’s such a small amount I can’t imagine that I would go out and spend more money because of it. I’m not getting a raise this year and take some unpaid maternity leave, so if anything, the extra money will help to make up any shortfalls.

I guess we could institute family pizza Fridays or get a Netflix subscription. But knowing my family, the stimulus will expire by the time we pull the trigger.

What would you do with an extra $13 a week? And do you think this will stimulate the economy?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 17th, 2009 at 3:37 pm and is filed under economy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.