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10. Economic Stimulus
The economy is struggling and Americans are hurting. The stimulus package previously passed by Congress made economic sense. The idea behind the program was to get more money back into the hands of consumers and back into circulation faster than other possible actions, such as reducing Federal discount rates. However, a large percentage of the stimulus checks never made it back into circulation, as Americans opted to pay off debt or move the money into savings. If similar stimulus packages are to be successful in the future, Congress must adopt a more technologically advanced approach to resource distribution to reduce overhead, decrease unnecessary costs and increase the likelihood that the money provided would actually make it back into the economy. There is a tremendous amount of waste associated with printing and delivering paper checks, and the use of direct deposit only encouraged people to hold the money rather than put it back into circulation to boost the economy. Instead of repeating these mistakes, a forward looking Congress should learn from the past and authorize issuing prepaid debit cards to taxpayers. By issuing debit cards, Congress would encourage Americans to inject the money back into the economy and thereby dramatically increase the economic impact of any stimulus package.
