The US Congress passed a $700 billion stimulus bill about four months ago, but what is in it for the average person? Well it seems not to much unless you are a first time home buyer, on Medicare, or already work for the government then it appears your agency will get additional funds.
The highlights of how the money will be spent can be found at Wikipedia.
This got me thinking, China put it’s own stimulus plan in place at the end of last year in the amount of about $600 billion. What results have they seen from this. Well this week China released their May car sales and Trader Mark reported over at Fund My Mutual Fund.com. The following statement jumped out at me:
China’s passenger-vehicle sales rose 47 percent in May, the biggest jump since February 2006, as tax cuts and government subsidies helped extend the country’s lead over the U.S. as the world’s biggest auto market this year. Chinese drivers bought 829,100 cars, sport-utility vehicles and other passenger vehicles last month, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said in a statement today. Overall vehicle sales rose 34 percent to 1.12 million.
China has cut retail taxes on vehicles and handed out subsidies in rural areas after auto sales slowed on the global economy and job concerns.
Please go read the rest of his article. So, the Chinese cut taxes and provided subsidies, and the people went out and bought. The question I have is, are we receiving the same benefits from our stimulus plans?
The Chinese have focused their stimulus on increasing their internal consumption to get away from having their economy driven by our buying. Why doesn’t the US government do something to promote the purchase of American products.
