Well, with the price of oil hitting a new record of $135 a barrel, I think I'll use my money to stimulate my gas tank.

And with the prediction of $200 a barrel in less than six months looking more and more likely, I suggest a similar stimulus strategy for everyone else. Fuck that big screen TV you were thinking about. You'll thank me later.

Actually, gold is at an all-time high, and analysts say it's hit its peak (sorry!).

I'll repeat the good advice I saw on CNN when they first were talking about these things.

In order of priority, they recommend you use your check to:

1. Pay any late/outstanding bills
2. Pay down high-interest debt (like from credit cards)
3. Perform maintenance on your car you might be behind on
4. Buy durable goods (i.e. energy-saving household appliances, or other home improvements)
5. Put it in your 401(k) or other investment plan
6. Or, if you think you need to be patriotic and stimulate the economy, use it to take a vacation within the U.S.

Just keep in mind that this money is not a gift, it's an advance on whatever refund you would have gotten in 2009 when you file your 2008 taxes. In other words, if you normally get $300 back when you file, and you got a $600 "rebate", expect to owe $300 to Uncle Sam on Apr 15, 2009.

edit: This money is a gift, sorta. It's a one-time tax cut, and the rebate is an estimated savings based on your 2007 income that you get now, instead as part of your refund next year. The math should work out such that you still get the same rebate you would normally expect, though the math will be a little wackier than normal. In cases where they overestimated your tax cut benefit, you will not have to pay back the difference, while still getting reimbursed if your benefit was underestimated. Good for us in the short term, but this means it's just another cost being heaped on the national debt.

I'd like to donate mine to the Obama campaign, but I'll probably spend it on gas.

I'm going to buy what no married man has ever bought before.......
Underwear and socks.

@NetRunner:

Stop being so damn sensible! Buy new hubcaps for your Hummers, my fellow Americans!

Better yet, let's all chip in to build a wall between Canada and the U.S. Them thar Canucks been smugglin' in their cheap prescription meds for too long.

Gold is at an all time high!? Then I'll just buy 10K gold.

>> ^NetRunner:
Just keep in mind that this money is not a gift, it's an advance on whatever refund you would have gotten in 2009 when you file your 2008 taxes. In other words, if you normally get $300 back when you file, and you got a $600 "rebate", expect to owe $300 to Uncle Sam on Apr 15, 2009.

Wait, whoa, what?

I did NOT know that. MAN that pisses me the fuck off. I mean, I knew I was gonna have to pay it back some how, but that's total BULLSHIT.

Yeah, I had not heard that either. I guess I'm gonna sit on mine.

Uh no you do not have to pay it back. It is a one time tax credit for 2008. The misinterpretation may be that, in case you were sent the wrong amount, when you file your 2008 return you may have to pay a portion back or you may get an even bigger credit. It has nothing to do with your "normal" tax refund.

i'm not getting one.

i don't pay income tax.

I did some double checking and it looks like I'm half-right, and half-wrong. Unfortunately, the IRS site itself is completely silent on whether my original comment was correct or not. I said that based on what happened with the 2001-2002 rebate, where I had the exact scenario I listed happen to me.

Supposedly this time, if you end up with a $600 check, but you would've normally only gotten $300, congrats, you owe nothing, you just don't get a refund.

However, if you wind up with a $600 check, and you would've gotten a $1000 refund, you're only gonna get $400.

I'd like to credit the Democratic majority for that, but I don't know if they had anything to do with it being different.

It's still essentially a shell game, but it does end up being a genuine stimulus for people who wouldn't get much back.

I'm a bit curious if there's some gaming of the system you can do with withholding levels...but I wouldn't try that unless you really know what you're doing though.

For this rebate check, I stand on some risky ground; my rebate check is almost 4 times my refund from last year. I'm definitely hanging on to mine, just in case I was right the first time.

Oh, and KP's right about oil. Buying oil futures might be a good bet, especially if Bush goes all psycho and starts bombing Iran. $200/barrel for oil would be a conservative estimate, then.

If Obama gets elected, you might wanna sell some, I bet the price of oil will drop $10-20/barrel immediately.

======================

you know what i did?
i bought a vaporizer.
it is really great.

---------------------

HOW I SPENT MY STIMULUS: An English Haiku
by me.

Not to flood this post, but yeah, now I'm finding plenty of articles saying that this rebate is a gift. The 2001-2002 rebate had to be paid back. This one just gets heaped on to the national debt.

So forget what I said earlier, go nuts with the money, people, otherwise it's one more thing our grandkids will have to pay for.

If spending this money is for the future of the country then I am using my check to gear myself for the post-apocalypse. Yes, nothing but collapsible shovels, bolt-action carbines, assless chaps, vitamins, karate and farming lessons for me.

Also this is a *quality post. Very fun.

Awarding critttter with one star point for this contribution to Sift Talk - declared quality by Bleedingsnowman.

Anyone thought about buying a spot on a raft to Cuba yet?

Ok, I have to come clean...I won't be buying cheap gold. I haven't received my check yet, but I've already spent it on things like bread and oranges...you know, the luxuries. Actually, my contrarian instincts tell me to open a savings account specifically for this, and see how it does in five years...the opposite of our government's intent.

Bleedingsnowman, those ass-less chaps sound sweet-i farm in a speedo-
Yeah, dig this, 250 ct .45 calibre ammo cost last year, around $60 bucks....this year, same box, $120-double.

I don't think you Obama fuckers realize the shit storm he's inheriting or is bound to fuck worse with any immediate social program, etc, he will have to and will probably immediately raise taxes to pay down the debt.....immediately meaning 1-7-15 years-we are headed for a great recession/depression scenario, that will fit his bullshit perfectly, alla the Great Mr Roooosevelt, that all Blacks are Democrats now because of-
Perfect timing for the New World Order-by 2015 we'll be headed t'words the bottom fiscally, with the border porous, and no-doubt amnesty in the works for the 20-30 million POOR, UNEDUCATED, illegals here now...dillution, now we're majority non-English speaking, reading and writing-bye bye language

Our culture on the skids, America will finally be in a ripe spot for the bail-out called, Amerimexicanada into the world grid. Absorbed....and you in America, with the HOPE for Change, will have done as you have for the last 50 years.....sat back and continue to play buy the rules of those who rule....the moneyfuckers

I haven't filed for 3 years, gonna file for 05',06', and 07' this year...but that's cause I have had a legit job for the those, and, get money back....

Buyin' seeds
re-loader gear
and paying down a 10k loan in some chunkage-

Oh, and a case of Vaseline for Obama's first year in office-pathetic, robotic, hominids....HRRRRRRUMMMP!

I owe the courts about 600 bucks...funny how that works out.

funny you should mention that......i got in the same day in the mail
a letter from a collection agency trying to get a bill from a traffic ticket 2 years ago....
a letter from the marshall's office from a traffic ticket i never paid.....18 YEARS AGO!!!
..and a letter from the IRS, asking me why i had not filed for 2006

not really a coincidence rottenseed, a goddamn intrusive government, growing more balsy and arrogant by the second-

Maybe I'll buy a computer that can run Bioshock. Not that I'm a US citizen or getting a cheque; I'm just sayin'. Especially since the price of things like computers is bound to start climbing.

I'd heard about this economic-stimulus package, so-called; weird to realize that people I know* are actually going to be getting these tiny bailouts.

* if it can indeed be said that I "know" people through Videosift. I think it can be, though.

There's this hole in the side of my house, y'know, this pipe thing sticking out of the ground? I pour all my money down there. Don't know where it goes.

I'm going to invest in the recreational cannabis industry!
70% goes into the pockets of good americans like me!!

My accountant estimated I'll receive a check for $217. Well that amount will be going towards the purchase of a new Mac. The old one decided to check out Wednesday.

I'm gonna spend my stimulus check on whores.

get a 750gb hard drive for $119

Buy illegal immigration and health care papers to live in Canada.

The best money you would have ever spent.

Sending your rebate straight to Siftbot is the only logical solution to this question. Siftbot compels you.

*quality discussion

critttter has already been awarded a star point for this post - ignoring quality request by kronosposeidon.

^D'oh! Didn't notice that. Well my heart was in the right place, anyway.

Crack.

weighing in a bit late, Half of our money is going into our business for a much needed server upgrade. And the other Half is going to be diversified between stocks and assorted mutual funds.

After all the market can't go much lower. I'm hedging my bets that business men learned from the last stock market crash and know how to divert this most recent one.