It's Gonna Take a Team Effort

The president is set to sign the $787 billion dollar stimulus bill that the house and senate just approved. This debt, of course, will have to be repaid, so I've been thinking about some ways we can do it. Today being Valentine's Day, it hit me.

Americans are spending about $14 billion per year on Valentine's day, including cards, candy, dinner and flowers. What if we all agree to forgo Valentine's day for awhile and instead, send what we would have spent to Uncle Sam as payments on this bill? If we start next year, and if everyone in America agrees, we'll finally have the principle paid by 2066. I'm not sure what interest rate the Chinese are giving us for this loan. But suffice it to say, my son Levi (about to be born) will probably never live to see Valentine's day if we follow this plan. His life expectancy will have passed before this bill, meant to stimulate the economy today, is finally paid off. Maybe we could all send consolation notes to the would be recipients of our goodies. A card in the year 2055 might say, "Dear ______. in lieu of flowers, I just sent $112 to the Internal Revenue Service in your honor. Just think, thanks to our sacrifice, our grandchildren will once again experience the joy of Valentine's bliss and the 2009 stimulus (which we weren't around to enjoy) will be repaid. Love, __________."

Of course, I haven't run this by my wife yet. But let's get some momentum going on this thing. Maybe we can use Christmas to knock out the bank bailout. What do ya think?