Catcha 22, with poll
...only 18 percent of Americans say the stimulus plan “has done anything to help improve their personal situation"...
Traditionally tax cuts have been relatively ineffective as stimulus measures. But the Obama team decided that some insights from behavioral economics could resolve this problem. The way to resolve it, however, was to make it so that people didn’t notice their taxes were being cut by just slightly reducing the amount of money that’s withheld from your biweekly paycheck. Consequently, you wind up with just a bit more cash in the old checking account than you were expecting and become inclined to spend the money. Which is all to the good, except when the pollster comes calling.
-- Yglesias
Being self-employed, this doesn't effect me. Come next April, I'll either owe less or get back more. I probably wouldn't attribute the result in part to the stimulus package if I wasn't acutely aware of its terms.
Poll
Traditionally tax cuts have been relatively ineffective as stimulus measures. But the Obama team decided that some insights from behavioral economics could resolve this problem. The way to resolve it, however, was to make it so that people didn’t notice their taxes were being cut by just slightly reducing the amount of money that’s withheld from your biweekly paycheck. Consequently, you wind up with just a bit more cash in the old checking account than you were expecting and become inclined to spend the money. Which is all to the good, except when the pollster comes calling.
-- Yglesias
Being self-employed, this doesn't effect me. Come next April, I'll either owe less or get back more. I probably wouldn't attribute the result in part to the stimulus package if I wasn't acutely aware of its terms.
Poll