Americans have paid down $40 billion in credit card debt in 2010, through October, the latest figures available. We'll probably end the year around $45 billion or so.
Indeed, the immediate purpose of accelerated depreciation - a favorite of the standard IMF-type packages, too - is to make the cash needed to buy something less. But companies are flush with cash, right now, so that's not the problem, is it?
By comparison, the "stimulus" in the pipeline is for $120 billion from the reaid of the social security dedicated tax ("payroll tax"). With jacked-up rates on consumer credit, no reason that a huge chunk of that isn't rationally going to go to pay down debt, too.So, taken together, we're talking less than $75 billion in "stimulus". That's not going to be enough to bring down the employment rate to exciting levels or to induce companies to go on an extraordinary equipment buying spree, accelerated depreciation notwithstanding.
Indeed, the immediate purpose of accelerated depreciation - a favorite of the standard IMF-type packages, too - is to make the cash needed to buy something less. But companies are once-in-a-liftetime flush with cash, right now, so that's not the problem, is it?
