Comments on: Stimulus Gift Card

By: Gift Taxes

Gift Taxes — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:10:06 +0000

I like the idea that this could allow any size business to participate. I just hope that there will be no room for faudulent acts.

By: Chelsea

Chelsea — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 11:44:13 +0000

I think this is a great theory, but what about the people who have limited access to internet? They are more likely to spend the money versus saving it, having a more urgent need or goods, or having waited for tax returns or promised stimulus packages to purchase larger items that they would otherwise not be able to afford. However, without access to the suggested government website, they would not be able to take advantage of this.

By: george

george — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 20:50:56 +0000

Cool idea. You could call these “Sugar Keynes”

By: alewis

alewis — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:18:14 +0000

Well, based on that I have another idea, whcih is that rather than the government host the site — and most people wouldn’t want the government in business unless there is a really good reason for it — the government basically just takes bids from a private company to host the site and rebids it eveyr now and then. I think a private company would do a better job

By: oxyeconomist

oxyeconomist — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:13:20 +0000

My first thought was that companies should just do this themselves but that is a very ineffficent market, not a central market. Accessing that market would be expensive and would lack the obvious economies of scale

By: alewis

alewis — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 19:56:27 +0000

yes, it would be done eletronically. Here’s why the premiums would be high. There have been several occasions in the past, like with the 2008 Stimulus Check, where chains (Sears comes to mind) offered a 10% premium to anyone who went in and exchanged their checks for a card.

Now consider (1) that was when Sears was way more crowded and less panicky than today; (2) that was on a small scale; (3) they had to spend to advertise it; (4) no one else was doing it so there was no competition and (5) all the transactions were manual.

That’s why I am thinking this is a 20% premium on average

By: Jeff Cartin

Jeff Cartin — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 15:25:11 +0000

If they do this they better do electronic cards from giftzip.com so we don’t waste a ton of plastic and money on processing.

By: panicked

panicked — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:32:58 +0000

I think the stock market is reflecting panic that the stimulus won’t hit soon enough. The government could do this RIGHT NOW and I bet it would lift the Dow 1000 points

By: policywonk

policywonk — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:30:39 +0000

what about if someone wanted to cash in the unused portion? Obviously the stores wouldn’t give out 100 cents on the dollar. Probably for each store the website would list the gift card’s value which the store would set and the unused cash value which the store would also set.

By: interestedGOPobserver

interestedGOPobserver — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:14:27 +0000

one side note — the Kotlikoff idea is also a nonstarter because 10% off leaves some stores like WalMart in the red and would need a subsidy whereas other stors are so upscale that they would still make money at 10% off and a government subsidy would be a total boondoggle. This idea is way better