Conventional Wisdom (?)

I do not even try to pretend that I have a working knowledge of the details of President Obama's stimulus package. I know what it is. I know what it is supposed to do. That's the end of it. I don't know if I agree with it, because wouldn't that mean knowing whether or not it's going to work? (I wonder if any of our Congressmen and women ever consider that same question???)

Ok, before I turn this into a political post, which I really don't want to subject you to, let me offer up Tyler's simple thoughts on the issue:

Yesterday morning, having just donned my plush robe and poured my first cup of Folgers (yes, quite possibly the best part of waking up), I meandered into the patio room where Tyler and I spend our first waking hour watching music videos and mapping out our day. He is almost always more talkative than me, being the morning person that he is. I always listen, struggling to understand the formation of words and sentences, being the ANTI-morning person that I am.

But yesterday, before I could even sit down, and BEFORE 7 a.m., Tyler says,

"You know what I think the goverment should have done about the economic stimulus?"

Wrinkling my forehead in a gesture I hoped would convey "Really? That's the first thing you want to talk about?", I plopped into my recliner, folded my hands around my steaming cup and said,

"Sure, honey - fire away."

He explained,

"Why didn't they make it a reward for submitting your taxes on time? If you meet the deadline, then you automatically deduct from what you owe the amount of what the stimulus check would have been."

Even in my groggy state, this simple suggestion made sense. It made me think of parenting (which I have yet to experience, but between aunt-ing and teaching, I like to think I have a bit of knowledge in this area): you don't give your children something as a reward for bad behavior for a very obvious reason - the bad behavior will continue. Why not give them an incentive by rewarding responsible behavior?

That's a concept even my economically limited mind can grasp. I know - this is all more complicated than that - but does it have to be???