Homepage, News, Politics - Friday, August 14, 2009 13:59 - 4 Comments

NY’s Back-to-School Stimulus: Too Much Help or Not Nearly Enough?

New York is definitely making headlines. On August 11th, Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Patterson announced that $140 million dollars from the federal government will be given out to low income families in an effort to help out with school supplies and all other back to school essentials. To make matters more interesting, billionaire (and apparent philanthropist) Geroge Soros, who claims to be once a recipient of charity himself, donated a hefty $35 million to the pot as well. The result? Needy families all over the state will receive one-time payments of $200 for each school-aged child between the ages of 3 and 17. (Do the math- if you have three kids that are like 5,7 and 9, you will receive $600). Over 850,000 public assistance debit cards have been credited with the no strings attached funds, which will expire in 90 days. It’s a sneaky little way to help out the economy (by giving revenue to those that will most likely spend it shopping- returning the money to the economy- rather than paying bills or saving it) but whatever works, right?
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