Reality check's in the mail, too

This morning those brilliant financial minds that brought you the federal deficit unveiled their newest plan: tax rebates straight to the taxpayer. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, the check's in the mail.

The average working American adult can expect between $600 and $2,000 from the government, depending on if you're single, married, and how many kids you have. This cash infusion is supposed to help bolster the sagging economy and stave off recession.

But if you're smart, when you get that check, you'll either pay a bill, pay off some debt, or put it straight into a savings account. Which would kind of defeat the purpose of giving away money to boost the economy.

Let's face it, if you're given a check for $600, you're not going to go out and buy that new Porsche you've been dreaming about, but you could pay off a tiny bit of your crushing student loans, put it toward that skyrocketing mortgage, or get a one-month reprieve on your car installment.

I can't help but feel this is a shortsighted approach designed to make taxpayers think their representatives are doing something to help. While this might give a measure of breathing room for a day, a week, or a month, most people need much more than this. They need systematic changes to how government allocates and collects its money.

And we haven't even begun to discuss how this expenditure will help fix a deficit of $250 billion.