Economic Stimulus Thought Du Jour

With all the talk in political/economic circles about Bush’s proposal to use (among other things) tax rebates to jump start the economy, I’ve been wondering –

How much do rebates actually help?

If part of “the problem” is that many folks in the lower and middle classes are being squeezed between debt servicing and increased energy costs….well, won’t the rebate checks mostly go to help catch up on credit card bills and the like….

Or, almost as likely, won’t a nontrivial portion of the rebate checks go to buying ipods, HDTV’s, rather than going towards paying the household bills that actually need to be paid?

Wouldn’t a lot of paperwork be saved if the feds just handed big checks over to the banks and Best Buy? Perhaps the feds could at least negotiate a lower interest rate or a sale on electronics in return for those big checks….