Originally Posted by woj

Consider the following 2 scenarios, which show the difference between "investing" and "spending":

some sophisticated person gets a $100k tax refund... figures: "oh cool, lets build a nice house with it".... takes $100k, borrows $400k... spends $500k to build a house... so with a $100k tax refund.... $500k is getting injected into the US economy + 100s of jobs get created along with it... US now has a nice house built, which will be enjoyed by someone in the US for generations...

vs

some less sophisticated person gets a $100 refund... he buys some bullshit widget made in China... benefit to US economy = practically zero... US jobs created = practically zero... widget breaks in 3 months, he throws it away... China is $100 richer, US has nothing to show for it...


which scenario sounds more appealing to you?