About Those Rebate Checks

I'm crawling on my economic bandwagon.
This week, the rebate checks will start going out to millions of taxpayers.
I implore you, DO NOT SPEND IT.
I know, I know. Ya'll will say, "OK, Angie, easier said than done. You don't know the bills I have. Or I may go spend it on some snazzy suit I've been looking at, or put it toward that flat panel TV that I want."
I do know, unfortunately. I have the same bills. Actually, I have more bills now that I'm back in college and took the salary hit to make my dream come true.
But I want to tell you, these rebate checks represent what is known as Lollipop Economics.
"Give millions of taxpayers a little bit of money just to assuage them, just a little nibble so that they feel good and go spend it."
The rebates are targeted at a large portion of American society that has what's known economically as the Marginal Propensity to Consume (MPC). What is a consumer's willingness to spend if he or she is given one more dollar?
It goes back to our old economic friend Keynes (John Maynard), where if you want quick results, you give money to people who will spend.
I could go into the complicated explanation of what this means, but I do not want to bore you.
But you would be doing yourself a world of good if you didn't spend your rebate and just shoved it under mattress, or put it in a bank account where you won't touch it.