Here's $300 to SHUT YOU UP

That's what Congress told us yesterday when they gave every American $300 to boost the economy.
It should have been $3000. Now THAT would really do the trick.
Why not? I'm sure we are still spending that much per taxpayer for the war.
Here's a great analysis from a central New Jersey paper:

$300 How much can the minumum tax rebate buy?
Home News Tribune Online 01/25/08
By RICK MALWITZ
STAFF WRITER
rmalwitz@thnt.com
What to do if your tax rebate is only $300?
You cannot afford the $700 face value of a Super Bowl ticket, but at $8.99 a pound, you could purchase 33 pounds of filet mignon for your Super Bowl party.

The going online rate for Super Bowl tickets was in the $6,000 neighborhood yesterday. You only have $300? A signed Eli Manning New York Giants' jersey was selling for $299.

At a cost of $5.85, you could make 51 trips the length of the New Jersey Turnpike, and would have $1.65 left over for coffee.

Of course, when the tolls are increased fivefold that would be only 10 trips, though you would have the satisfaction of knowing you're doing your part to cut New Jersey's debt.

According to apartments.com, the least expensive one-bedroom apartment at the new Bristol Station apartments in Carteret is $1,300 a month. Three hundred dollars will not quite cover one week.

Tuition at Middlesex County College is $85.55 per credit. Three hundred dollars will pay for one three-credit course, with $44 to spare for a textbook.

Or, for $299.95 in an online auction yesterday, you could have purchased a 1848 edition of "Dombey & Son," an underrated novel by Charles Dickens.

In one year food prices have increased by 4.8 percent. At $200 a week for groceries that's an increase of $9.60 a week, or $499 for the year.

Sorry, that extra $300 will not cover the cost beyond July.

If you drive 15,000 miles a year and get 20 miles per gallon you will need to purchase 750 gallons of gas. At yesterday's average price of $2.87, according to newjerseygasprices.com, your annual cost for gasoline would be $2,152.50.

One year ago the average price of gasoline was $2.08, which would have put your annual bill at $1,560. Do the math. You're annual bill has spiked to $592.50. When you get that check from the government for $300, you've only covered half the increase.

Have you considered carpooling?

Tom Zuppa Jr. of Edison ran a classified ad in the Home News Tribune Wednesday offering his two-door, five-speed 1983 Toyota Celica for $400, or best offer. The car had 181,000 miles on it and, said Zuppa, "The engine was good."

You're too late.

Wednesday night he accepted an offer of $300.