By the way ... the phrase is "piqued my interest," not "peaked my interest" (to pique = to arouse).

It's pretty obscure, Alex, but the word you want is "piqued", not "peaked".  Interests are piqued, mountains are peaked. (and windows are peeked?)  Piqued is really useful if you are stuck with a 'q' when playing scrabble.

Piqued. It piqued your interest.

Your verb peaked is used incorrectly in that context.

It should be piqued.

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=pique
 

 Be careful where you spend it!

The whole point of the economic stimulus package is to stimulate the US economy.  Buying a new LCD TV may make you fell great, but what does it mean for the US economy?  The $50-100 profit out favorite retailer will make stays in America, but the rest of the money goes to South Korea to stimulate their economy.

Spend it on goods made in America, so the trickle-down effect is felt here and not in Asia!

p.s. Did you mean to say piqued?

...has piqued my interest... (not "peaked")

http://www.answers.com/piqued&r=67

 I  believe the word is "piqued."

According to dictionary.com:

to excite (interest, curiosity, etc.): Her curiosity was piqued by the gossip.

 The correct word is "pique," not "peak."

Alhough your curiosity started to "peak", I believe your interest was "piqued".

www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/peaked.html

Have fun with the "extra" cash. By the way, Paul Brians' book, "Common Errors in English Usage", is just $15.00. Maybe even less at WalMart!

I surveyed readers of my local news website and found that 38% of people plan to pay bills; 20% plan to buy necessities.

It's piqued not peaked. You're not talking about mountains.

I wonder if vouchers redeemable only at registered retail merchants (instead of checks) would not have been a better way to encourage spending. I'm sure some people would probably come up with ways to turn that into deposits in their savings accounts, but most of us would probably not bother and just buy something with the money.

Also, I think you mean the payments "piqued" your interest.

I believe the word should be "piqued" not peaked, in your lead sentence. 

p.s. much as I would like to spend my stimulus money on shopping, my dentist has dibs for a crown on my tooth.

Anyone ever see that episode of Futurama when president Nixon gives everyone a $300 tax rebate because they've conquered a planet of giant spiders?

Thank you all for catching the grammatical error in the post.  Sorry to all the wordsmiths out there that I may have offended.  As you just witnessed, "unfiltered" really does mean unfiltered and unchecked!  The real lesson for me is to not make any posts while my four year old daughter is serenading me with her favorite Hannah Montana song.

I do most of my shopping at WalMart because that's where I can afford to shop.  But, what happened to the campaign WalMart used to run advertising its committment to support American manufacturers?  I believe this is important because, as stated in the other comments, my stimulus money should be spent on stimulating the American economy, and spending it in WalMart will not accomplish that (my money will go to China).  Thanks.

Mike Kindel

I think it is important for WalMart to promote products made in the USA or products that significantly benefit U.S. companies. In fact, WalMart could have a major impact on the entire U.S. economy going forward and on our quality control by being more rigorous in its overseeing of products from outside the United States.

Please consider discussing this at your next board meeting!

The root cause of most of our problems is runaway spending coupled with tax cuts.  We need a lot less government spending coupled with taxes that pay the bills.  Lowering tax rates does not always increase revenues.  It makes little sense to borrow money to send back money to taxpayers, when taxpayers will ultimately have to repay the money with interest at a later date. Mike Huckabee, who is rarely right, was right on this issue.  If you want to stimulate the economy, increase spending on the nations infrastructure. 

In a sense, it does not matter what we do with the money. Whether we spend it on consumer goods, pay off bills or save it, it goes into circulation in the economy as "created" money. As a stimulus for a severaly wounded economy, it is probably too little, too late. But, you need not feel guilty whatever you do with it will have a small stimulant effect on the economy. I should add that since the government will have to borrow the money to create this stimulus, it will also deepen the problems of deficit financing which are a large part of the reason our economy is in such bad shape.

I agree with Grammarian.  Policy aside (which I don't happen to agree with), if you really want folks to spend why not a VISA/MC preloaded card with a usage expiry?  That will get people to spend it and spend it now. 

I guess VISA was too busy with its IPO to lobby on that front :)

A bribe is when you pay someone for votes.  A " stimulus package"  like this, that comes in an election year  is Still money for a vote. 

So calling a spade a spade,  if you take the money and pay off bills or INVEST it in sony or samsung or the telecoms( think HD), you can then take the Money plus the profits and buy a flatsceen. 

It has been proven that the lower and the disolving middle class will spend money that they recieve instead of investing it.  so the big winners will be flat screens,  blu ray and  video game system makers.   "We" the people will just be the middle man is the deal between the Govt and Big biz.

/end rant

Actually, Alex, it's very cool that a grammatical error can slip though like that.  It does suggest that these posts are, for the moment, unfiltered.    I'm very impressed that Walmart management can be so clued in.  Also I suspect that many of your readers today followed a link here from the NYT article, and those readers are self-selected to be more ardent readers than the majority of the population, thus more sensative to grammatical errors.

And Mr. Lovell above nails it - the stimulus is probably too little, too late to help boost the economy.  And whether you save the money (making it available for more home loans!) or spend it right away, it will enter the economy somehow.

Good God!  See what happens when this blog gets linked to from the NYT--five people chant in unison that you've mis-appropriated the work "peaked".  Seems some people need to spend their stimulus checks on the industrial strength laxative.

Mr Lovell writes: "you need not feel guilty whatever you do with it will have a small stimulant effect on the economy"

I heard an analyst on NPR say that actually, if you put the money into the bank and save it, while that might be good for your personal finances, it would do nothing to stimulate the economy -- if your bank happens to be affiliated with the bank from which the government borrowed the money in the first place. You would in effect be paying some of the money back, that's all.

I agree with the poster who encouraged buying something made in America. I'll go another step, and suggest buying something locally made, or locally grown -- we might put ours into a jar on the kitchen counter, and use it to shop for food and chatchkes  at the farmer's market.

But probably, most people (sigh, including us) will have to use at least some of it to pay bills.

     SAVE IT!  Our economy will not be stimulated until we stop spending money we don't have.......For example, to borrow money (the government) at high interest rates from other countries, causes our money to lessen in value.  Our money should be invested, not just printed when we need it.

Most Americans are probably not thinking about getting a laptop or new set of clubs... although that kind of sentiment has a very nostalgic late-90s ring.  I think most of America is probably wringing their hands and beginning to realize that the credit card debt they have wracked up is not going away with a couple bucks from the government. The question of whether a small return is going to save us is now an old question, posed and answered before we knew admitted this WAS a recession, and before we started seeing actual proof the receding tide is going to take a lot of the things that we have thought were valuable away from us.  Not only box-store purchases that ended up wracking up 20 percent interest (19.99 isn't so cheap or a salad shooter after compound interest has at it) are going to be lost.  People's homes and livelihoods too.  

So, sure cheers to corporate America for not censoring grammar mistakes. We can all pat ourselves on the back. But as to towing the line about how we're all going to be okay and keep playing golf and typing away on our Chinese-made laptops, well the great thing about America is that we've been trained so well, we don't need censorship at all, do we?

It's a word choice error, not a grammatical error. Grammar governs the order we put words in, not which words we use.

I'll be using my stimulus check to pay the income taxes on my Unemployment Insurance. And I need some eggs.

The unprecedented tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans - the cuts the President wants to make permanent - represent an awful lot more money than these little checks do. And those cuts will keep on paying those who don't need the money, while most of us, the rest of us, will get only the one check.

If you ever wondered what "trickle-down" economic policies are about, now you know.

Can't American's buy WalMart Stock anymore?  Then why do people keep assuming that only China reaps the profits of Globailzation?  Stock gains and dividends on the WalMart stock I own (and plan to purchase more of with any rebate I may get) goes in MY pocket, not just the countries whose workers are helping me get richer b/c both a) I made a smart investment choice and b) WalMart looked for the lowest costs of inputs so that I can not only claim a smart investment, but so that I can get my staple goods at the lowest cost which allows me to spend my money in more places consequently making other stock holders (owners of companies) wealthier as well...  Please don't make me bust out my Economics and Investments 101 on you.

Odd, isn't it, how politics work? Had they left the money with us in the first place, much of it would aleady have been spent. Unless of course, you take from those who have more (via taxes) and give to those who have less (who may not have paid any taxes).  That's how socialism works. Ironically, there was a fight by fiscal conservatives against giving to those who had not paid in--the ones most likely to spend it! The folks with more might have put it into savings. The folks who have less tend to spend it on things they need or want, but cannot afford.  Social and religious conservatives were more likely to support the payout to those who had not paid in. It has to do with looking after the less fortunate in our society--an underlying tenet of Christianity.

Wow, crazy how a discussion in economic stimulus can quickly become an English lesson. Guys take it easy this is after all a blog, not a school essay.

Back on topic, I like the point made by one of the bloggers about preloading a card with specific amount, but thing you have to remember is if you do that then you will be giving money to Visa, MC, Amex too. At end of day I rather $600 in my pocket than in the governments cause I probably make better use of it than them. Ohh and purchases will not be what I spend it on, debts will be.

I will probably spend it; but doubt that it will help the economy much. The problem seems to be more basic; we spend too much and save too little. Our government reflects the same thing. No party in office seems to be able to tackle the huge spending problems. They seem to just know how to give out money to make each group "happy" causing yet more debt and goverment intervention. We tend to think that the problem is some other person or corporation and that things would be fixed if "they just paid more". I think we all need to look in the mirror first.

I will probably spend it; but doubt that it will help the economy much. The problem seems to be more basic; we spend too much and save too little. Our government reflects the same thing. No party in office seems to be able to tackle the huge spending problems. They seem to just know how to give out money to make each group "happy" causing yet more debt and goverment intervention. We tend to think that the problem is some other person or corporation and that things would be fixed if "they just paid more". I think we all need to look in the mirror first.

Excessive spending, which is to say discretionary spending dependent on borrowing to support it, helped put the economy (and YOU!) into this mess. Use the money to pay down debt. Use any other excess money to pay down debt. Eliminate debt. Get it? Unless you're borrowing to purchase genuine necessities, you shouldn't be borrowing. And, restaurant food and designer labels are not genuine necessities. Think about it.

I don't look to get a check Alex as I suspect my earnings level will preclude it's issuance.  Likely as a successful merchant, you'll get nipped too.  Maybe I'm mistaken about the handout policy plan.

I'm going to start piquing my nose if I hear anymore about the

correct use of "pique."

     I too wonder about the stimulus package...not that it'll do any good whatsoever to this country. $170 million bucks is less than half of 1% of the total net worth of all americans. Our government's fiscal budget is over $3 trillion. Will $300 extra bucks for the lucky 70 million Americans stimulate a stalled economy? I don't think so, way more money than that goes out in tax refund checks and while Wal-Mart sees a large percentage of that, it does little to the economy at large. It's kind of like expecting a grain of sand to stop a semi truck from rolling down a hill.

It's not likely that I will do anything but pay down bills.

Sorry, retailers!

At this point, I believe it's pretty much a given that most smart people will be SAVING this money instead of spending it. OR, if they do spend it, most will go towards necessities or paying down debt.

Do I really need that new $400-$600 SONY Blu-Ray disc player? Most likely, that answer is no, since there is a great inexpensive player right here that will upconvert my standard DVDs to 1080p.

My question is???? Next year do we pay this back when we file our taxes? I have heard that if you accept the money that you will have to pay it back. I have tried to find out fromthe IRS website but didn't see anything on it.

     The checks, many of which are direct deposit, are the safest way of distributing the money to prevent fraud. How many times have you used your Visa or Mastercard and the kid at the register didn't bother to check your name. Coupons won't work because not all retailers (ex. Best Buy, Macy's, etc..) are set up to accept government coupons (food stamps).

Kmart and Sears are offering to add a bit to the stimulus check if a person converts it to one of the store's gift cards.  Will
Wal-Mart follow this trend??

If you want to see some creative ways that people are spending their checks, check out howispentmystimulus.com. It's pretty funny, and clever. Kind of a "postsecret" of sorts for stimulus checks.

Hmmm -- I'm glad Chris isn't SENSITIVE to gramatical errors, LOL!

The best idea I've seen for using our Stimulus checks was on the Bottom Line Secrets, I think.  The author suggested 1/3 for paying down debt, 1/3 for savings and investments, and 1/3 for personal spending.

For those of you who think this site is not filtered because a couple of spelling or grammatical errors slip through, try to put on anything critical of Wal-Mart.