# How much more inflation will these tax rebates cause? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 10, 2008, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-more-inflation-will-these-tax-rebates-cause/448850 "2008-05-10T22:31:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DaveRaver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daveraver/32/1078_2.png) [@DaveRaver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveRaver)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2008, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-more-inflation-will-these-tax-rebates-cause/448850/1 "2008-05-10T22:31:26Z")
The treasury is printing extra hundreds of dollars for every U.S. tax payer, so won’t that make inflation a lot worse? (I’ll take the money anyway.) :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2008, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-more-inflation-will-these-tax-rebates-cause/448850/2 "2008-05-10T22:43:06Z")
They aren’t printing more money. They’re borrowing it, financed by bonds issued by the Treasury. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2008, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-more-inflation-will-these-tax-rebates-cause/448850/3 "2008-05-10T23:12:19Z")
Which also has the effect of increasing the deficit, making the dollar weaker, and will contribute to rising interest rates. A weaker dollar makes imports such as oil more expensive (fueling inflation). The recent dollar devaluation was another dumbass Bush administration move. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2008, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-more-inflation-will-these-tax-rebates-cause/448850/4 "2008-05-10T23:38:52Z")
I wouldn’t call it a ‘Bush Administration Move’. It was the fed that lowered interest rates. That helped drive the dollar down. That’s having global repercussions - one worry is that other nations will have to lower interest rates as well, which will lead to global inflation. One estimate I just read was that the next few years could see global inflation rates as high as 7-8%. I think the fed overreacted and lowered interest rates too much. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-more-inflation-will-these-tax-rebates-cause/448850/5 "2008-05-11T00:12:47Z")
[QUOTE=China Guy] Which also has the effect of increasing the deficit, making the dollar weaker, and will contribute to rising interest rates. A weaker dollar makes imports such as oil more expensive (fueling inflation). [/quote] But it makes exports less expensive. When the dollar is strong, people bitch that we can’t export. When it’s weak, they bitch that we can’t import. > [@](#): > > The recent dollar devaluation was another dumbass Bush administration move. As Sam said, Bush doesn’t control the value of the dollar. He didn’t even control this rebate deal-- the Democratically controlled Congress passed it. Most of the folks in Washington were in favor of this move-- it passed with strong bipartisan support. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-more-inflation-will-these-tax-rebates-cause/448850/6 "2008-05-11T02:19:24Z")
But that’s not going to stop people here from blaming Bush, right? ---
**Author:** ![mazinger\_z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@mazinger\_z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mazinger_z)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-more-inflation-will-these-tax-rebates-cause/448850/7 "2008-05-12T15:45:22Z")
Too difficult to tell, at least from anyone without an advanced degree in Econ and ready availability to all pertinent financial data. I’ll guess and say not so much. I don’t remember (and I could be mis-remembering) much of a price bump during the last economic stimulus package, so therefore, I will forecast and say that there won’t be too much this time either.