Subject: Re: Why are we doing this to our children: If you maxed out your credit cards buying big-screen plasma TVs and iPhones and taking vacations you couldn't afford, took a home equity loan to buy a BMW or some other luxury car you couldn't afford, or without a second thought took a teaser loan to buy a house you normally couldn't afford, your unwillingness to face reality has been rewarded by an unprecedented Federal Reserve interest rate slash. But if you put money away to pay for vacations and retirement, pay your bills on time, survive in retirement on CDs and Treasury bills and live within your means, you're the big loser. Am I the only one who thinks things are topsy-turvy here? Shouldn't we reward people who live responsibly? The small monthly drop in our mortgage payments is far outweighed by the severe plunge in interest rates that will have a huge effect on those living on fixed incomes. It's time the government rewarded those of us who didn't take a bite of the apple. The same folks in Washington who helped give the economy its current problems have now proposed a $150-billion stimulus package to correct them. The theory used to be that the federal government would run surpluses during the upturn of the business cycle and use them to stimulate the economy during the downturns. Now that Washington is running continuous deficits thanks to Republican policies, the government will have to borrow the money to finance the stimulus. In effect, it is taking money from the economy with its left hand and putting it back with its right hand. The old theory also was based on the notion that Americans' use of the stimulus money would have a multiplier effect in the domestic economy. Now, in the age of globalization, any additional consumer spending caused by the stimulus may benefit foreign economies more than ours. G