New York Mall Tries Cash Handouts To Stave Off Recession
By Mar Celo on Feb 23, 2008 in US News | | |
A New York shopping mall has decided to give away $20,000 in cash to passers-bis in hopes of stimulating the struggling U.S. economy.People wearing Uncle Sam and the Statue of Liberty costumes are handing out $1 bills around the borough of Queens earlier in the week, then began shelling out $50 bills at the Atlas Park shopping center yesterday.The handouts will continue for two months until reaching $20,000, equivalent to $0.05 per square foot of retail space.Atlas Park owner Damon Hemmerdinger said:
“It (the stimulus package) is important and I’m not at all critical of it, but I’m watching layoffs and bankruptcies and pain and suffering,” “That’s not enough. We shouldn’t wait for anybody else to solve our problems.”
Hemmerdinger estimated that if every shopping center in the country gave away cash using the same formula it would pump $340 million back into the sagging economy.
