There's an axiom among sales types that people can almost always find money for what they want to buy. And for the time being, millions of Americans are finding that money in their mailboxes and checking accounts, in the form of economic stimulus checks arriving from the U.S. government.

That poses a $100 billion question: What should consumers do with the money? While retailers could certainly use a boost, for consumers with high debt levels, the better answer lies in Ben Franklin's observation that a penny saved is a penny earned.

The National Endowment for Financial Education recommends a smart, multistage decision-making strategy. First, bank the check while thinking things through. As the money cools off for a bit, ponder how much of a dent it could make in credit card balances or similar debts. You could also consider adding at least some of the money to a rainy-day fund or retirement account.

For a lot of Americans, however, such wise choices may not be an option. According to the most recent survey by the National Retail Federation, taxpayers plan to spend about 40 percent of their rebates. An increasing number plan to spend it not on the latest-model HDTV, but on increasingly expensive necessities such as fuel and food. As federation President Tracy Mullin wisely notes, the stimulus checks "could not come at a better time" for people facing rising bills and falling home values.

For that and other reasons, economists predict that any stimulus effect will be temporary. Global Insight, an economic forecasting firm, said this week that consumer spending is expected to drop once the last of the stimulus money hits cash registers. And once the spending party's over, savvy consumers will be thankful that they used at least part of the cash for prudent purposes or socked it away for that rainy day.

—- Andre Jackson, for the editorial board (aajackson@ajc.com)