Monday Musings - Are These Incentives Helping or Hurting the US Economy?

As I was perusing some of my RSS feeds this weekend I noticed a couple of interesting items.  One from Mark Cuban on a company called Tees and Tats that is giving customers a rebate if the Dow falls in the two months following a purchase.  On the Freakonics blog they highlight an incentive from JoS. A. Banks that will give you up to $199 back if you're fired in the three months following their promotion that ends April 16th.  Jet Blue is amending their normal "no refund" policy by allowing refunds if you lose your job after booking your trip (must ask for refund before your travel dates) and of course Hyundai is offering a "return" policy if you lose your job. All of these "incentives" sound interesting on the surface but I wonder what the overall effect will be both on the buyer, the company and the economy.  These offers seem to be a tactical reaction to the economy with possible unintended consequences (the bane of any incentive program.) Since I'm paid to look for unintended consequences, here's where my mind went as I read these offers... Turn it Upside Down I wonder if we turn the focus of these incentives around would we (meaning the economy) and the companies, benefit more in the long-term?  What if... I realize that none of these individual things will affect the economy to a great degree - and they probably wouldn't affect each company that much either.  However, I do think that markets in general are a reflection of the shared opinion we have of the future - and these incentives seem to me to focus on the future being worse - not better.  If we continue to offer people benefits based on things going wrong - we may just be making things worse. Turning the incentive around - offering benefits for things going right - do we impact the outcome positively - or at least more positively than if we focus on the negative?  What do you think? Does focusing on the things that can go wrong increase the possibility that they will continue in this direction?  Would changing the focus of influence from the negative to the positive create a different response in the market?