Via the AP:
Clinton: $5,000 for Every U.S. Baby
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday that every child born in the United States should get a $5,000 "baby bond" from the government to help pay for future costs of college or buying a home.The economic implications of something like this are simple. If you give every newborn $5000 to invest in a college fund, college tuition goes up by $5000 because now everyone can at least afford that. This twisted logic seems rudimentary and baseless in any free market society. This also does not take into account the already negative savings rate by the average American. Why save if the Government will just give us college tuition? Maybe we should have even more babies. Not to mention that by todays birth rates this would cost about $20 billion a year. Can you say Nanny State in 2008?Clinton, her party's front-runner in the 2008 race, made the suggestion during a forum hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus.
"I like the idea of giving every baby born in America a $5,000 account that will grow over time, so that when that young person turns 18 if they have finished high school they will be able to access it to go to college or maybe they will be able to make that downpayment on their first home," she said.
The New York senator did not offer any estimate of the total cost of such a program or how she would pay for it. Approximately 4 million babies are born each year in the United States.
Clinton said such an account program would help people get back to the tradition of savings that she remembers as a child, and has become harder to accomplish in the face of rising college and housing costs.
One way of building a stronger economy, she said, is "more savings, starting with the so-called baby bonds idea where every person born in this country would be given that kind of account because we want to make an investment in America's young people."
1 comment:
A smart person said, "that government is best which governs least."
The most ambitious, admirable thing President Bush failed to do was revamp social security. I am scared to think of what will be needed to run this baby bond agency.
Two thoughts: one, instead of just giving money away to everyone, make the funding merit based and reward those students who work hard and show promise; two, let state governments worry about education, which has historically been their responsibility.
It is not surprising that the federal government is unhappy with its already bloated authority and thirsts for more reach. Lets get rid of this stupid idea, No Child Left Behind and let the states experiment with education (vouchers) and we may be able to achieve some progress.
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