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Hillary said this, and trust me, she and every liberal like her believe it:
“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.
Cradle-to-grave, baby. That’s what liberals want for America.
Take the fact that the current birth rate is 14.16 births for every 1000 Americans, which equates to about 4.25 million (rounding up) births each year. Now, take $5000 times 4.25 million. That equals $21.25 billion each year. And that’s not even including the interest that we would have to pay out on these bonds when they mature!
Here’s the kicker:
Clinton said such an account program would help Americans 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.
She argued that wealthy people “get to have all kinds of tax incentives to save, but most people can’t afford to do that.”
Giving them a free account is going to encourage them to save? How, exactly? And why should they, if they know the government is providing for them? Talk about stupid. I thought she was supposed to be the smartest woman in America.
Add her $100+ billion per year health care package (which you will be REQUIRED to be a part of) to this boondoggle plan, you can just see where we’re headed if these people take control next year. You think the deficit is bad now, just wait. And taxes…oy vey! Get ready for the punishing rates again, folks, because the only way they pay for all these socialist programs they’ve got planned is to bleed the producers in this country dry as a bone. And by “producers”, that means anyone who gets a steady paycheck.
Popularity: 16% [?]
Actually, it ain’t a bad idea — if it then means that the people who receive the money aren’t entitled to welfare when they grow up.
But, as always, the devil is in the details. Who would hold the bond, and from where would the interest come? If it’s to be held by the government, that means the government has to pay the interest, which makes it just another unfunded mandate, and means that it’ll be worth roughly $5,000 in real terms when it matures.
$5,000 invested in private equity accounts could make a jag of money — but it could also lose.
September 29th, 2007 at 5:00 pmAnother detail: who owns it, the parent or the child? I’ve heard Katie Couric comment about how a parent could use it for college. If it belongs to the child they may not want to use it for that. But since it’s Hillary’s brainstorm she will have restrictions: only green colored universities that start with M; only vocational schools that train you in the fine art of glacier replacement; only home purchases under 2,000 sq ft and over former land fills. In other words, so many restrictions very few people will qualify to use the money and the government will keep most of it
September 30th, 2007 at 4:56 pm[...] else, because, well, just because? What else is Hillary Clinton’s ridiculous notion of giving every baby born in America $5,000, but the idea that individuals are somehow owed a living because they live [...]
September 30th, 2007 at 7:54 pmHey, is anybody adding up the bill the Democrats are running up? Like where is all this money going to come from? It’s not like we can tap Soros, Buffet, Kerry-Heinz, and the Kennedy trust to get all this money.
October 1st, 2007 at 6:52 am