Singing to the choir

Clinton: $5,000 for Every U.S. Baby

Excerpt:

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.

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."

She argued that wealthy people "get to have all kinds of tax incentives to save, but most people can't afford to do that."

Comments:

1. Note the audience: "a forum hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus"
   
2. Unsaid: How the Democrats would really implement this. It would be something like this - "The child of anyone making more than $ xx,xxx would be illegible"
   
3. The annual cost would be 4,000,000 times $ 5,000 = $ 20,000,000,000 per year! Check my math ... I have a hard time with large numbers! That's $ 20 Billion per year
   

This is a variation of Hoover's "a chicken in every pot" promise! (Except this costs a lot more!)

Another Twin Cities blogger calls Hillary Tooth Fairy