Clinton right on Baby Bonds
by tdaxp ~ September 28th, 2007
My friend (and fellow-Husker) Jason of SoDaPo criticizes Hillary Clinton for her baby bonds proposal. (Baby bonds grant newbornes $5,000 to be invested, that can be cashed out for either a first home or a college education.)
Baby bonds are a truly good idea. Home-ownership and college education generate positive externalities: they are not only good for the individuals who go down those roads, but also for the country as a whole. That is one reason that the government subsidizes both.
As someone who cares about the country but also is suspicious of big government, I’m OK with the first part (helping out home ownership and college education) but suspicious of the second (a large faceless bureaucracy making the big decisions on its timetable).
Thus, I support Hilldog’s great idea. Baby bonds are a first step in what President Bush calls an “ownership society,” where many social welfare initiatives and not hand-outs but rather capitalizations. Baby bonds connect every family in the country to the bond market in a meaningful sense. (Everyone already is through social security and medicare, but decades of misconception cloud that fact.) Finally, baby bonds amount to a delayed payment for procreation — a great idea in a world where growing our population is a prime concern.
Hillary Clinton: Huzzah!
I think this is your...
September 29th, 2007 at 12:00 am
It's still a hand out, with all of the usual problems that go with transfer payments, plus, this way the government is now even more involved in personal decisions.
September 29th, 2007 at 12:00 am
It sounds like a riff on the Stakeholder Accounts idea:
http://www.newamerica.net/publications/policy/american_stakeholder_accounts
September 29th, 2007 at 12:00 am
I am liking this term “Hilldog”. I hope we only have a need for it for another 14 months or so.
September 30th, 2007 at 12:00 am
It would suck to be born the day before Baby Bonds goes into effect.
October 1st, 2007 at 12:00 am
Adrian,
A similar phenomenon has occurred in social security, where nearly every generation is one a less-generous path than the one before it. My grandfather was lucky to be born right before the first of these cut-offs, so he was one of the very few to get what was originally promised.
Purpleslog,
Yup! Stakeholder accounts! I couldn't remember the term.
Steve,
Indeed.
The question is whether the government supporting education and home-ownership is good and, if so, the extent to which the federal-citizen channel should be mediated by large bureaucracies.
Lexington,
No one who's seen the South Park episode can ever forget “Hilldog.” Woof woof!