Hillary panders to the "it's all about the children" set

[Minnesota Raindog]

How pathetic. We already give parents a $1000/child tax credit. How many more thousands are we going to hand out to parents?

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jIpv5kDAEINrqxxrA77ciz1ub0KQD8RUO1JG0

WASHINGTON (AP) — 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.

"Baby bonds" my ass.

[valerief]

1. Yeah, like $5000 will be worth anything 18 years down the road. nt

[wyldwolf]

2. I HAD NOT HEARD THIS? WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN??

:sarcasm:

[rodeodance]

3. I think it is a great idea----they can not be touched till used for college/post High School

[jgraz]

5. So let's help people go to college -- anyone of any age.

Hillary's $5000/child is basically a breeding bonus. We don't need any incentive to produce more people.

[hedgehog]

9. Bingo!

That's an idea I can get behind!

By the way, do you really think those of us with children are so dumb that we think that $5000 means squat?

[jgraz]

11. I don't think people with children are dumb

Though it does seem that an awful lot of dumb people are having an awful lot of children. Which just reinforces my point: if someone is stupid enough to buy into this con, is it really in our interest to pay them to reproduce?

[rodeodance]

12. No, its an investment in the future--for many families.

[rodeodance]

13. "I think it's a wonderful idea," said Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, an Ohio Democrat

....."I think it's a wonderful idea," said Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, an Ohio Democrat who attended the event and has already endorsed Clinton. "Every child born in the United States today owes $27,000 on the national debt, why not let them come get $5,000 to grow until they're 18?"

Blake Zeff, a spokesman for the senator's campaign, said a baby bonds program "is not a firm policy proposal but an idea under consideration."

[Kolesar]

16. Then every child could owe $32,000 dollars on the national debt

[jgraz]

4. Well, at least she's spreading her pandering around

She can't spend all her time kowtowing to the right-wing chickenhawks. Nice changeup -- keeps the pandering fresh.

[MethuenProgressive]

6. Which was funnier - the "my guys idea 1st!" posts or the "she's satan!" posts about this?

Over a hundred replies, just to these two alone:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=3559591

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=3560766

[oasis]

7. Read "It Takes A Village" by Hillary Rodham Clinton. She wrote it many years ago.(nt)

[sniffa]

8. i'm shocked i don't see

a singLe hiLLary defender on this thread.

[hughee99]

10. At first, I thought, why not help people who need it with $5000 NOW...

but then I realized, why actually come up with the money now when it's far easier to just promise that the $$ will be there in 18 years and make someone else do all the work? Under Hillary's plan, the government "gives" a $5k bond to each newborn, which is to say that the newborn gets the bond and the government keeps the money anyway to piss away or just flat out lose it, but it doesn't cost anyone a dime right now. In 18 years when the bonds mature, some other poor schmuck (the president at the time) will have to figure out where to get the money to pay it off.

[Kolesar]

14. I expect lenders to find a way to package and sell these bonds--like a payday advance store

This is a profoundly useless idea. It smacks of RW "ownership society" propaganda from the early 21st century, like privatizing social security.

[rodeodance]

15. Britain launched a similar program in January 2005, handing out vouchers worth

Britain launched a similar program in January 2005, handing out vouchers worth hundreds of dollars each to parents with children born after Sept. 1, 2002.

......

sounds very different to me.

[Adelante]

17. Another anti-baby bond thread

I like the baby bond idea, although I would want to see an income cap, and I would like it just as much no matter what candidate raised it. As a way of helping less advantaged kids enter adulthood on a somewhat more level playing field, and a move toward having educated and invested adults coming out of all classes, rather than just the more privileged, this is a social program I could get behind. I never had kids, so don't accuse me of over-breeding or ever breeding, please. These threads make me wonder when Democrats got so fucking selfish.

[Minnesota Raindog]

20. Maybe we should issue them a cell phone and car at birth too n/t

[Adelante]

38. Two elements proven effective in breaking the poverty cycle

Not cell phones and cars, but education and home ownership. Speaking of cars, I don't own one and never have, yet I've paid into highways and bridges all of my life. I hope you've enjoyed riding on my money.

[IA_Seth]

22. I agree...

All this whining about "promoting breeding" makes me wonder when the Democrats forgot about helping the less fortunate. I don't see this as promoting child-birth (after all, the parents dont get the damn money), I see it as lessening the gap young adults face that have been raised in poverty.

[TwilightZone]

18. Yeah, screw the kids.

Heaven forbid that we help them go to college or buy a home.

Besides, I don't have kids, so why should I care about children's issues?

Edit: typo

[IA_Seth]

24. I'm not old either, so fuck Social Security! n/t

[TwilightZone]

25. Nice one.

And its companion: Social Security won't be around when I hit 65/67/70, so why should I pay into it?

[IA_Seth]

26. My employer also provides healthcare...

So why bother with universal healthcare... i mean, it doesn't affect ME.

It's like we're promoting poor people or something. I just dont get it.

Ugh, it hurts to even type that bullshit, doesn't it!

[TwilightZone]

27. Yes. Yes, it does.

I'd like to know when having a social conscience became a bad thing.

[Adelante]

28. Social conscience, oh yeeeeaaaaaahhhhh

New Deal, Great Society, all that jazz.

[2rth2pwr]

19. Why would you want to take $5,000 away from babies?

Heartless.

[Forkboy]

21. That's the kind of framing only a Repuke could love.

Shameless.

[2rth2pwr]

36. The people fighting against this program

if successful, would be responsible for taking money away from babies.

The mean spiritedness is shameful.

[Cameron27]

23. I don't have any problem with it.

Hillary's been "all about the children" for most of her political life, so I'm not surprised she floated the idea.

[Larkspur]

29. The childfree should get a tax credit for not adding to an overpopulated planet

By not wanting children, we prevent another consumer from destroying our planet.

[Cameron27]

30. No, I don't agree with that.

Children are the nation's future, everyone should be expected to pay something to provide for them. I'd probably agree on a tax for more than a certain number per family.

[Larkspur]

31. There are already 6 billion people on this planet and there will be 9 billion

in the near future. The demands of our overpopulation put pressure on the planet's ecosystem and on other species struggling to survive.

[IA_Seth]

32. Yet that doesn't change the previous poster's point..

If everyone in the US stopped having children their wouldn't be any future population in the US.

Yes, that's greatly over-simplifying things, but thats the gist. Sure the world is overpopulated, but the US also HAS to keep having children in order to sustain itself.

Why not support those children (especially those born to poverty) by subsidizing their future?

[Kolesar]

37. The birth rate in Japan has fallen off dramatically, but that has not caused a disaster

The demographics in Japan are really skewed to the retirees and octagenarians. They are concerned about not having enough workers to keep the economy running. But that is hardly like the problems of overpopulation and running out of resources. The downside to overpopulation is famine and fascism.

[Cameron27]

33. And,

I said I agreed with you about taxing for a pre-determined number of kids above an acceptable limit. So, knock off the $5,000 bond at that limit too. What don't you agree with? The world will always need new generations of people so I'm not sure what you're saying.

[Marrah_G]

39. you do realize that it's not our country with the huge birthrates right?

[illinoisprogressive]

34. Hillary makes pie in the sky pandering promises. So old fashioned and yesterday.

[MadHound]

35. This isn't about helping the children, this is about helping her backers in the finanacial sector

Gee, Mom and Dad get that sparkly check for five thousand, what do they do with it? Either bank it or invest it most likely. Either way, bankers and brokers get their fees, ranging anywhere from five to ten percent of that check. Multiply that by the approximately four million checks that will be issued every year, and the financial sector gets a pretty good return for its investment in Hillary.

The next question is where will all this money come from? Oh, yeah, we'll borrow it:eyes: