Instead of giving lollipops like tax credits for people who have children or who decide to go to college or who decide to grow old ungracefully, we would be far better with an across the board tax cut. After all, it would cost the same.
We have Individual Retirement Accounts, 401(k) plans, 403(b) plans, Roth IRAs and retirement plans for self-employed people. Now, we are to have Universal Savings Accounts. Yet, last year, the saving rate was negative. Do we really think one more cutesy acronym (USA, in case you hadn't noticed) will cause people to save more?
Talking about saving more, the Republicans speaking after Clinton mentioned that the rate of return on Social Security was 3%. I don't know if it is true, but it feels right. You can get better returns by depositing your Social Security taxes at your Savings and Loan. About the only financial instrument that has returns lower than Social Security is Japanese post office deposits. Not coincidentally, such deposits are controlled avidly by bureaucrats, albeit of the Japanese variety.
So much money given away. I'd have been happier if the surplus were used to pay down government debt. As a second option, a tax cut would be okay. Clinton's here's-a-candy-now-keep-me-in-office wealth redistribution doesn't pass the smell test.
But what do I know?
