Obama says he will spend another $10 Billion

[opinterph]

There are only 341 billionaires in the US. It is doubtful that any of them makes a billion in one year.

Oh, that's a howler! You're free to retract that statement at any time.

What about justmeeeee’s quote do you find laughable?

Is it the total number of billionaires (I think he is underestimating), or the fact that some of them do "make" more that a billion dollars in a year?

Buffett was worth some $62 billion as of February 11, an increase of $10 billion from a year ago. Gates gained $2 billion in net worth during the past 12 months [Link]

 

[Spiff]

I must say that I don't think Obama's plan would be too successful. $4000 doesn't go too far nowadays in college, especially a year's worth of college. But many college students today already have to work at least part time to pay for other things. Where are full time students going to get the time to study, work their regular job, and work community service? Unless I suppose they could do their community service during their breaks, which would suck, but whatever works.

On the otherhand: $4000/100 hours = $40 per hour. Not a bad wage for a college student. But as a tax credit you can't get it until after tax returns the following year.

 

[jockboy01]

Okay, sorry, I couldn't read all of the back and forth.

But I think this is an interesting and creative solution to a problem. 10 billion isn't that much compared to the overall budget so that doesn't bother me. And at least this way it goes to a good cause... two in fact. One is education, the other is community service.

Or we could always vote republican...

http://www.imvotingrepublican.com/

 

[Kulindahr]

Well, if he ends the Iraq war, we will have plenty of money to help out college students.

No, because that's money we don't have.

And you use "tax and spend" in a rather loose fashion considering the primary point of this argument is that Obama would like to create a tax credit.... which is pretty much the opposite of taxing

He has to tax someone to get the money in the first place....
or hock the country to foreigners, as Bush is doing.

I choose B. We can not spend our money on every "good" cause. We must live within our means.

Americans in their personal lives cut back on purchases when they are in debt, the federal government must also. It is only common sense.

Absolutely.

The federal government can't merely cease to function because Bush spent far far more than he had.

No, but we could go a long way by systematically shutting down every part that isn't specifically authorized in the Constitution (arts? energy? education? housing?).

Why are you against students having to take a loan? He/She will better themselves. Earn more money. Pay back the loan in ten years. Then for the next thirty years, enjoy a higher standard of living.

Everything is affordable if you want it enough.

I worked two jobs through college. Had students loans.

Never took a dime from the government.

Never rely on anybody or anything.

You make it sound so easy.
Read some news -- it isn't.
At the moment, to pay back that loan in ten years is next to impossible for all but a few.

I have a better idea: thanks to federal busybodies, college bureaucracies have swelled immensely over the last twenty years. Where I went to school, there were a good thirty additional seatwarmers at $80k+ a year, for close to $3 million in the budget. Take that and divide it by $4k....
Undo all that federal meddling, and we wouldn't need to give every student that money -- education would cost less anyway!

 

[Kulindahr]

^^

Jockboy, that's so full of caricatures it's nauseating.....

 

[cisco_teen]

^Agreed.

"And we just love cheap plastic crap from china"

ahahah

 

[Kulindahr]

Man. do I disagree with your thinking. They'd be working off the loan and what is ten billion in light of what Bushy has done....... I throw my hands up in horror when I read this sort of comment/answer.

Ah, the "in light of < x >" fallacy.

What Bush has done is irrelevant, except to emphasize that we shouldn't spend money we don't have. Since that's what Obama is proposing, he's just like Bush.

 

[MrWright]

I love it!

 

[beekman001]

just running some quick rough numbers, off the basis of this:
http://www.collegeboard.com/student/pay/add-it-up/4494.html

by the time obama would leave office (assuming 8 years) the average 4 year state tuition assuming a steady rate of increase would be about $11,000/year. This does not account for books or room & board etc. So $10B would provide about 909,000 full scholarships.

The US recently spent $150B on sending checks to tax payers to get them to spend money in the guise of 'economic stimulus'. Considering that a college graduate will make more than double a non-college graduate over their lifetime, that sounds like a much more effective economic stimulus package.