Hillary Clinton: $5000 for each baby born in U.S. ("baby bonds"; including anchor babies)

From this:

Every baby born in America should receive money that can later be used to pay for college, Clinton told the crowd at the Congressional Black Caucus annual legislative conference in Washington on Friday.

"I like the idea of giving every baby born in America a $5,000 account that will grow over time, so when that young person turns 18, if they have finished high school they will be able to access it to go to college," Clinton said, calling it one way to give young people a chance to save money tax free...

I'll let others discuss all the other downsides, but I'll point out the impact this would have on illegal immigration: "every baby born in America" includes the children of illegal aliens, even if those parents have only been in the U.S. for an hour. This would have the impact of further incentivizing illegal immigration.

See also Darrell Steinberg, Bob Dutton: give every child born in California $500 (anchor babies, bank boondoggle). That bill was brought about by the New America Foundation. One link between NAF and Hillary: Laurie Rubiner from the Clinton campaign used to be the head of their health care policy program. And, this is not a new idea: she proposed a relatively modest $500 bond last year, something that the NAF welcomed (link):

In a speech before the Democratic Leadership Council (7/24/2006), Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton called for $500 "Baby Bonds" to be established for every child at birth and at age 10. Funds could be used for college or vocational training, buying a first home, and retirement savings... "We commend Senator Clinton for proposing Baby Bonds for all newborns. Establishing these accounts would place millions of kids on a path to accumulate savings and wealth from the day they are born-- thus expanding economic opportunity and security across economic divides, and helping to build wealth across generations," said Ray Boshara, Director of New America's Asset Building Program, which aims to broaden savings and asset ownership in America... Invited to advise Sen. Clinton and her staff on child savings accounts, New America has briefed several Members of Congress from both parties, Presidential candidates, and leaders throughout the world... ...The Asset Building Program played a key role in the development of the ASPIRE Act, legislation that would establish progressively funded savings accounts at birth for every American child and introduced with bipartisan support in both the House and Senate in 2005. The program was also instrumental in developing the Young Savers Accounts proposal, introduced by Senator Max Baucus last March... To learn more about these bills, visit assetbuilding.org...

UPDATE: Already history is starting to be reinterpreted:

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."

Politics · Fri, 09/28/2007 - 09:38 · · Importance: 1