By Matt Hurley for the TIB Network:
Source:
The Kerry/Edwards camp released their plan for creating a "New Army of Patriots" which is a service-oriented program that would compensate "volunteers" with college tuition.The good news is that he tells us how to he plans to pay for it. The bad news is that there is no way it will work.
John Kerry believes that service should be a graduation requirement. He believes that knowledge of the rights and responsibilities of citizenship - including the duty to serve your community - are as important to American adults as knowing how to read and do math. Under the Kerry-Edwards plan, states and local communities will design their own service requirements to make the requirement significant and meaningful without becoming onerous. Kerry and Edwards understand that young people have many obligations and recognize that a service requirement should not be too onerous or unrealistic for students to meet. Maryland, as well as numerous school districts around the country already have such a requirement and have had great results. A Kerry-Edwards Administration will provide funding for schools that choose to require community service as a condition of high school graduation.Kerry plans to pay for this program by punishing the banks that make student loans possible.
Every penny paid for, with money to spare. John Kerry's plan requires roughly $13 billion in new resources over 10 years and is paid for by his new initiative to eliminate the subsidized and guaranteed profits for banks making student loans. Today, bank profits are set in statutes written by lobbyists. John Kerry will require banks to bid in an open auction for the business of student loans. He will take billions that now pad banks' earnings, and instead direct those resources to young people who want to serve America and pay for college, with money left for other service and education initiatives.
Furthermore, this plan endangers American jobs in the banking industry. If banks aren't making money, they are going to lay people off. I'm sure Kerry/Edwards will blame that on the bank, but the reality is that you have to make money in order to spend money on employees.
If Kerry values service so much, why not promote real volunteering? That would actually make more sense. Volunteering doesn't cost anything to the taxpayer and the work that needed to be done would get done. I mean, if all those liberals would show us some deeds (volunteering - you know, for free) to go along with their faith (in government), I'd be more inclined to support some of these ideas.
This is just another potential money pit in the federal beauracracy with a fancy name.
