by Nicholas Beaudrot of Electoral Math

At least the LA Times is considering this idea on the merits. Encouraging working Americans to save and build assets is a key part of building the middle class. Baby bonds are something that anti-poverty-centric candidate John Edwards has said good things about these sorts of plans before. As far as I can tell, the points against the idea are:

  1. It came out of Hillary Clinton’s mouth
  2. Republican candidates came out against it
  3. The name “baby bonds” somehow makes it sound unserious

None of which are good reasons to oppose her policy. Bill Clinton supported a very similar looking proposal for cleverly named Universal Savings Accounts … or “USA Accounts”, for maximum political advantage. Sadly, most links to Clinton’s proposals consist of right-wing “think tank” pieces opposing the idea. But it was important enough to Clinton that they made it into his final State of the Union address.

Ezra Klein is a former Prospect writer and current editor-in-chief at Vox. His work has appeared in the LA Times, The Guardian, The Washington Monthly, The New Republic, Slate, and The Columbia Journalism Review. He’s been a commentator on MSNBC, CNN, NPR, and more.