Parents, please educate your kids on the value of the dollar

[BoberFett]

I had a woman in one of my classes suggest the same thing; if every person contributed just a dollar we could erase the deficit. This wasn't a kid, this was an adult who clearly had no idea what she was talking about.

You should have corrected her and told her that if everyone just sent in $5,000 we could take care of the deficit.

For one year.

Then tell her she has to do it again next year.

And that it only covers the yearly deficit, we still have the national debt.

Everyone would have to send in $50,000 to take care of that.

 

[lxskllr]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ7PK9_2eyc

 

[Paladin3]

Wow, you guys totally missed what's going on here. I salute those two crafty kids and their bold plan. For just $2 they've received national media attention and might just have some rich idiot decide they need a suitable reward for their warm-hearted, touchy-feely act of kindness. Can say "new bike?" Or maybe someone will start college funds for them, so they can study hard and learn to be real community organizers someday.

 

[gorcorps]

Wow, you guys totally missed what's going on here. I salute those two crafty kids and their bold plan. For just $2 they've received national media attention and might just have some rich idiot decide they need a suitable reward for their warm-hearted, touchy-feely act of kindness. Shit, they may even get college funds started for them so they can study hard and learn to be community organizers themselves someday.

Crafty plan? So you're saying the kids knew a media outlet would have so little else to report on that they'd absolutely run a story on this? And that this story would be picked up by other news outlets? And then these stories would be passed around the internet, eventually making it to the eyes of somebody with a shit load of money... and that person would feel like a good waste of his money would be to dump it on these kids because at nine years old they gave the president 2 bucks?

Jesus H Christ... even Evel Knievel couldn't make that jump. If they could see that far into the future why not just spend those 2 bucks on lottery tickets.

 

[Sheep]

They're kids you douche bags. Cut them a break.

This.

I hope I never become as jaded and douchey as some of you guys have.

 

[BornStar]

You should have corrected her and told her that if everyone just sent in $5,000 we could take care of the deficit.

For one year.

Then tell her she has to do it again next year.

And that it only covers the yearly deficit, we still have the national debt.

Everyone would have to send in $50,000 to take care of that.

That's exactly what I did. She basically said "oh." I don't think she ever fully grasped the weight of the situation.

 

[Zenmervolt]

You're bitching out a kid with no income who generously donates a dollar to the government to help pay down a debt that he personally has done nothing to incur? Fuck the value of a dollar, your parents should have taught you basic human decency. Of course it's not going to make a difference in the long run, but the point is the child is giving what meager wealth he has to help pay down our national burden. Good for him (them, I guess... crazy twins).

Actually, they've already caused the government to incur far more than $2 in costs just by existing. Costs incurred in public schools alone will be more than these children put in. That's beside the point, however.

Regardless, the critique isn't against the children (they are, after all, children) but against the parents who utterly failed to use this opportunity to explain just how big the debt really is and why $1 per child (or even $1 per person) wouldn't put even a moderate dent in the debt. The parents aren't helping anything by failing to instill basic logical thought in their children. Of course children are going to miss things like this on their own, that's expected and perfectly fine; there's nothing wrong with that. But what is wrong is that the parents flushed a great teaching opportunity down the toilet in favor of feel-good bullshit.

ZV

 

[arcenite]

I bet it was grandma's idea

 

[BornStar]

Actually, they've already caused the government to incur far more than $2 in costs just by existing. Costs incurred in public schools alone will be more than these children put in. That's beside the point, however.

Regardless, the critique isn't against the children (they are, after all, children) but against the parents who utterly failed to use this opportunity to explain just how big the debt really is and why $1 per child (or even $1 per person) wouldn't put even a moderate dent in the debt. The parents aren't helping anything by failing to instill basic logical thought in their children. Of course children are going to miss things like this on their own, that's expected and perfectly fine; there's nothing wrong with that. But what is wrong is that the parents flushed a great teaching opportunity down the toilet in favor of feel-good bullshit.

ZV

I hear what you're saying and sort of agree but you're looking at this as a logical adult and not an illogical child. What you're telling the child is that it won't matter if they send in $2 because it won't move the debt. What the child hears is there's no reason to vote when they're 18 because they're going to compete against 50M other people or there's no reason to contribute money to a retirement fund because they're going to need millions and $1 now won't make any difference. You can't really tell a child something they're doing doesn't matter because they'll apply that to a lot of situations where they shouldn't and end up taking the wrong message away.

 

[manly]

Fucking government... they figured out how to get nine year olds to pay taxes.

doesn't the GOP want to "broaden the base" and trim the top marginal rates?

 

[DrPizza]

Crafty plan? So you're saying the kids knew a media outlet would have so little else to report on that they'd absolutely run a story on this? And that this story would be picked up by other news outlets? And then these stories would be passed around the internet, eventually making it to the eyes of somebody with a shit load of money... and that person would feel like a good waste of his money would be to dump it on these kids because at nine years old they gave the president 2 bucks?

Jesus H Christ... even Evel Knievel couldn't make that jump. If they could see that far into the future why not just spend those 2 bucks on lottery tickets.

That was the first thing I thought of as well. You think the kids mailed that letter by themselves? Either the mom is stupid, else the mom realized that a $2 investment (plus a stamp) might buy them their 15 minutes in the spotlight.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

shouldn't the title of this thread be: "America, teach your politicians the value of the dollar."

Seriously, it is amazing how many politicians are befuddled by the elementary economic concept that is "if you can't pay for it, don't buy it."

 

[Eli]

What a trillion looks like. Hard to grasp conceptually by our "leaders." Give the kids a break.

That's... wow. That's pretty profound.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Citizens already send like 30k+ every year to the government. Taxes. Somehow, they still can't figure out what to do with that money so they spend it on stupid things instead of fixing the debt.

 

[spidey07]

This.

I hope I never become as jaded and douchey as some of you guys have.

Jaded isn't the word you're looking for. Tax payer is. By all means contribute more.

Its sickening people applaud this behavior.

 

[Sheep]

Jaded isn't the word you're looking for. Tax payer is. By all means contribute more.

Its sickening people applaud this behavior.

It's an idea from the perspective of a child who doesn't know any better and doesn't realize the how little impact his gesture would have. In no way would I ever recommend the kids give a dollar or any other amount at all.

People turned this from a child volunteering an idea seen through innocent eyes to a stupid tax rant. What's next? Santa isn't real? Fido the dog didn't go off to live on a farm and got roadkilled by a semi truck? You shouldn't pursue your dreams because you're not good enough?

 

[Zenmervolt]

I hear what you're saying and sort of agree but you're looking at this as a logical adult and not an illogical child. What you're telling the child is that it won't matter if they send in $2 because it won't move the debt. What the child hears is there's no reason to vote when they're 18 because they're going to compete against 50M other people or there's no reason to contribute money to a retirement fund because they're going to need millions and $1 now won't make any difference. You can't really tell a child something they're doing doesn't matter because they'll apply that to a lot of situations where they shouldn't and end up taking the wrong message away.

The point isn't to say that nothing they do matters, but that they need to think of other options for how to deal with the problem and learn to think through ideas that may be initially appealing but ultimately flawed. Also, a parent should explain that the reason the idea is flawed isn't because the individual contributions are small, but because the sum total of all possible contributions still couldn't make a difference. That differentiates the "send in $1" theory from voting since in voting the sum total of "contributions" (votes) can make a difference.

The problem with the idea is not that $2 won't move the debt. The problem is that $75,600,000.00 ($1 for every child under 18 in the US) won't move the debt. Very different from voting.

ZV

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Actually, they've already caused the government to incur far more than $2 in costs just by existing. Costs incurred in public schools alone will be more than these children put in. That's beside the point, however.

Regardless, the critique isn't against the children (they are, after all, children) but against the parents who utterly failed to use this opportunity to explain just how big the debt really is and why $1 per child (or even $1 per person) wouldn't put even a moderate dent in the debt. The parents aren't helping anything by failing to instill basic logical thought in their children. Of course children are going to miss things like this on their own, that's expected and perfectly fine; there's nothing wrong with that. But what is wrong is that the parents flushed a great teaching opportunity down the toilet in favor of feel-good bullshit.

ZV

What parent is going to take their kids saying "mommy, I want to help pay down the national debt," and say, "but honey, you can't." That is TERRIBLE parenting. Yes, we all agree that even if every kid in the US did this, it wouldn't mean squat, but teaching our children that taking responsibility for the national debt is a good thing to do is an EXCELLENT lesson. When they grow up with years of this lesson, they'll be adults who contribute more than they need to for taxes to help repay the national deficit/debt. If every single person in our country did this, our debt problem wouldn't be nearly as bad. Instead, most parents teach their kids that they need to get as much money as possible for themselves, so instead of a culture of helping out the nation, you have a culture of greed. Yeah, that's been great for the national debt.

These kids gave what they could. Bravo to them. If every American did the same, we wouldn't have the national deficit we do. So instead of praising their actions, we shit on them. What the fuck is wrong with us? They're children; they aren't supposed to understand a number like 10 trillion. Most adults can't conceive of that amount. We hold that against them? Shame on us. Who here can claim that, as a nine-year-old, we understood the national debt?

 

[Lithium381]

Who here can claim that, as a nine-year-old, we understood the national debt?

Maybe not understood the national debt, but i understood that if i don't have a dollar, i can't buy something. normally i'd have to spend my own money if i wanted candy i also understood that when mom said she'd buy candy, I GOT THE GOOD STUFF. Isn't it easy to spend other peoples' money!?!??! yay