How to Encourage Saving: Give Babies Money

Lower savings and high borrowing made a bad recession even worse, as families struggled to pay off debts and pocketed the tax cuts and benefits Washington wanted spent. To avoid a similar disaster, we need to make saving sexy. And if you want to create a nation of savers, you have to start in the cradle:

Last week Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Chris Dodd, D-Conn., introduced the America Saving for Personal Investment, Retirement, and Education (ASPIRE) Act to provide a "Lifetime Savings Account" for every newborn child.

Under their plan, every child born would get an initial deposit of $500, and children in families with lower incomes and fewer resources would have their contributions automatically matched. In addition, the plan would set up a financial education curriculum for schools.

Another idea: tax spending makes saving more attractive. Pass a value-added tax on consumption.

Read the full story at AOL News.