<p>They called it collective farms in the USSR. Congrats to those who voted for Comrade Chairman Obama. Change is coming, that's for sure.</p>
<p>AMom, I feel that you're simply bitter Obama won the election.</p>
<p>He is not, nor can he, REQUIRE community service. He is just simply offering an incentive to do so. Those who do not aren't reprimanded.</p>
<p>^I'm all for the incentive. I'm not for required/forced community service like some people on another thread who want middle schoolers to work for free on farms.</p>
<p>Obama did win and I'm for him keeping his campaign promise of $4000 for 100 hours of community service for everyone who volunteers to do it.</p>
<p>I'm also looking forward to a big tax refund check for people making less than $150,000, and lower health care cost.</p>
<p>I'm hoping he'll do a better job than Bush, as do most people.</p>
<p>so does anyone know if it is mandatory or not? his website is kinda ambiguous. so if we do volunteer, we will get money and if we don't we will get no money. is that the deal? or is it you have no choice but to volunteer?</p>
<p>^ Well for now its probably 'volunteer'. Mandatory volunteerism, but anyway...Eventually you will have 'reeducation' camps too, but lets hold off on that for now.</p>
<p>Wow, Obama, go shove your hammer and sickle up your hypocritical butt. I don't see how a student who has to work part time to afford college should be obligated to work for free. What a brilliant idea - requiring 30 hours x2 for middle school, 50x4 for HS, 100 x4 for college... thats 660 hours total for rising middle schoolers if this plan is implemented and mandatory. If Obama thinks force is what America needs in abundance, then he clearly has no understanding of the freedom that comes along with the American dream. </p>
<p>I hope he can't require this. I have done 200+ hours of service in my HS career, but I will be damned if I ever judge someone for doing differently or try to inflict my choice upon others. Obama is way out of line here. As out of line as McCain would be if he mandated that every college student had to give 400 hours of military service over their college years. Which would have people rioting.</p>
<p>Nick017,</p>
<p>He is NOT requiring community service. He just pays you $4000 for 100 hours, should you CHOOSE to complete them.</p>
<p>I can't believe numerous people, even here on CC, just accept facts they're given without validating them.</p>
<p>OH..... my bad. But if in the hypothetical situation that Obama were to make the service mandatory.....
``()
^^ll^^</p>
<p>I definitely would not mind fulfilling 100 hours for a $4000 tax credit. By $4000 tax credit, is that like an amount you can write off, or will they actually deduct $4000 from taxes you have to pay?</p>
<p>It sounds like a tax credit and only for the FIRST $4000 of college expenses. So if you are in your say second year or so you may not get it. You also can not make more than $120,000 year to get the tax credit. It's also a one time credit.</p>
<p>There is talk of making it mandatory. Rahm in his book wants to require everyone between 18-25 to do like a 3 month program.</p>
<p>This is the reward for young people who voted and worked to elect Obama.</p>
<p>well his wife has said that he will require us to all work, so this doesn't seem to far off.</p>
<p>It also needs to be stated that your taxes must actually be able to receive a 4K tax credit. if lets say you do work study and only make $1500, you cannot under IRS code get a credit of 4K.</p>
<p>I don't like the idea of Obama & Biden running this country, but even if it was McCain, I don't understand the difficulty in volunteering. 100 hours a year is just over 8 hours a month. Can't afford to do 2 hours a week, eh? In the past six months I did 140+ hours. I suppose it depends on what volunteering you want to do and how much it means to you.</p>
<p>The $4000 for 100 hours of voluntary community service was a compaign promise. Will he follow through?</p>
<p>If it is voluntary with an incentive, fine. But otherwise, it is simply a draft for domestic service. The Constitutionality of that would be questionable.</p>
<p>Sounds like it's voluntary with incentives. Not such a bad deal.</p>
<p>Create the American Opportunity Tax Credit: Obama and Biden will make college affordable for all Americans by creating a new American Opportunity Tax Credit. This universal and fully refundable credit will ensure that the first $4,000 of a college education is completely free for most Americans, and will cover two-thirds the cost of tuition at the average public college or university and make community college tuition completely free for most students. Recipients of the credit will be required to conduct 100 hours of community service.</p>
<p>[url=<a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/education/%5DEducation%5B/url">http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/education/]Education[/url</a>]</p>
<p>Warren Meyer nails it:
[quote=<a href="http://camprrm.typepad.com/coyote_blog/2008/11/obama-transition-site-gets-stealth-edit.html%5D100">http://camprrm.typepad.com/coyote_blog/2008/11/obama-transition-site-gets-stealth-edit.html]
100</a> hours for $4000 is a pretty good deal. Not many private sector employers offering $40 an hour to recent high school grads. Everyone out there OK with the government paying the equivalent of $80,000 a year salaries to 18-year-olds for sorting food at the food bank?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Damn, we're some selfish people.</p>
<p>"Damn, we're some selfish people."</p>
<p>Hey, I'd take this over a collectivist culture any day.</p>