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Friday, September 11, 2026
Trump’s best idea
It is somewhat unfortunate that the Trump dividend of $5,000 for every adult American is never going to be paid. First of all it is linked to a condition even Trump knows is impossible, Republicans winning the mid-terms. And then it is just an empty promise, with Americans still waiting for the cheques Trump previously promised and never delivered.
But if the Democrats win the mid-terms, especially if the Democratic Socialists are doing well, the first thing they should do is to pass a bill for the Trump dividend of $5,000 to be paid out. Keep the label on, it makes it harder for Republicans and Trump to block the bill. Of course that will have to be balanced by raising taxes, for example with a “Zucman tax”, a 2% wealth tax on people owning more than $100 million. Okay, that would only bring in $100 billion of the $1.2 trillion cost of the Trump dividend, but other taxes on higher incomes and wealth could be added.
As the Trump dividend is $5,000 “per adult”, and the poorest people in America never pay that much in taxes for the simple reason of not being able to, the Trump dividend balanced by taxes would basically be a huge redistribution of money from rich people to poor people. That should not only appeal to the “social justice” desires of the Democratic Socialists. It is also very good for the economy. Trillionaire Elon Musk would barely miss the 2%, $20 billion. And he is unlikely to ever spend that sort of money on goods and services. But the 4 million Americans for whose $5,000 this would pay for would most likely spend the money, which would give a huge boost to the economy.
We have been promised trickle down economics for decades and they never showed up. Tax the rich, hand out the Trump dividend, and the wealth would finally start to trickle down! This has been Trump’s best idea by far, and the Democrats should do all in their power to make it a reality! Incidentally Democrats promising the Trump dividend if they win would also neatly neutralize the voter bribe aspect of the promise.
- posted by Tobold @ 8:59 AM Permanent Link
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Unfortunately, this is exactly the way to achieve a huge inflation spike without raising actual production that much. The money influx will be both very big and short-timed which means that as a producer you should not increase the production (there will be no additional money agterwards to sustain the demand) but increase the price instead (as increased demand hits the fixed supply).
I guess there will be only inflation spike if there is there will be supply shortage - not enought goods in stores already and no free producing capacity. And i do not think this is a case.
I’m aware of the inflation problem of that proposal, although I don’t think that inflationary pressure would be much higher than any other economic pressure that leads to the same economic growth.
But my comment is more a political one: How should “serious” parties counter political populism. The recent Nigel Farage against Count Binface election was a brilliant maneuver, in which more centrist parties outplayed a right wing populist. I think the current response of the Democrats to Trump’s voter bribery is weak, and using some political Jiu-Jitsu and appropriate the Trump dividend would work a lot better.
It is a political game of rock, paper, scissors: populist beats serious, and serious beats absurdist, but absurdist beats populist.
But my comment is more a political one: How should “serious” parties counter political populism. The recent Nigel Farage against Count Binface election was a brilliant maneuver, in which more centrist parties outplayed a right wing populist. I think the current response of the Democrats to Trump’s voter bribery is weak, and using some political Jiu-Jitsu and appropriate the Trump dividend would work a lot better.
It is a political game of rock, paper, scissors: populist beats serious, and serious beats absurdist, but absurdist beats populist.
My morbidly pessimistic side took over thinking about this, and left me with the feeling that the money would ultimately benefit no one, other than to increase the debt. If you are low income you will likely blow it quickly on stuff because a conditioning effect of always living check to check is that you don't usually hold on to money when you have it, because it is seen as too ephemeral anyway. Middle income earners will likely use it to scrape their way out of credit card or other debt. Higher income earners might invest it or stash it. Individually you might see people in each economic strata use the money wisely, but the real benefit of a one-time cash boost is doomed to ephemerality, and far too much of it will be squandered. Once, I was a much more hardcore traditional capitalist, but watching what has happened to the wealth inequality in the US has broken me. These days, I think that redistributing the wealth of the top 1% to the bottom 90% is a good start.
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