President Donald Trump unveiled a $1.2 trillion plan to fight inflation by giving Americans $5,000 each, ensuring households struggling to afford high prices will finally have enough money to make them higher.
The proposed “Trump Dividend,” contingent on Republicans retaining Congress in November, would send checks to roughly 240 million adults at a moment when voters remain angry about inflation, federal deficits and the stubborn refusal of prices to return to whatever year people remember liking better.
“We have heard Americans loud and clear,” said one administration economist. “They cannot afford current prices. Our solution is to dramatically increase the number of dollars attempting to purchase the same stuff.”
Trump has suggested tariff revenue could fund the payments, although current tariff collections fall well short of $1.2 trillion, leaving the traditional American financing mechanism of borrowing an enormous amount of money and hoping nobody ruins the mood by doing arithmetic.
Economists have previously noted that large direct payments can increase consumer demand and inflationary pressure, a technical concern the proposal elegantly solves by calling the checks a “dividend.”
Under the plan, Americans unable to afford a $4 carton of eggs would receive $5,000 toward the purchase of their first $9 carton.
Inflation, at last, defeated with purchasing power.
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