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Elon Musk stands, since he is recognized by the president of the United States, Donald Trump, during Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress in the United States Capitol in Washington, DC, on March 4, 2025.
Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty images
Stocks are staggering. Inflation is expected to work taller again, if Maybe only in the short termIf President Trump follows the expansive tariffs threats against commercial partners around the world. Trump’s message and his main economic advisors is to plan do exactly that on April 2And any short -term market correction or economic “detoxification” is A price that is worth paying to restore the economy of the United States.
Trump has renewed his pressure on the Federal Reserve To reduce interest rates to help relieve tariff pain as more Americans care again about their financial situation.
There is at least one more way for administration to placate the public.
As the so -called Elon Musk Government Department (Doge) continues its effort to gut the government, the idea has been raised that savings could end in checks sent by mail to taxpayers. That idea has gone and came in the headlines, but it is one that Trump has expressed his support for In the recent past. “I love it. A 20%dividend, so to speak, for the money we are saving to pursue waste, fraud, abuse and other things that happen,” Trump told reporters at one time.
The exact amount of any Doge dividends check is not clear, but some analysts have equated a 20% dividend to $ 5,000 per contribution home (20% of the “savings” of the cuts could be equivalent to that). Even James Fishback, the CEO of an investment company that initially proposed the idea of dividendsYou are not sure what the final dividend would be.
“Now look, for people who want to criticize this plan and say, well, Dege would never deliver $ 2 billion in total savings, we do not agree, but suppose they are right in that.” Fishback told NBC News “Let’s say they are only $ 1 billion. OK, so the check goes from $ 5,000 to $ 2,500. Suppose it only costs $ 500 billion … then the check is $ 1,250. That is real money.”
While the idea of a check -free check may sound attractive, many economists warn that it is a bad idea.
“Dumar $ 5,000 per person to the economy sounds very good on paper, but essentially pouring gasoline into a hot fire,” warns Aaron Circsena, CEO of the MDRN capital investment firm.
The controls could lead to a resurgence in inflation.
“If people spend it, demand for demand continues and inflation.
The Trump Chief of the National Economic Council, Kevin Hassett, said in a recent CNBC interview that the Dux Dividend Check has a “great sense”, and has argued that anyone who says that it will fell inflation does not understand the economy.
“Everyone says that it is an inflationary if we send these matches by mail to these people. Well, think about whether the government spends the money, spend a dollar and get any multiplier effect that you think of that if they do not spend the money, and say that they will return them to the people. Then, if they spend a dollar, then it is a wash. If they save some of that, the inflation decreases. Inflation is just that people should study their economy.
But economists care that proposed payments are not a solid fiscal policy.
John W. Diamond, CEO of Fiscal Policy Advisors and Deputy Professor of Economics at the University of Rice, recently argued in a Wall Street Journal The opinion article co -written with former Secretary of State James Baker that the reform of rights linked to a good Dux dose could help control the federal deficit, but Dege only cannot do so. For that reason, Diamond says he is a supporter of Doge (although it is clear to say that he is not a fan of the entire methodology), but sending money to taxpayers makes no sense.
“I cannot support the Dix dividend, it makes no sense to reduce the expense to reduce the deficit and then turn around and send it back to taxpayers,” Diamond said. “I think 100 percent should go to the reduction of the deficit, there is no reason to return money to current taxpayers when we would only be imposing an invoice to future taxpayers,” Diamond added.
Much of this is reduced to what the recipient does with any possible payment, says Alice Kassens, director of the Center for Economic Freedom and Economics Professor at Roanoke College. “The declared plan is that dividends only go to the net payers of income taxes. Hope is that it does not act as a stimulus (such as stimulus controls during the pandemic, which were aimed at helping to maintain consumption) and instead, these homes are saved with a greater propensity to save,” Kassens said.
In such cases, a Dux dividend would increase the national savings rate, which in turn would help with economic investment and growth in the future.
“The plan is to use most of the savings identified by Doge to pay the national debt, with only a small participation, 20 percent, it is directed towards the dividend to the taxpayers. This would reduce the debt except if the total amount was put to this purpose, but this could be partially compensated in the long term by personal savings, economic investment and economic growth,” he said.
Economists and many in the market are not convinced.
Mdrn Capital Circhasena said that while any part of a new government check to the public could obtain savings, as they did some money from Covid stimulus checks, you will also feed the immediate demand and people will spend it on goods and services. If the offer cannot be kept up to date, prices increase. Meanwhile, infrastructure spending can also be inflationary, but extends over time and invests in economic productivity, which makes it more sustainable.
“It’s about how money circulates,” he said.
There is a difference between sending $ 5,000 to taxpayers and government spending on programs such as the Inflation Reduction Law.
“Infrastructure spending is slower: it is distributed over time and enters wages, materials and projects that increase productivity. Increase value,” said Circsena, while the direct stimulus hits the economy as a sugar fever: fast spending, rapid demand peaks and a higher risk of inflation without lasting economic growth. “One is a short -term adrenaline shot, the other is a long -term force program,” Circsena added.
At this time, the Administration is not prioritizing a Dux dividend in public comments. Beyond tariff policy as an economic approach, Trump’s recent speech against Congress Prioritized tax cuts and infrastructure spending. And if the administration is concerned about the tariff policy that put the short -term inflation pressure in the economy, that would make sense. Throw $ 5,000 per person in the mixture would be like throwing fuel in a fire that is already burning.
The administration is inclined towards economic growth through investment incentives and taxes, not directly in cash, said Circsena, added that Trump’s approach in tariffs and national production suggests that he is looking to change money towards industries, not directly to people’s pockets.
“Then it seems that it doesn’t fit,” said Circsena.
Case Western Reserve University Economics, Professor Jonathan Ernest says that it would now be an unusual time to inject stimulus because all indicators show a strong economy. It can be a good political strategy, if not economical, but ultimately, Ernest says he could slow down the Fed efforts to tame the lowest inflation and interest rates.
A stimulus verification now, while inflation is still persistently above where the Fed wants it, runs the risk of stimulating demand, which would raise prices, Ernest said, adding that it could reduce the probability that the Fed reaches its objectives. “A stimulus now does not go hand in hand with current monetary policy, which has guided the soft landing to this point,” he said.
The fed chair Jerome Powell said after his FOMC meeting On Wednesday, a good part of any higher inflation will come from tariffs, but a decrease in economic growth would balance that, although it could “delay” the progress of the Fed when reaching its inflation target of 2%.
Ernest also thinks Pay the deficit As a priority of administration, it disagrees with the sending of stimulus controls.
“The stimulus would be a confusing strategy because we are executing deficits, and instead of using savings to pay the deficit, we would return it to consumers,” Ernest said.
The Treasury Department puts the country national debt at $ 36.22 billion.
That does not mean that the idea does not float again, especially if the economy slows down significantly and measured by the elections in the middle of the period.
For now, the Fed says that external surveys about the risk of recession are not a factor to which it pays attention, and economic data remains relatively solid. But Recession fears At the back of the year they are increasing, and in the least, Slower GDP growth It is the expectation of the markets. Meanwhile, employment cuts throughout the federal government, as well as deportation plans, are contributing to uncertainty about a national labor market that is also being waiting until now, although hiring has slowed down.
Ernest says that an irony of a Dux dividend is that perhaps the administration policy, such as employment cuts at the governmental level, will destabilize the economy enough to justify a stimulus payment.
“Usually, when we think of these things, we are in an economic fall, and we want to make some stimulating demand by putting more money in people’s pockets so they can underpin the economy,” he said.