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The Almighty Buck Politics

Michael and Susan Dell Donate $6.25 Billion To Encourage Families To Claim 'Trump Accounts' (apnews.com) 161

Posted by BeauHD from the future-capitalists-of-America dept.
Michael and Susan Dell pledged $6.25 billion to boost participation in the new "Trump Accounts" child investment program. "The historic gift has little precedent, with few single charitable commitments in the past 25 years exceeding $1 billion, much less multiple billions," notes the Associated Press. "Announced on GivingTuesday, the Dells believe it's the largest single private commitment made to U.S. children." From the report: Its structure is also unusual. Essentially, it builds on the "Trump Accounts" program (PDF), where the U.S. Department of the Treasury will deposit $1,000 into investment accounts set up by Treasury for American children born between Jan. 1, 2025 and Dec. 31, 2028. The Dells' gift will use the "Trump Accounts" infrastructure to give $250 to each qualified child under 10. Though the "Trump Accounts" became law as part of the president's signature legislation in July, the Dells say the accounts will not launch until July 4, 2026. Michael Dell said they wanted to mark the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence.

[...] Under the new law, "Trump Accounts" are available to any American child under 18 with a Social Security number and their families can fund the accounts, which must be invested in an index fund that tracks the overall stock market. When the children turn 18, they can withdraw the funds to put toward their education, to buy a home or to start a business. The Dells will put money into the accounts of children 10 and younger who live in ZIP codes with a median family income of $150,000 or less and who won't get the $1,000 seed money from the Treasury. The Dells hope their gift will encourage families to claim the accounts and deposit more money into it, even small amounts, so it will grow over time along with the stock market. The report notes that the timed rollout of the $1,000 deposits gives Republicans a strategic political advantage by delivering money to voters during the 2026 midterms and halting the benefit right after the 2028 presidential election.

Michael and Susan Dell Donate $6.25 Billion To Encourage Families To Claim 'Trump Accounts' More | Reply

Michael and Susan Dell Donate $6.25 Billion To Encourage Families To Claim 'Trump Accounts'

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  • start your engines!

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by RitchCraft ( 6454710 )

      Minnesota has entered the room.

    • You mean like colleges and universities that promise marketable skills to pay off student loans and then fail to deliver for a large proportion of their students?

      Its a great idea in a capitalist society for every student to leave high school with a bankroll of capital. Will some of it be squandered? Yes. But I am willing to bet high schools students will be talking about what they plan to do with their bankroll and watching their older friends and siblings to see what worked and what didn't. In any case, ev

  • I can get a ThinkPad for $300.
    • I stopped buying Lenovos when the finger of an enslaved Uighur child fell out of one I was working on.

      Okay, didn't actually happen, but I think you get my point.

  • This will be great! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by TheMiddleRoad ( 1153113 ) on Tuesday December 02, 2025 @03:04PM (#65830799)

    If you can navigate through all the incredibly complex hurdles they throw in your way, you too can have just enough money to almost pay for your child's emergency room visit before they die from hepatitis. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/1... [nytimes.com]

    Of course that all assumes the hospital near you is still open after millions of Americans lose their health insurance and can no longer pay for care.

    But political points, amirite?

  • Poor owns a car and maybe a house (Score:5, Insightful)

    by tekram ( 8023518 ) on Tuesday December 02, 2025 @03:10PM (#65830819)

    That is what the poor or working class do, they don't own stocks that is locked up in an account. The rich can afford to own much more, therefore mostly stocks and bonds and even speculative items. It is great that the Dells are giving this away, but the effect will be minimal given the name of the account which is in itself a give away as to the motives and is a gimmick.

    The DT regime backed by big US businesses is doing this because they can't give the poor and middle class a working wage and keep prices affordable, so they taxed by any other way (tariffs) and then give back a little to the poor and give the majority of the taxes back in self dealings, tax loopholes and tax breaks to the rich.

  • Expanded child tax credits... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by fropenn ( 1116699 ) on Tuesday December 02, 2025 @03:15PM (#65830845)
    ...did something very similar (without the required stock investments) in a much more efficient way, and didn't require a billionaire to donate funds. Republicans hated the expanded child tax credits (although the expanded tax credits were very good at reducing the number of children in poverty), but are now celebrating this as a big "win"...because, I guess, it includes three of the Republicans' favorite things: 1) billionaires, 2) pretending the private sector does everything better than the government (and that the private sector does not directly benefit from subsidies, regulations, and other benefits provided by the government), and 3) big, fat, juicy profits for banks and Wall Street.

    • Total scam! (Score:4, Informative)

      by bussdriver ( 620565 ) on Tuesday December 02, 2025 @04:29PM (#65830995)

      I don't know how many billions they have to trash. This is a scam.
      A recent tax accounting conference to update accountants on the new laws etc. just happened in my city. People travel around the country for these things. The Trump savings account for children is complete shit. Nobody could understand the benefit to doing it; even the banks that manage it gain little and the IRS is somehow supposed to admin the things because the parents are NOT co-owners on the fund. Also, it must have Trumps NAME in the account title or it doesn't work.
      What was said is that before it was amended away, it was going to allow it all to be in crypto. The general assumption by these experts was that it was a crypo lobbied scheme that failed at the last second. That doesn't mean it won't get another law to adjust it later so it becomes something.
      If you are a bank running this thing and found some loophole then you could make money from it; the government itself is dumping $1000 tax payer money into each account. There are fixed returns and taxes on it - it's better to do your own IRA or something; it has zero benefit for the children other than it's a free $1000. Will they remember and get access to it in their future? maybe... some kind of management loophole could result in money being made by people like the Dells who are invested in banks who know the gimmick.

      As far as taxes; they make no sense.

      • Did you just make all that up? Have you looked at what $1000 turns into when invested in index funds for 18 years? And who cares what forms of investment they considered if they were later discarded?

        And hey, free basically-an-IRA-or-401k for every kid. Babies tend to be very bad at earning and investing any money, so I don't know how they would fund their own.

    • No, not more efficient at all. That just gave parents a larger tax refund. It reduced tax revenues. This doesn't reduce tax revenues, costs less ($1000 once, not $37,400 over 17 years), and under conservative projections will provide, what, four times as much?

      You could look at this as Dell just sent 6,250,000 kids to college for free, but you'd rather look at it as "oooo, banks are nasty!"??

      Are you well?

  • > Under the new law, "Trump Accounts" are available to any American child under 18 with a Social Security number and their families can fund the accounts

    So, if I have kids but I'm not having more kids in the next 3 years, then why would I want a Trump account vs my own account somewhere?

    Seems good if you are having a kids, its free money to invest for a long time. But if you have to fund the account you don't need a Trump account.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Chalex ( 71702 )

      I think it's basically like a pre-provisioned 529 and the govt puts a little bit of money in there to get you started. CA has a similar thing already I think.

    • These accounts may end up being a lifehack for affluent families to get $90,000 into the child's Roth IRA when they turn 18. Stay tuned as there are various moving parts that would have to be clarified as legal.

  • Or is this like Scott's Tots?

  • Given all the things Trump has been involved in and his track record on charity and honest I'd say this is a worthy investment for fools.
    No doubt the Dells are getting something for their troubles...

  • Why does EVERYTHING have to have this morons name on it. And why does he speak about himself in the third person. Pathetic.

  • IF the children turn 18, they can withdraw the funds THAT MIGHT REMAIN to put toward their education, to buy a home or to start a business.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jsepeta ( 412566 )

      hahahahaha there's not gonna be any funds left in the accounts by 2028. That giant asshole tricked how many people into buying the vaporware Trump Phone which will never ship?

  • ... "Trump Accounts" infrastructure to give $250

    Is this meant to impress parents? If parents had any self-awareness, they'd demand ALL billionaires pay taxes to vaccinate, feed and educate the country's children: That like other countries, the federal government enforced a minimum level of healthcare and education (more than a NCLB exam) by the states. At the moment, many US states treat children as an avoidable expense.

    Remember, many states are converting education funding to a voucher scheme: Do voucher-funded schools care about NCLB? Do they re

  • Every time Trump comes up with a charity, they get sued for stealing the money. I wouldn't trust anything with that jackal's name on it.

  • Everything about this appears to be a good thing to me. I honestly don't understand the negative comments.

    • Then you're coming across as a rube or willfully ignorant to what's going on or the interests of the people involved. They're not your buddies and not doing anything for kindness. Sadly, the state of education in America is abysmal and so it's never been easier to fool much more of the people more of the time.
      • Or is it that you're so twisted up inside that you can no longer see when people are actually doing good things for good reasons? It hurts me to see this. I'm worried for you because that cannot be healthy.
  • Just like the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, this is a tax avoidance scam and a PR blitz to "convince" people that the Dell family isn't the greedy, selfish asshole billionaires who exploited their workers, customers, and the planet to hoard ridiculous resources and corrupt the government with their lobbyists to rewrite laws including the tax code to gradually be more favorable to them. Trickling out crumbs over decades isn't doing all they could possibly do to help, just get/lend credit for it. Fuck
    • There is nothing worse for the soul than resentment. You're punishing yourself because of how you think strangers are living their lives. It's like using yourself as fuel for an engine that just sits there and spins.
  • where the U.S. Department of the Treasury will deposit $1,000 into investment accounts set up by Treasury for American children born between Jan. 1, 2025 and Dec. 31, 2028. And where is this $1,000 coming from ?? Regular tax payers ? The Dells' gift will use the "Trump Accounts" infrastructure to give $250 to each qualified child under 10... that will buy a couple of books, maybe.
  • why not just have free healthcare for children?

  • They better watch their ass.
    Dell's hired Trump on retainer.

  • When these accounts mature, the beneficiaries will immaturely blow all the money on day 1.

  • I can't load a news feed anywhere and not see another article celebrating their "gift". Of course the devil is in the details and the details show us this gift won't make much difference to many people.

    Even if you ignore the political aims here, $250 is not a lot of money. Being as it is $250 for kids born between 2025 and 2028 - but not available to them until they turn 18 - it likely won't even buy them a weekend's worth of groceries by the time they can access it. Yet it is supposed to help them b
  • Some conservatives who are rich beyond measure are spending a trivial portion of their wealth to offer to help kids at some time in the future. On top of that, it comes with so many strings attached that few will be able to cash this in. But they are good friends with our Dear Leader, so of course they deserve front page accolades here for doing this. The main stream media is also drinking this up and plastering news of this - with a beaming photo of the happy couple - on the front page of nearly every n

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