Trump Accounts give children free money. The wealth gap remains exactly where it was. Experts looked at the program and discovered what everyone already knew: it doesn't work.
The accounts start with government seed money. Some kids get more than others depending on income. Then the money sits there growing at whatever rate the market decides poor people deserve. By the time these kids turn eighteen, they'll have enough to maybe cover half a semester at a state school or a down payment on a used Camry. Life-changing stuff.
Experts say the real barrier is that wealthy families already give their kids actual money. They also give them connections, tutors, unpaid internships their parents subsidize, and the confidence that comes from never wondering if the electricity will stay on. But sure, let's counter that with a few thousand dollars in an account the kid can't touch for two decades.
The wealth gap exists because some people have wealth and others don't. Giving the second group a small amount of the first group's money while the first group continues to accumulate exponentially more money does not close gaps. It widens them at a slightly different rate.
Retail traders will see this headline and think they've discovered alpha. They'll open custodial accounts for their nephews and dump it all into whatever coin some podcaster mentioned. The account will be worth thirty-seven dollars by 2035. The nephew will use it to buy weed.
Trump put his name on the accounts because that's what he does. He could've called them Freedom Savings Accounts or Future Leaders Fund. But branding is branding. Now every time someone checks their kid's balance and sees it's up four percent in three years, they'll think of him. Strategic.
The gap will remain. The accounts will exist. Experts will continue to explain why free money that isn't actually free money doesn't solve structural inequality. And somewhere, a financial advisor is already drafting the seminar: "Maximizing Your Child's Trump Account." Tickets are two hundred dollars.
Photo by David Jackson on Unsplash
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