How Donald Trump Can Make America Great Again with a Citizen’s Dividend
All American citizens have a very real stake in the future prosperity of our country. And so if Donald Trump is going to run America like a business, the citizens must be the shareholders. All citizens should be guaranteed a share of the profits of American prosperity with a Citizen’s Dividend.
We actually already have a Citizen’s Dividend in America.
In 1976, the Governor of Alaska, Jay Hammond (Republican), instituted the Alaska Permanent Fund. Every year the fund pays a dividend of Alaska oil profits to all Alaska residents that have lived in the state for a full year, don’t plan on leaving, and have not been convicted of felony. The amount paid to residents is as high as $3,000/yr.
In the case of Alaska, the dividend is funded by fossil fuel money. But it should come from renewable energy too. Especially after all the government subsidies the renewable energy industry has received to develop their technology and expand their business. A citizens dividend could come from sources other than energy too of course. Perhaps a tax on Wall Street or even robots.
Yes. I said Robots.
Believe me. I wish I was joking. But I’m not.
Truck driver is the most common job in America today. And all those jobs are being threatened at this very moment, not by immigrants, but by self-driving car technology. In fact Anheuser-Busch is already shipping Budweiser beers with self-driving trucks.
Donald Trump wants to renegotiate the trade deals that sent millions of American manufacturing jobs overseas to China. But those manufacturing jobs are now becoming unavailable to humans anywhere, due to automation.
They can’t be deported because they’re homegrown. A border wall will provide Americans no protection from job automating bots. But a Citizen’s Dividend would. It would provide financial protection. And we should make the robots pay for it!
In the same way Alaskans receive a share of the state’s oil profits, Americans should get a share of the profits of automation technology. After all, almost all such innovation (like the Internet for example) was developed with an investment of our tax dollars, in the form of research grants and/or other subsidies. We deserve a return on investment.
It’s not a handout. It’s what we deserve.
Now at first you might be compelled to reject the idea of receiving money whether you work or not, on the basis that it’s some sort of “handout”.
But it is not a handout. It’s how business works. Donald Trump himself makes money without lifting a finger, simply by earning interest on his wealth.
America is the wealthiest country in the history of the world but more and more Americans are struggling to pay rent. We can change that by investing America’s wealth back into America with a Citizen’s Dividend.
It’s Americans who built this country. And it’s Americans who do the work everyday to maintain and improve it. We spend countless hours on our jobs, followed by countless more hours raising the next American generation at home. So it’s only right for Americans to receive their fair share of America’s profits.
Less government. More freedom.
We are no longer free to live off the land, to build a home, or hunt for food. Government has made these basic aspects of human life illegal without a government permit. It’s time for the government to make up for that freedom they have taken from us. If the government and banks are going to claim America’s land and resources for themselves, they had better at least provide us with the bare necessities to purchase them back.
Giving all Americans money may sound like a socialist dream. But it’s really a conservative idea making a comeback. Nobel Prize Economist, Milton Friedman, wrote about guaranteeing a minimum income to all Americans in his book “Capitalism and Freedom”.
If Donald Trump is serious about discontinuing the status quo policies of inefficient welfare and corporate subsidizes, Trump must invest directly in the American people with a Citizen’s Dividend. Because it is ultimately the American people, not corporations or government, that will make America great again.
Matt Orfalea makes videos on Youtube. You can also follow him here on Medium, Twitter, and Facebook. If you feel others would appreciate this post, please click the green heart below so more people see it, and support the author on Patreon.
