I recently read about the potential for a Doge Dividend paid to all US citizens of a certain age. I personally think this is brilliant and absolutely not a joke. Actually, I am going to run through the math below to demonstrate why this is so smart.

Before I get to the math, I want to share a fun anecdote about our current debt situation in the US. What I’ve come to realize is that the only upside to the U.S. government having $37 trillion in debt is that the repayment timeline is technically infinite. We owe it to ourselves, can refinance at will, and move money around as needed.

So if the government ever posts just $1 in profit, that means we could pay off the debt over 37 trillion years at a dollar per year.

Let’s go!

Meanwhile, I’ve been running some math on the potential Doge Dividend, and things are getting interesting. Like really interesting.

There are about 330 million people in America. If each person received a $1,000 check based on savings and cuts, that would total $330 billion.

So far, Doge has already cut $120 billion in waste in just a few weeks, and all estimates point toward $500 billion in cuts by the end of the year.

Now, factoring in that a large portion of the population wouldn’t be eligible due to age, you could instead issue a $1,500 check to 225 million people, keeping the total cost at around $337.5 billion.

If Doge cuts $500 billion by the end of the year, the math is rather simple: subtract the total savings from the dividend and you’re still left with $162.5 billion in savings to return back to the Treasury and reduce the deficit.

$500 billion in wasteful cuts – $337.5 billion in Doge Dividend = $162.5 billion in net savings.

Also, I should add that my estimates are bit low compared to others, like James Fishback who says it could be more like $5,000 per household:

What makes this even more compelling is that the dividend is a one-time event, while the cuts are ongoing, meaning the cost savings keep compounding over time. Theoretically, the government could have a Doge Dividend in its back pocket at any point in time if sudden investment activity and stimulus is needed.

The more I run the numbers, the better this looks. And if Doge cuts even more than the dividend payout, it still maintains a positive return on investment from year one.

Now, some might say “what will that do to inflation!” and I will write about that, but this administration is truly galaxy braining everything with the plans to unleash energy, which means lower input prices for everyone, and also reduce regulation, meaning lower legal and processing fees for everyone.

Here we go.

This is what truly well-run nations should be able to do—reward themselves with smart savings rather than reckless spending.