Michael and Susan Dell May Have Started Something Big With Their Commitment to America’s Children

This may be the classic example of improving America by arousing the patriotism of successful people rather than through failing tax-supported bureaucracies.

AP/Frank Franklin II
Michael and Susan Dell, who recently announced a multi-billion dollar donation to America's children. AP/Frank Franklin II

Three historic changes may grow out of the generous, patriotic $6.25 billion commitment that Michael Dell and his wife Susan Dell are making to the children of America.

Their generosity means that 25 million children will have an initial $250 investment account. This will mean even the poorest children in the poorest neighborhoods will own stock in American companies.

How will the left respond to the Dells’ pledge to help millions of American children fund newly created investment accounts under President Trump’s Invest America initiative? 

This may be the classic example of improving America by arousing the patriotism of successful people rather than through failing tax-supported bureaucracies. 

An estimated 25 million children younger than 10 will get $250 each from the Dells’ patriotic generosity. With the power of compounding interest, these accounts will grow.

Other successful citizens may decide to follow the Dells’ leadership and donate to these accounts.

Under the One Big Beautiful Bill, the American Treasury will provide $1,000 for each baby born after January 1, 2025. The Dells’ patriotic generosity will now help children born in the previous ten years. 

More of this kind of generosity will make it a lot easier to contrast free enterprise and free market values with big government socialism — which takes our money to finance corruption and establish bureaucratic systems that simply don’t work. 

The recently discovered $1 billion fraud at Minneapolis is an example of corruption. Chris Papst’s recent book about Baltimore’s public schools, “Failure Factory,” is a classic case study in wasted tax dollars and crippled lives.

There are three powerful outcomes from the Dell family’s leadership and patriotism.

First, the lives of millions of children and their families are going to be given a boost which may be psychological as much as it is financial. It will give poor children and families a sense of ownership.

It will teach them the power of saving and investing. And it will offer the possibility of a better future. These could end up being among the most important steps toward creating a Golden Age for America.

The creation of the Trump accounts in the One Big Beautiful Bill will create a huge opportunity for successful Americans to help their neighbors and fellow citizens. 

Companies will be able to make donations of up to $2,500 to their employees’ accounts with no tax paid by the employee for the money. Parents can invest up to $5,000 a year in their child’s account, with up to half of it coming from their employers. 

The Council of Economic Advisers estimates that with no additional savings beyond the initial $1,000 from the government, these accounts will grow to $5,800 by the time the children are 18 and $18,100 when they are 28. 

However, if a family and their employers decided to put in the maximum amount annually, the account would be worth $303,800 when the children are 18 and then an astounding $1.1 million when they are 28.

Second, the opportunity exists with these universal accounts for children to teach every American family about the value of savings and investment. 

It will help them understand the power of time in accumulating money, the virtue of savings, and the growth potential of a technologically and scientifically powered entrepreneurial free market. 

This could lead to a dramatic increase in the number of people eager to pursue the American dream on their own rather than being dependent on government handouts.

Third, the Dell family’s example may spur other billionaires to actively help create a Golden Age for America.

Today there are approximately 900 billionaires in the United States. Their estimated net worth is well above $6 trillion. If several of them became inspired by the Dells, their capacity to do good quickly — and with minimum bureaucracy and zero congressional involvement — would be amazing.

The great American industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie said: “The man who dies rich dies disgraced.” A new American Golden Age might be brought about by a rebirth of Carnegie’s philosophy. 

Carnegie, in his lifetime, built 2,509 libraries in almost 20 countries. In the United States alone, he built almost half the libraries in the entire country.

The Dells could be an isolated example of generosity and patriotism — or they may be the example which triggers an amazing renaissance of practical, impactful philanthropy.

Let’s hope it is the latter.


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