James Fishback recently came up with a novel concept in a dream: distribute dividend checks to American taxpayers based on the savings achieved by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency as it streamlines parts of the federal government.
The idea gained traction on Tuesday when Fishback shared it on Twitter, and Musk replied, indicating that he would relay the concept to Trump. On Wednesday at the FII Priority Summit in Miami Beach, Trump himself highlighted Fishback’s proposal.
“There’s even a new concept under review where we allocate 20% of the DOGE savings to American citizens, with 20% designated for debt repayment, because the figures are remarkable, Elon,” Trump stated.
However, if Trump moves forward with Fishback’s vision, low-income Americans might not see any benefit.
Fishback, the CEO of investment firm Azoria and a former associate of presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy during DOGE’s inception, spoke to NBC News about how he woke from that dream and collaborated with his firm’s lead researcher to draft a proposal aimed at issuing checks to millions of American households.
“We fleshed this out in roughly two and a half hours,” Fishback remarked on Wednesday. “We forwarded it to [White House chief of staff] Susie [Wiles], shared it with some individuals in the administration and at Treasury, and now, just a day later, it’s been presented to President Trump by Elon. It’s truly exhilarating.”
This episode highlights how quickly Musk can bring seemingly random ideas — even those from an obscure 30-year-old investor — to the president’s attention through his social media platform, X.
A “DOGE dividend” isn’t entirely new territory for Trump; it resembles the pandemic-era initiatives from his first term when direct payments were issued to Americans with Trump’s name included.
“The checks should be signed by the president of the United States, and they should prominently feature the word DOGE, quite simply, because we need to be transparent,” Fishback explained, adding, “As the CEO of Azoria, my name is on the checks I give our employees each month. President Trump represents the country, as the duly elected leader of the United States. His name ought to be on these checks, alongside DOGE, since that’s responsible for the savings.”
In contrast to the pandemic payments, which reached individuals below a specified income level, Fishback’s proposal assumes DOGE will generate $2 trillion in government cuts. He proposes allocating 20% of those savings, equating to $400 billion, among 79 million taxpaying households, providing each with $5,000. It’s important to note that the rebate would only go to households that contribute more in taxes than they receive back, thereby excluding many low-income Americans who, according to the Pew Research Center, typically pay little to no federal income tax if their adjusted gross income is below $40,000.
Fishback argues that since the dividend checks would be funded by previously appropriated dollars rather than deficit-financing—unlike pandemic stimulus checks—they wouldn’t exacerbate inflation.
“The DOGE Dividend differs from past stimulus payments (like the 2021 American Rescue Plan) because it’s aimed exclusively at tax-paying households,” he claims. “Tax-paying households are more inclined to save (as opposed to spending) a transfer payment like the DOGE Dividend, as a lower proportion of their income goes toward consumption. There’s nothing inflationary about paying down debt, saving for emergencies, or investing in education or retirement. In fact, reducing debt has a deflationary effect.”
In an interview, Fishback expressed that limiting the dividend to households above a certain income level should help mitigate any apprehensions about inflation stemming from the rebates, noting that pandemic checks were “indiscriminately” distributed.
“Many low-income households effectively received transfer payments nearing 25% to 30% of their annual income,” Fishback noted, adding, “This proposal exclusively targets households that are net-payers of federal income tax, indicating they are less likely to spend and more likely to save from the DOGE Dividend.”
Nevertheless, even among Republicans, consensus on issuing checks funded by DOGE savings remains elusive—the total potential savings being currently unspecified. The group’s website claims to have saved $55 billion thus far, but some assertions about its accomplishments have not held up under scrutiny. For instance, DOGE claimed to save $8 billion from a canceled contract at the Department of Homeland Security, which was found to be only $8 million.
Musk initially stated that DOGE would find $2 trillion in savings by mid-next year, though he has since adjusted those expectations.
“We need to determine if any money is actually saved before we promise people checks in the mail,” remarked Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. He added, “I thought the focus was on tackling our deficit. Distributing dividends wouldn’t assist in that goal. It feels like we’re putting the cart before the horse. I have the cart; I can’t even see the horse yet.”
Regarding reservations about limiting rebates to households above a certain income threshold, Zandi concurred that such a strategy would likely result in recipients saving more of the payments rather than spending them immediately.
“We’re nitpicking,” he said. “These discussions are highly marginal. The overall principle is… DOGE has a considerable distance to cover to determine if it can actually save money and whether that will ultimately be beneficial for the economy before we start discussing dividend checks.”
When asked about the proposal at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) did not seem supportive of it.
“Well, politically, that could be advantageous for us, you know, it provides everyone with a check,” Johnson stated. “However, considering our core principles, fiscal responsibility is our commitment as conservatives. We are facing a $36 trillion federal debt and a significant deficit. We need to prioritize paying down the credit card.”
On the same day at CPAC, Musk stated that he had discussed the proposal with Trump, and that the president was aligned with it. Musk, known as the world’s richest man, who has seemingly become an influential advisor to the president, said, “It sounds like… that’s something we’re going to do.”
The White House declined to comment on the proposal.
This week, Fishback traveled to Washington and indicated that he had several promising discussions about the proposal with stakeholders, although he refrained from disclosing specific names. He did share a video of a brief conversation with Musk on Thursday.
“Now, for those who wish to critique this plan and claim DOGE could never deliver $2 trillion in savings, we disagree, yet let’s assume they are correct,” Fishback stated. “Let’s say the savings amount to only $1 trillion. Then the checks would be reduced to $2,500. If it’s merely $500 billion, the checks would be $1,250. Regardless, that is still substantial money.”
“Honestly, it’s not just about the dollar amount,” he added. “It symbolizes the government returning funds as restitution to hardworking Americans, whether in East Baltimore or East Palestine, who feel that their tax dollars have been mismanaged and misused.”
However, as Zandi pointed out, these cuts could come with economic repercussions.
“There’s no such thing as a free lunch,” he said. “If you terminate jobs, that will impact the economy. You need to assess the broader economic implications of all this, both in the short term and the long term. You’re presuming that the jobs being cut and the work being reduced weren’t significant, and that there was no value in the work being done by those in the FAA or USAID, or the FTC and FDA.”
“That’s a bold stance to claim these roles provide no benefit or importance for the future, and that they aren’t contributing to the effective functioning of our economy and society,” he concluded. “I don’t presume to know; I doubt anyone can say for certain, either.”
