DJT thinks he can “sell maybe a million” gold card visas at $5 million a pop to people who want to live in the United States. (Do they get to bring their spouse, kids, mother, beloved pets? Not clear).
I looked at that number and my mind went brrrrrzzzzzt. A few weeks later, it occurred to me to wonder: who can pay that?
In the entire world, 8.4 million people have stockpiled $5 million or more. Would they go broke to live in a country with no social services?
Besides, a Rich People Visa already exists: the EB-5 says anyone who promises they’ll invest $1 million (less in some regions) to create ten permanent full-time jobs can live in the US. And they get to bring their families.
But the “gold card” isn’t an investment. It’s a donation.
How much do you actually need, to be able to afford to drop $5 million? The “ultra-rich” have $30 million stashed throwing off interest, or $50 million, depending on who’s counting. If you can somehow wangle a 10 percent return, that leaves you with $3 to $5 million in income. Pfffft.
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| Ultra-high-net individuals (2020) |
Are you willing to give one percent of your hoard to charity the kakistocracy? $5 million is one percent of $500 million. In 2022, just over 7,000 people had that kind of loot (pdf: page 31).
Well hey. Maybe you’re willing to drop 10 percent of your entire trove to get to live in “the land of the free.”* In the entire world, there are 218,000 people worth $50 million. 218 thousand. More than half already live in the United States.
So … maybe a hundred thousand people have a big enough pile to seriously consider a $5 million tax write-off beneficence to the current US regime. (If you believe that DT and his handlers will actually put that money toward the national debt? Bridge, yada yada.)
At this point, I’m asking myself, did I actually have to do the work to prove that the liar in cheat pulled numbers out of thin air? I know, I know, it’s a given. But my brain wouldn’t stop poking at the question until I satisfied it with citations.
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* for rich white straight cis Christians with a Y chromosome (who haven’t pissed off DJT… yet)
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