# Bill Gates for President - One Million Dollars to Every Person in America **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 4, 2005, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-gates-for-president-one-million-dollars-to-every-person-in-america/315498 "2005-08-04T00:15:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![billsfootballbuffulo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dec6dc/32.png) [@billsfootballbuffulo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billsfootballbuffulo)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-gates-for-president-one-million-dollars-to-every-person-in-america/315498/1 "2005-08-04T00:15:55Z")
Could Bill Gates run on the platform that if he was elected President he would give 1 million dollars to every person in America? Or would this be illegal? To assure the people he would actually give the money he could put it in a binding trust that paid out 1 million dollars (hell, he could make it five million) if he was elected President. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-gates-for-president-one-million-dollars-to-every-person-in-america/315498/2 "2005-08-04T00:21:08Z")
It’d be tricky, given that he’d be $299,900,000,000,000 short. ---
**Author:** ![RyJae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@RyJae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RyJae)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-gates-for-president-one-million-dollars-to-every-person-in-america/315498/3 "2005-08-04T00:26:05Z")
I’m not sure of the legal issue though I would be sure he does not have enough money to fulfill that promise by quite a load. Current population 295,734,134 [estimate](http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2119rank.html) 295,734,134x1,000,000 = 295,734,134,000,000 A load more then his current estimated worth of 46,600,000 [2004 Forbes](http://www.forbes.com/finance/lists/10/2004/LIR.jhtml?passListId=10&passYear=2004&passListType=Person&uniqueId=BH69&datatype=Person) ---
**Author:** ![RyJae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@RyJae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RyJae)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-gates-for-president-one-million-dollars-to-every-person-in-america/315498/4 "2005-08-04T00:27:20Z")
:smack: Not a math major by any means 46,600,000,000 ---
**Author:** ![Fuji\_Kitakyusho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@Fuji\_Kitakyusho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuji_Kitakyusho)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-gates-for-president-one-million-dollars-to-every-person-in-america/315498/5 "2005-08-04T00:31:49Z")
$157.57. Might buy my vote if I were hard up for cash, but my ethics generally don’t go for any less than $20,000. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-gates-for-president-one-million-dollars-to-every-person-in-america/315498/6 "2005-08-04T00:48:36Z")
Nah, he could do better than that. All he has to do is pay off 51% of the voters, not every man, woman and child. 70 million voters oughta be enough, and he could pony up $657 for each of them. Or, more efficiently, he could just buy a dozen senators. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-gates-for-president-one-million-dollars-to-every-person-in-america/315498/7 "2005-08-04T00:55:54Z")
The Federal vote-buying statute, 42 U.S.C. § 1973i: > [@](#): > > **© False information in registering or voting; penalties** > > Whoever knowingly or willfully gives false information as to his name, address or period of residence in the voting district for the purpose of establishing his eligibility to register or vote, or conspires with another individual for the purpose of encouraging his false registration to vote or illegal voting, **or pays or offers to pay or accepts payment either for registration to vote or for voting shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both** : Provided, however, That this provision shall be applicable only to general, special, or primary elections held solely or in part for the purpose of selecting or electing any candidate for the office of President, Vice President, presidential elector, Member of the United States Senate, Member of the United States House of Representatives, Delegate from the District of Columbia, Guam, or the Virgin Islands, or Resident Commissioner of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. _(emphasis added)_ Voteauction dot com was shut down for trying to facilitate the buying and selling of votes ([link](http://vote-auction.net/VOTEAUCTION/2000_LEGAL_DOCUMENTS/CHICAGO_ILLINOIS/207.70.85.119/preliminaryinjunctionorde.htm)). ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-gates-for-president-one-million-dollars-to-every-person-in-america/315498/8 "2005-08-04T01:12:37Z")
Even if it were legal and possible, wouldn’t the resulting inflation pretty much effectively wipe out the value of the million bucks? ---
**Author:** ![FisherQueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@FisherQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FisherQueen)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-gates-for-president-one-million-dollars-to-every-person-in-america/315498/9 "2005-08-04T01:15:20Z")
Just think what giving every voter a million dollars would do to the economy. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-gates-for-president-one-million-dollars-to-every-person-in-america/315498/10 "2005-08-04T01:42:10Z")
> [@FisherQueen](#): > > Just think what giving every voter a million dollars would do to the economy. It would be the liberal/socialist dream come true…leveling the playing field and all that. Of course, it would be a complete disaster, but what the hell. 😛 Not that its likely to happen…even the US government couldn’t give every man, woman and child a million dollars…or even give every family that much. -XT ---
**Author:** ![billsfootballbuffulo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dec6dc/32.png) [@billsfootballbuffulo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billsfootballbuffulo)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-gates-for-president-one-million-dollars-to-every-person-in-america/315498/11 "2005-08-04T02:02:12Z")
Would he enough money to buy off the right states? ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-gates-for-president-one-million-dollars-to-every-person-in-america/315498/12 "2005-08-04T02:04:26Z")
> [@Patty O'Furniture](#): > > The Federal vote-buying statute, 42 U.S.C. § 1973i: > > _(emphasis added)_ > > Voteauction dot com was shut down for trying to facilitate the buying and selling of votes ([link](http://vote-auction.net/VOTEAUCTION/2000_LEGAL_DOCUMENTS/CHICAGO_ILLINOIS/207.70.85.119/preliminaryinjunctionorde.htm)). The OP’s suggestion isn’t vote-buying, though. Whether you get a million dollars has nothing to do with how or whether you vote. He’s promising to give everyone money, not just those who vote for him. I think it would be perfectly legal, in the hypothetical situation that someone could actually do it. ---
**Author:** ![Conan\_the\_Librarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@Conan\_the\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Conan_the_Librarian)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-gates-for-president-one-million-dollars-to-every-person-in-america/315498/13 "2005-08-04T02:13:55Z")
Step 1: Give each person who votes for you a handful of cash and then $.01 for everyone who voted for the competition. Step 2: Everyone goes to jail. Step 3: Pardon everyone who voted for you 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-gates-for-president-one-million-dollars-to-every-person-in-america/315498/14 "2005-08-04T03:16:35Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > It would be the liberal/socialist dream come true…leveling the playing field and all that. Of course, it would be a complete disaster, but what the hell. Yeah, it would be wiser to give just the richest two percent of the population 500 billion dollars to divide. Much better for the economy. ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-gates-for-president-one-million-dollars-to-every-person-in-america/315498/15 "2005-08-04T03:36:06Z")
Well, you’ll recall that $300 income tax refund stunt that Bush pulled. I know of more than one person who voted for him because of that. ---
**Author:** ![MAGunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@MAGunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MAGunter)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-gates-for-president-one-million-dollars-to-every-person-in-america/315498/16 "2005-08-04T06:15:08Z")
A different question in the same vein; A little unsure on the numbers but how big a general tax cut it would be if Gates (somehow) turned most of his assets to cash and paid for $30b worth of tax bills? And furthermore, would _that_ be illegal? What I mean is assume, he’s running and his campaign promise is that he’ll spend $30b of his own money to partially cover taxes for everyone making less than $100k a year…how big a drop in taxes could that be? Or if you want to get even more crazy, he runs as a Democrat and decides to put $30b towards the federal taxes of all Texans. Assuming it worked and Gates took CA, TX, and NY he’d basically have the election locked up. How illegal would that be? ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea5d25/32.png) [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-gates-for-president-one-million-dollars-to-every-person-in-america/315498/17 "2005-08-04T13:16:41Z")
If Bill Gates said that winning the Presidency would make the new XBox and Halo 3 come out faster, he’d be President tomorrow. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-gates-for-president-one-million-dollars-to-every-person-in-america/315498/18 "2005-08-04T13:32:24Z")
> [@Happy Scrappy Hero Pup](#): > > If Bill Gates said that winning the Presidency would make the new XBox and Halo 3 come out faster, he’d be President tomorrow. 14 year olds can’t vote. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-gates-for-president-one-million-dollars-to-every-person-in-america/315498/19 "2005-08-04T13:36:06Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > 14 year olds can’t vote. But the badgered parents of 14-year-olds can. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-gates-for-president-one-million-dollars-to-every-person-in-america/315498/20 "2005-08-04T14:12:44Z")
> [@](#): > > by **LostGoals** > Not a math major by any means Actually, elementary errors are the sign of math majors everywhere… “I got the right answer!” “Yes, except it was off by a factor of 1000!” “So?” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-gates-for-president-one-million-dollars-to-every-person-in-america/315498.md?page=2)