# What are you doing with your $5k? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [September 10, 2026, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-with-your-5k/1032962 "2026-09-10T12:16:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2026, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-with-your-5k/1032962/61 "2026-09-10T21:49:36Z")
Same here! I’ll combine it with my money from George Soros for participating in protests. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2026, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-with-your-5k/1032962/62 "2026-09-10T21:51:12Z")
He can say anything he wants. Following through is another story, but we all know this. His followers probably don’t. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2026, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-with-your-5k/1032962/63 "2026-09-10T23:43:22Z")
Do we need a separate thread for the $500? I hope not. [Trump Announces $500 Rebates for Some Obamacare Customers, Weeks Before the Election](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/business/trump-obamacare-rebates.html?unlocked_article_code=1.AFE.WlhC.Msq2OWWKEWvK&smid=url-share) > [@](#): > > The Trump administration said on Thursday that it planned to issue $500 in rebates to nearly one million people insured under the Affordable Care Act, describing the money as payments for “overcharges” by the previous administration. . . . > > Many farmers, ranchers, entrepreneurs and early retirees, people who earn more than around $65,000 a year and do not get health coverage from their jobs, could receive the money. The New York Times words the above like it is tentative, and they are correct – you cannot count on the money yet. But I think Trump will go through with it. Strongmen give their people bread and circuses. Trump has already given some of the circuses, including the White House cage fights, and the Grand Military Parade last year. Next: Inflationary bread. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2026, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-with-your-5k/1032962/64 "2026-09-11T00:13:54Z")
Babylon Bee headline: Trump Pledges That If Voters Defeat Socialism In November, They Will Each Get An Equal Redistribution Of Wealth From The Government When the Babylon Bee mocks you, it’s clear that your support is even draining from the right wing. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2026, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-with-your-5k/1032962/65 "2026-09-11T01:29:09Z")
I’ll use it to pay for the tariffs on my imported PC boards! WooHoo! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2026, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-with-your-5k/1032962/66 "2026-09-11T01:37:33Z")
The first thing I’ll do is check with a lawyer. I know it’s a federal crime to offer people money to influence their vote, like Donald Trump was just recorded doing. But I want to know if it’s a federal crime to cash the check. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2026, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-with-your-5k/1032962/67 "2026-09-11T01:39:05Z")
> [@Daithi\_Lacha](#): > > Trump has already said that the caveat is “You have to spend it in this country.” Per the BBC: > _Trump also told the Republican conference that the money would have to be spent in the US, but it is unclear how that would be monitored._ I’ve heard he’s going to build a wall. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2026, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-with-your-5k/1032962/68 "2026-09-11T01:44:13Z")
You don’t even need to worry about that. Trump’s taken care of all of the details. He’s making a $5000 donation in your name to the Trump campaign. Isn’t that magnanimous of him, to make it in your name? He could have put his own name on it, you know. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2026, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-with-your-5k/1032962/69 "2026-09-11T02:05:01Z")
The ludicrous $5000 bribe to every American adult is of course never going to happen, but the completely unenforceable prohibition on spending it in a foreign country (especially the enemy nation of Canada) is equally comical and could only come from the mind of an idiot. If I was an American wanting to visit Canada, I’d simply claim that I was spending **my** $5K, not the $5K I got from the gubbermint, which is patriotically invested in a defense contractor that makes bombs for the Department of War. And from the post by @PhillyGuy > The Trump administration said on Thursday that it planned to issue $500 in rebates to nearly one million people insured under the Affordable Care Act, describing the money as payments for “overcharges” by the previous administration. The Orange One’s sudden concern for the Little Guy just as election day approaches is truly heartwarming. Since he’s been regularly screwing the Little Guy one way or another every single day of his regime, he must have had a truly major epiphany of epic religious proportions. I wonder how his “concept of a plan” for health care reform is coming along. ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2026, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-with-your-5k/1032962/70 "2026-09-11T02:05:04Z")
Wait. 21 trillion in tariff income and I’m getting a mere $5,000? The math isn’t mathing here. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2026, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-with-your-5k/1032962/71 "2026-09-11T03:16:28Z")
What’s the buying power of $5k after the inflationary impact of $1.35 trillion being injected into the economy? And while it’s all very interesting to see how you fine folk will be spending your windfall, I’m curious to know what Musk, Page, Bezos, Brin and Ellison will do with it. Another ivory back scratcher? ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2026, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-with-your-5k/1032962/72 "2026-09-11T03:19:15Z")
> [@MikeF](#): > > Wait. 21 trillion in tariff income and I’m getting a mere $5,000? The math isn’t mathing here.   I have to admire the Orange One’s amazing strategies. To have pulled in from tariffs (“paid by foreign countries, like the enemy nation of Canada”) an amount equal to two-thirds of the entire GDP of the USA, and three times the entire US federal budget, is surely an accomplishment to be admired. (And yes, he made that claim just recently in Septemer in an interview with Fox News.) By this logic, and by my calculations Trump owes you – and every American adult – approximately $78,000. What a marvelous leader youse guys have elected! If nothing else, certainly a scrupulously honest one! So you’ll probably get your $78,000, shortly after the November election. Roughly about two weeks after, I’d say, the standard Trumpian measure of time, which happily coincides with the maximum memory span of the MAGA cult. . ---
**Author:** ![J.P.Joe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a5b964/32.png) [@J.P.Joe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J.P.Joe)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2026, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-with-your-5k/1032962/73 "2026-09-11T03:52:39Z")
Hookers and blow? More like hookers and blowjobs, amirite?🎉 ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2026, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-with-your-5k/1032962/74 "2026-09-11T10:34:43Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > I’ll use it to pay for the tariffs on my imported PC boards! What are you talking about? China, or whoever is sending them, pays those. It’s simple economics. Very, very simple. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2026, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-with-your-5k/1032962/75 "2026-09-11T16:40:01Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > I’ll use it to pay for the tariffs on my imported PC boards! Don’t bother. AI will kill all humanity in less than a decade. Faster computers will only accelerate the process. [![](https://berkshireedge-images.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Mad-Magazine-Alfred-Neuman-what-me-worry.gif) ](https://berkshireedge-images.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Mad-Magazine-Alfred-Neuman-what-me-worry.gif) ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2026, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-with-your-5k/1032962/76 "2026-09-11T16:58:12Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I’ll spend my $5,000 on a loaf of bread. Really the point: in the nightmare that the Senate stays R and Trump actually followed through, which of course not, that sudden influx would be highly inflationary, so I’d be stocking up on basics as fast as possible because prices would start to rise significantly even faster than they have been already. > [@Cazzle](#): > > What’s the buying power of $5k after the inflationary impact of $1.35 trillion being injected into the economy? Exactly so. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2026, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-with-your-5k/1032962/77 "2026-09-11T18:45:51Z")
Just to show how stupid some GOP politicians are- [Lutnick: Trump’s $5,000 checks wouldn’t rely on taxpayer funds](https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/lutnick-trump-5000-check-taxpayer-funds-rcna597092) > President Donald Trump’s promised $5,000 “dividend” for all U.S. adults would not be paid for with taxpayer dollars, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Thursday. > > “It’s not tax money,” Lutnick told NBC News in a wide-ranging interview at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, where he discussed the attacks and a variety of economic issues. > > He claimed that the administration could “earn the money that Donald Trump wants to pay out, not from the deficit and not from taxpayers.” Which is- from Taxpayers. > Vice President JD Vance suggested Wednesday that the promised payments could come from [U.S. tariff revenues](https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/trump-escalates-trade-war-canada-moving-ban-import-autos-dairy-alcohol-rcna596666). But even before the Supreme Court ordered hundreds of billions in tariff revenues to be refunded, they would not have come close to covering this cost, according to [the nonpartisan Tax Foundation](https://taxfoundation.org/blog/tariff-dividends-cost-more-tariff-revenues-generate/). Whic is also from taxpayers and just bad math. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2026, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-with-your-5k/1032962/78 "2026-09-11T20:20:37Z")
I’ll buy a single stick of black market RAM that fell off the truck on its way to the data center. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2026, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-with-your-5k/1032962/79 "2026-09-11T20:34:35Z")
I’m sure that they could find another way to get those funds… I’d bet that the Stable Genius Tariff Master would consider it “fair” if he added a special fee (not a tax, no!) to all goods purchased in Blue States, because of _reasons_, or take part of it out of disaster relief for such states, or a $200 per person border crossing surcharge, because NO ONE should want to leave our great nation and should pay for the privilege of coming back! If our elected representatives and the “impartial” courts don’t protect us from his whims, then there’s endless money available to someone willing to just take/demand it… ---
**Author:** ![f.coli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eada6e/32.png) [@f.coli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/f.coli)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2026, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-with-your-5k/1032962/80 "2026-09-11T21:56:44Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > So this bribe would cost the US Treasury roughly $1.35 trillion. But that amounts to about 3.4% of the national debt, so it’s insignificant [s]. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-with-your-5k/1032962.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-with-your-5k/1032962.md?page=5)