Trumps $5000 baby bonus is perhaps the worst idea he has ever proposed.
I can see a tax break for additional babies.
Handing people $5000 who are already costing the taxpayer to support them is not what we need.
Hopefully this isn’t in the Big Beautiful Bill.
Yeah, another effort from Trump to solve a genuine problem in the most brain dead (but public and quick) way possible.
The pros: The US is in a bit of a demographic crisis, and we're not hitting replacement rates. Doing something about that ain't a bad idea if you don't want to be dealing with the problem China has now in 10-20 years.
The cons: Just giving people cash is patently stupid. It's not enough to provide for a child anyway, it's just an incentive towards no future planning, it'll mostly incentivize the part of the population that a. can't afford a kid in the first place, and b. already have them anyway. Totally pointless in every way.
As a (potentially) better approach, one of the eastern European nations, I forget which one, Hungary, maybe? Is also looking at this issue.
Their approach? Their population are reluctant to have children because they can't afford housing. A real concern for the middle class American as well. They can just about buy a house and cover a mortgage at 35 or so, but can't afford to do that and raise a child. Plus they don't want to have a kid until they own a place. Plus of course, the expendable funds to 'afford' a family are pretty tight until the mortgage is gone, by which time you're probably too old anyway.
So they're offering mortgages with very, very favorable terms (little down, very low interest) to families who plan to start a family. Still means tested, so default rates are no worse than any other mortgage, but very, very low monthly payments by comparison (think 2%APR vs 7%).
The deal is simple. Take this mortgage, have a kid within (I think) 5 years, you keep the favorable terms for the 30 years. Don't, and rates revert to standard market rates, and the government then sells the security onto the market as a normal mortgage.
I think that's a much better incentive structure for the young middle class American, who is primarily the group that simply aren't reproducing. It gives them a place to raise a kid young enough that it coincides with the time in your life you might want to start a family, and gives them a little bit less housing cost pressure so they can afford to do so. If they renege, no major loss, government subsidized mortgage rates for 5 years are a cost, but you can recoup some of it with whatever profit you can make selling on the higher interest mortgage backed security on the open market.
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