President Trump yesterday: “If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate … I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen … for $5,000.” Number of adult US citizens: 245 million Cost: $1.2 trillion But unlike a profitable company, the federal government has no earnings from which to pay a dividend. Instead, it's running a deficit of $2 trillion. So where would the money come from? Absent spending cuts or new revenues, we’d have to borrow it - adding another $1.2 trillion to the national debt. And what would that do to inflation? We've seen this movie before. The covid stimulus programs were funded with borrowed money - pushing inflation above 9%, the highest level in 40 years.