Many times we hear that the American Dream is dead, in our opinion, this is untrue. With the success of many self-made millionaires or billionaires, the dream to be whoever and whatever you want is truly alive in the United States. Although it could be argued that it is harder to build your wealth as the history of our country unravels, our question is: When was it ever easy to get rich? We believe that everyone who is self-made deserves praise, as it takes hard work, perseverance, and, in addition, the society that enabled them to reach those heights. However, it is pervasive that there is a problem with the system of inheritance and passive income for a billionaire’s astronomical amount of money that needs to be addressed. We believe that taxing itself is not the actual issue but instead what the money is being used for. Multimillionaires and billionaires should cut out the middlemen (government, United Way, etc.) to give directly to groups that are making the biggest impact rather than looking to be taxed to influence our society. Over the generations, especially in the last few decades, we have seen how the government can waste billions, if not trillions, of taxpayer dollars on unproven projects, bureaucracy, PPP loans, and the overall mismanagement of allocating funds throughout the country. This is why we strongly believe in not taxing the rich more but opening up the conversation to give more strategically per year.
With that all being said, Steve Ballmer, we pick you to be our guiding example of how the 1% can give more in 2024 and beyond. The reason why we chose you is because of the recent CNN article discussing the $1B you will receive from your dividend from your Microsoft stock ownership while only being taxed 20%. What we are proposing is giving $500M to Building Blocks for Kids (BBFK) so that we can educate California high school students about financial literacy and career discovery. With the $500M, BBFK would educate one entire grade level in California high schools for a full year ( around 15k classrooms and 423k students) and demonstrate how there is a way to escape the cycle of poverty and maximize their future. Therefore, every multimillionaire and billionaire should give to the groups who prioritize accountability, budgeting, and oversight which will bolster the next generation of what it means to be financially free and find a career that will have the biggest impact on them and the country.
“No one gets to choose their childhood but everyone should be able to make their own future” - BBFK