The investment chief behind the DOGE dividend explains his pitch to Elon Musk: Q&A

Good morning! In the last 24 hours the DOGE dividend has quickly become one of the most talked-about policy ideas —?so Opening Bell Daily sat down with the investment CEO who pitched the idea. Full Q&A below.

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The case for the DOGE dividend

What would you do with an extra $5,000 right now??

More importantly, where would it come from??

James Fishback , the CEO of investment firm Azoria Partners, sees a way for every US taxpaying household to get a check President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), helmed by Elon Musk.?

On Tuesday, Fishback pitched the idea — dubbed the “DOGE dividend” — publicly on X.

Musk replied directly to the post: “Will check with the President.”?

Currently, DOGE is reportedly achieving about $1 billion in savings per day through its first several weeks of operation. The stated goal is $2 trillion in total savings.

Fishback’s proposal is for the White House to work with Congress to take 20% of that and distribute it to each of the 79 million tax-paying US households.?

The math works out to about $5,000 per household.?

The pitch has stirred controversy across social media, with some detractors likening it to a political handout, and others cautioning that it could stoke inflation or undermine debt-reduction goals.?

Investor Anthony Pompliano, for one, said Wednesday that the savings from DOGE should be used as a means to reduce the federal income tax instead.?

Opening Bell Daily sat down with Fishback to better understand his view and what it could mean for everyday Americans.?

The following Q&A has been lightly edited for clarity and length.?

Q: With the above numbers in mind, explain the DOGE dividend in plain language and why you believe it to be useful.?

James Fishback: Restitution for government waste, fraud, and abuse is the right thing to do, and it’s required to restore public trust in government, which the political-science literature demonstrates is directly linked to tax morale and therefore tax receipts.?

Giving the taxpayer an equity stake, effectively, in cost-cutting will incentivize the average American to care about balanced budgets and call out wasteful spending wherever they see it, increasing the surface area for DOGE to do its work.?

Seventy-nine million people will be incentivized to report any government waste that they see in their daily lives, which is likely to increase the total quantity of savings that DOGE identifies.?

Because the tax refund is limited to households paying federal income tax, it will incentivize 2025 labor force participation. Low labor force participation is throttling economic growth, with 7 million working-age men not working.

An incremental incentive to get them back to work will mitigate this trend and increase tax receipts, which is a great thing for the budget and the country.

Q: Can you break down the best- and worst-case scenarios for the DOGE dividend, or the bull- and bear-case???

JF: The bull case is that DOGE saves $2 trillion, $400 billion of which is returned to taxpayers in the form of $5,000 checks, who use it for savings...

This is a shortened edition of the Q and A. Click here to see the full interview.