“A New Age of Capitalism,” Bessent Declares, as Dells Pledge $6.25 Billion

Plus, what the New York Times’s Roger Cohen missed about “Imperial Israel”

Michael Dell and Susan Dell at the White House with Senator Cruz, Speaker Johnson, and President Trump in a screenshot from the White House livestream.

For those of us concerned about some polling and some election results showing declining levels of support for capitalism and increased levels of support for socialism among young people, this afternoon’s White House event with President Trump and Michael and Susan Dell offered some hope of a different trend emerging.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent explained the idea behind the “Trump Accounts,” the tax-deferred savings accounts for children that were included in the One Big Beautiful Bill and that Michael and Susan Dell expanded with a gift announced today of $6.25 billion to fund $250 Trump accounts for 25 million children.

“We are going to make sure all American families have a stake in the success of America,” Bessent said. “Every day, when the stock market goes up or down, and we believe over the 18 years, it will go up….it will be a game-changer. People who have a stake in the system and become more and more vested in the system do not want to bring down the system, they want to make it better. So I think we will look back on today and know that these Trump accounts have started a new age of capitalism and market interest for the whole country.”

“You’re now in the game. That act alone, I think reinvigorates the American Dream, it reinvigorates the idea of free market capitalism” said the founder and CEO of Altimeter Capital, Brad Gerstner.

“What I am excited about is, we are creating a new generation of capitalists,” Senator Cruz, Republican of Texas, said. “Every child in America is gonna be an owner of the biggest employers in this country.”

“We have all seen the sad statistics of how many kids are losing faith in capitalism. Ten years from now, a little boy will pull at his phone and look at his app and he’s gonna see his Trump account. Instead of thinking of big, bad, scary corporations, that little boys is gonna say, I own $50 of Apple, I own $100 of Dell, I own $75 of McDonald’s…that will transform this country,” Cruz said.

I hope it works out that way. Grover Norquist, Newt Gingrich, and others over the years have talked about the “ownership society,” and how people with retirement or other savings accounts invested in stocks are more likely to support pro-growth policies (and also support politicians who support pro-growth policies).

The question mark here is