Windfalls, Orchards, & the American Deal

Michael Dell made headlines recently with a billion-dollar pledge to expand opportunities for young people. In the coverage that followed, one idea resurfaced: giving every child born in America a savings account at birth. It’s a clean, appealing notion. Most people like the thought of a newborn starting life with something in the bank.

Dell’s gift raises a tougher question. When money comes with no expectations, milestones, or responsibility, are we creating opportunity or just handing out windfalls that disappear as fast as they arrive?

This isn’t a shot at Dell. His generosity is obvious. The structure around the gift reflects a broader pattern in government and philanthropy. We keep reaching for symbolic gestures instead of building systems that develop habits, skills, and behaviors that actually move people upward.

A savings account with no required contribution, no education, no follow-through, and no expectation to pay it forward sounds generous, but it doesn’t build ownership. A windfall isn’t a pathway. Money by itself doesn’t create mobility. Earning, saving, and investing do.

The government has worked off the windfall model for a long time. Programs grow because they’re popular, not because they work. Benefits reward loyalty instead of effort. Subsidies linger long after they’ve outlived their purpose. Grants often go to the well-connected, not the people doing the hardest work. We end up with a system that picks winners based on proximity, not performance.

People feel it. Middle-class families watch others receive for free what they fight to afford. They hit benefit cliffs where earning a little more costs them a lot more. They sense that effort no longer buys security. Instead of mobility, they get fatigue.

John Mauldin wrote recently about that anger. He said it isn’t rooted in racism or selfishness, but in the feeling that a promise was broken. The old American Deal was simple: work hard, live within your means, improve your skills, and your life gets better. Many no longer believe that’s true. Effort often leads to exhaustion, not progress.

Unearned gifts—whether from the state or from donors—intensify the collapse. When one person works for something, and another gets it for nothing, trust erodes. Resentment grows. Young people start to think their future depends on luck or politics, not discipline or creativity. That belief is corrosive.

It also doesn’t make anyone happy. People grow when they earn something. They wither when rewards arrive, divorced from effort. Eating an apple gives you a moment. Growing an orchard gives you a future.

Our foundation operates differently. We’re not handing out apples. We’re helping young people plant orchards. That means education, incentives, and responsibility. It means expecting effort and pay-it-forward behavior. It means refusing to treat young people as fragile or incapable.

We focus on three areas.

1. Free-market education. Young people need to understand how value is created and why opportunity forms where work and innovation are rewarded. They should see themselves as builders, not clients.

2. Financial literacy. A savings account means nothing if you don’t know how to manage money. We support matched-savings programs, incentive-based grants, and initiatives that require students to put in time or effort. Even small contributions build ownership.

3. Civic engagement. A strong country needs citizens who act. We help young people learn to solve problems, lead teams, argue respectfully, and think ahead. These skills move people up more reliably than any one-time transfer.

Building opportunity takes longer than writing checks, but the results hold. It restores faith in the American Deal. When young people build skills and assets, they see a path shaped by their choices and not by politics or luck.

That’s the point. America doesn’t need bigger gifts. It needs smarter ones. Philanthropy should reinforce the link between effort and reward. We should plant orchards, not scatter apples. Real progress comes from developing people, not padding balances.

Dell’s gift reflects both the generosity and the confusion of our era. We want to do good. We’re not always sure how.

The answer isn’t windfalls. It’s ladders. It’s capability over dependency.

Our foundation is committed to that approach. We’ll keep backing young people who are willing to work, learn, and lead. We’ll measure success in orchards planted and lives changed, one young builder at a time.