A new initiative from USA Positive Expectations is proposing a transformative approach to address two of the nation's most pressing challenges: the federal deficit and disparities in educational opportunity. The plan, which relies on private sector involvement rather than tax increases, would create a system where investments in early childhood education generate financial assets that could be used to reduce national debt.
The concept centers on the idea of 'Brain Gold'—the cognitive and neural networks developed through high-quality early childhood education. According to the proposal, when children enter kindergarten ready to read, compute, and maintain positive expectations, their developed brainpower has tangible present value. This value, already monetized in the private sector when parents pay for quality early education, could be formally recognized and used to offset portions of the federal debt.
The mechanism involves county-level private sector actions that would fund better and best early education outcomes starting in first grade. These investments would be packaged into assets that the Federal Reserve could purchase, with the proceeds used to pay down the national debt. The proposal suggests this would not cause inflation because the cash would be used to reduce debt without adding to circulation.
Estimates indicate that at full scale, this could involve 4.5 million children starting first grade annually, with a cost of $75,000 per child, totaling $340 billion. The Federal Reserve would purchase these assets, and the resulting federal debt reduction could reach $3.4 trillion per year. A county with 10,000 children would see $750 million in annual purchases, contributing $7.5 billion to federal debt reduction over time.
The proposal also promises local benefits, including reduced property taxes as school districts could shift from PreK-12 to grades 1-10, addressing local affordability crises. The proof of concept in a county would take 3-6 years to reach full scale.
This initiative is inspired by the work of George Gilder, who champions the private sector and the power of human intellect. Extending Gilder's ideas, the proposal argues that investing in early childhood development creates real economic value that can be monetized.
The plan calls for a 'march on the FED' via email to encourage the Federal Reserve to consider these elements. It acknowledges the challenge of getting the FED on board but cites positive input from AI systems like Grok.
For more details, interested parties can visit USA Positive Expectations to read the letters and understand the tone. The initiative is led by Thomas D. Wolfgram, CEO of USA Values, LLC.
