A personal policy idea
Stop spending through the system. Start investing in you.
The Freedom Accounts Act of 2027 does not create another spending program. It converts covered social spending that cannot show a measurable result into capital eligible Americans own. Market-based. Inheritable. Core functions of the Union stay appropriations.
By Michael Gist · an American writing, not a campaign
Since WWII
$80.00T
Covered social spending — not defense
National debt
$40.00T
About $119,000 per person
The alternative
Own it
Invest in people. Compound. Inherit.
The problem
We want affordability. We keep funding the same programs.
Two of the biggest drivers of high costs are government spending and lost productivity. The national debt has already crossed $40 trillion. On the current path — roughly $2.8–$2.9 trillion a year, with interest costs rising — $50 trillion is only a few years away (around 2029–2031) and $60 trillion follows within about a decade (around 2033–2035). Interest already rivals or exceeds what we spend on national defense. Every extra trillion feeds higher rates and inflation — an unseen tax on mortgages, car loans, groceries, and credit cards.
Meanwhile, too much production moved overseas, and Social Security’s main trust is headed toward depletion. Doing the same programs the same way will not change the result. Freedom Accounts invert the model: spend less through agencies and NGOs, invest more in citizens and lawful permanent residents. Ownership is a check on concentrated power.
Four moves
How the Act is supposed to work
01
Redirect spending into ownership
Congress still passes appropriations. Covered social dollars, year-end leftovers, approved ineffectual amounts, and proceeds of designated real property and minerals become units in the Freedom Accounts Trust — not another Washington program.
02
You decide what to spend
Before 62 you may pay a primary residence, qualified education, qualified healthcare, essential utilities, legal defense, and voluntary donations. Treasury bill-pay goes to the vendor you select. What you do not spend stays invested. There is no use-it-or-lose-it inside the account.
03
A public trust, not a slush fund
The Treasury Secretary is Trustee and Chair. State treasurers sit on the Board. Trust principal is not general-fund revenue. Congress shall not appropriate Trust assets for any other purpose. A 0.75% fee on value credited in the fee year is split Treasury / States for administration only.
04
Own it. Pass it on.
Each eligible citizen or lawful permanent resident holds one Freedom Account. Social Security amounts already paid in are the opening floor and remain guaranteed. At 62, withdrawals may begin for any lawful purpose. Accounts pass at death.
What it touches
Pillars of the Act
Paid-in floor guaranteed
Social Security
Amounts already paid into Social Security — and a benefit already in pay status — remain guaranteed and shall not be reduced by investment loss. They are the opening floor of the Freedom Account. Current retirees and persons within ten years of full retirement age may keep Social Security, elect a 50/50 blend, or convert future covered amounts while retaining the paid-in floor. Silence after a one-year window keeps the guaranteed benefit.
Dollars follow the student
Education
Covered federal education amounts credited to a minor’s or student’s Freedom Account may be directed by the parent or eligible student to the public school district, private school, or home program the family selects under State law. Nothing in the Act authorizes the Secretary of Education to set curriculum.
Designated assets in a public portfolio
Real Property & Minerals
Designated federal real property and the federal share of oil, gas, and mineral proceeds from public lands are listed or unitized in a publicly traded or publicly reported Trust portfolio. Operations of national security on a site may continue. The physical asset, when designated, is Trust corpus — not “national security” for that reason alone.
Pay from the account. Keep what you do not spend.
Healthcare
Covered healthcare programs include Medicaid, ACA premium or cost-sharing subsidies, federal public-health grants administered as social spending, and NGO or State pass-through of those funds. An eligible person may direct Freedom Account funds to qualified healthcare expenses through Treasury bill-pay. Unused amounts remain invested — no use-it-or-lose-it.
No result, no continued spending
Ineffectual spending
Covered social spending that cannot show a measurable result shall not continue as spending. The President may designate only GAO-certified ineffectual amounts — or a program with an Inspector General finding of fraud, waste, abuse, or spend-it-or-lose-it. This is not a line-item veto.
Conduct has a cost. The floor is not forfeited.
Law, courts & accountability
New contributions are suspended for a period of incarceration. A person sentenced to life without parole is not eligible for new contributions; those amounts are redistributed. The paid-in Social Security floor is not forfeited. Freedom Courts are a specialized docket — not a replacement for Article III.
Citizens and lawful permanent residents only
Eligibility & language
Only a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident may hold a Freedom Account. Presence without lawful status does not create eligibility. English is the official language of the Trust, of registration, of statements, of the November 1 report, and of instruments under the Act. A State may provide a courtesy translation. The controlling text is English.
Covered
Broad social spending that, when ineffectual or lapsed, is credited to Freedom Accounts instead of spent through NGOs.
- Poverty, cash or in-kind welfare, and food assistance
- Housing and homelessness programs
- Elementary, secondary, and higher education that does not follow the student
- Workforce training
- Medicaid, ACA subsidies, and public-health grants administered as social spending
- NGO or State pass-throughs of those funds
- Year-end unobligated balances of covered programs
- GAO-certified ineffectual spending, if Congress approves the rescission
Kept with government
Core federal functions stay funded as they are. Identified waste there can still credit Freedom Accounts without reducing operational capability except as Congress separately provides.
- National defense and national-security operations
- Homeland-security operations
- Law enforcement and justice operations (FBI, DEA, Secret Service, Bureau of Prisons)
- Interstate and international commerce operations
- Military medical operations and VA hospital operations
- Medicare for persons already eligible by age or disability at enactment
Own your future.
Run the side-by-side clock, read the November 1 report the President would owe the People, or open the full Act.