It’s looking like Project 2025, the extremist attempt to put white, male-dominated Christian Nationalism in the forefront of national politics, is increasingly in the rear view mirror. It’s falling apart as a political theology as President Trump’s disapproval ratings plummet in comparison to his near-record low approval ratings.
We will know more about the deterioration of Project 2025 in the eyes of American people as 2026 rolls in. By and large, wonderfully diverse Americans are not buying it.
So, it sure looks like we as a country will need a replacement philosophy for that secretly hatched witch’s brew. How about a Project 2026?
The off-year elections in 2025 point to landslide margins in 2026 against the contradictory and confusing agenda of our possibly demented president.
Let’s move to a positive agenda for the country. A new political platform, hopefully bi-partisan, needs to extend the country’s historically high prosperity to a broader swath of Americans. It has to benefit a big percentage of middle Americans. Remember the Silent Majority? Today they are the Forgotten Majority.
The country has a pretty healthy safety net for citizens in the lower deciles of the population, including programs for the poor like Medicaid; Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for food security; earned income tax credits, in effect a negative income tax; and health care subsidies under Obamacare (ACA).
Yet, citizens in the middle, the hard working people who drive progress day-in, day-out in the country, have seen their real wages diminish in the face of 3% inflation. And that percentage is probably going higher as Trump’s ill-begotten tariff-based economic strategy kicks further into gear. It’s almost impossible to get a bad idea out of Trump’s brain once it has locked in.
How would we create a Project 2026 to cut a deal to put more Americans into our contract for prosperity? I would like to hear from good thinkers on other broad concepts to that end. Here a couple to stir the pot:
Soup up 401(k) That enlightened retirement savings program is minting millionaires. It was enacted into law in 1978, nearly a half century ago, as a quiet replacement for employer pension funds that were in existence at some larger employers. In contrast, the 401(k) program lifts boats for a majority of working Americans.
If an employee salts away 5% or more of his or her wages and works at a company, or several companies, for 35 years, and the employer does a 50% match or more, there is a good probability that the retiree will have a million dollars or more in his or her account by age 65.
Isn’t that amazing! An estimated 3% of 401(k) retirees are already millionaires. And it’s likely that about 10% are half-millionaires. Those percentages are rising as its power comes clear to all.
What’s the secret sauce that made this new level of prosperity possible? It’s the double tax benefit and the employer match that is free money to the employee.
The double tax exemption results from the tax deduction when the employee elects to save part of his or her salary and in the build-up in the accounts. Income taxes are paid only when the funds are withdrawn during retirement, most likely at a lower tax rate.
Every additional year works powerfully to compound account totals. Plus, the longer you work, the longer you live.
The soup-up could look like the current law for Health Savings Accounts (HSA), which are triple tax exempt. They are tax deductible going in; the build-up is tax exempt; and no taxes are paid when withdrawals are made for health expenses.
Why not a triple exemption for 401(k)?
Soup Up Act 255 — Another lever for promoting the average American into higher prosperity has been pioneered in Wisconsin. It is Act 255 enacted in 2010. It promotes entrepreneurial startups. Any angel investor who puts money into a qualified new venture gets an immediate 25% state tax credit.
If you put $60,000 into a qualified startup, you get $15,000 cash back in the same year as a tax credit.
Sen. Rob Hutton (R-Brookfield), an entrepreneur himself, has proposed raising the credits to 40% of the angel investment.
The results of Act 255 have been a huge lift in Wisconsin’s startup rankings. From near the bottom of the 50 states, it is now above average. It has been a great encouragement for people needing to reshape their economic lives to get into new businesses. Wisconsin now is enjoying several hundred million dollars in venture and angel investing every year.
Every smart American is a potential entrepreneur. And, with AI threatening to erase millions of existing jobs, starting a new enterprise is a pathway to new livelihoods, as well as to innovation in our economy.
The 401(k) and Act 255 programs are proven ways to reinvent the economy on behalf of the average American. They already are hard at work to remake our economy, and they can even be more dynamic with the suggested improvements outlined above.
Are there other concepts out there for cutting average Americans into our national contract? I’d like to hear them as part of a new Project 2026.
