Trump floats a “gold card” to grant US residency to wealthy foreigners

[Walt]

The EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program and Donald Trump's recently proposed "Gold Card" visa differ in several key ways.

The EB-5 program, established in 1990, allows foreign investors to obtain a U.S. green card by investing a minimum of $1,050,000 in a U.S. business—or $800,000 if the investment is in a Targeted Employment Area (TEA), such as a rural or high-unemployment region.

A core requirement of EB-5 is that the investment must create or preserve at least 10 full-time jobs for U.S. workers. This program ties residency to economic contributions, specifically job creation, and involves a detailed process to verify the investment and its impact. After a two-year conditional residency period, investors can apply to remove the conditions and secure permanent residency, which can eventually lead to citizenship.

Trump's "Gold Card" proposal, announced on February 25, 2025, sets a much higher entry point: a $5 million payment to the U.S. government.

Unlike EB-5, there’s no explicit mention of a job creation requirement or a need to invest in a specific business. Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick have framed it as a direct path to permanent residency—still technically a green card—with a route to citizenship, targeting wealthy individuals who can afford the price tag. The pitch emphasizes attracting "successful" people who will spend money, pay taxes, and boost the economy, without the structured investment conditions of EB-5. Lutnick criticized the existing EB-5 as flawed and prone to fraud, suggesting the Gold Card would streamline the process with rigorous vetting of applicants.

In essence, EB-5 is an investment-based program with a lower cost but specific economic obligations, while the Gold Card appears to be a higher-cost, simplified "pay-to-stay" option aimed at ultra-wealthy foreigners, without the same focus on job creation. Trump’s implementation specifics were promised within two weeks of the announcement.

Congress will need to approve, of course.



@Grok

So once again, their main difference is that EB-5 is a well thought out working program, and trump plan to take credit for EB-5 is nonexistent.

 

[Diogenes]

So once again, their main difference is that EB-5 is a well thought out working program, and trump plan to take credit for EB-5 is nonexistent.

Think so?

 

[Tobytone]

Every time you intellectually impotent Maga mooks get challenged to logically and factually prove something you spew forth, you have a meltdown that results in this mental diarrhea as we see here. You take up a lot of space, but SAY NOTHING.

The question remains, genius .... can Musk's finances stand up to a foresnic audit? Cheeto Jeezus sure as hell couldn't....he got sued (and lost) for fraud, remember? And he's NEVER fully complied to show his full tax returns like many Presidents before him.
Here's a hint: www.cbsnews.com/news/the-public-wont-see-elon-musk-financial-disclosure-why-that-matters/

I'm aware you're a dumbass and I wrote far too much for you to consume and comprehend. LOL You idiots always complain about anything longer than a Meme and if you struggle through a whole paragraph or two you get grumpy from being so tired and never have an actual response to the destruction of your idea or one of your dumbass drone hive member ideas. So, I never get my hopes up that a libtard will have a counter argument, just the type of whining like a little bitch you just did. ROFL

 

[Nordberg]

How do you even crack a libtard’s thick skull? Good luck with that. The left’s got a raging fetish for whining about how little the rich pay in taxes, and if I’m feeling charitable, I’ll say it’s not totally your fault. Decades of class-warfare brainwashing by Dems have turned you into obedient little drones. Taxes are the sacred juice that keeps the political circus spinning, raking in cash from millions of saps with every breath they take. Fun fact for the clueless: income tax started with Congress swearing it’d never top 2%. Spoiler, that promise was a lie, just the first of many. Here’s another shocker: income tax doesn’t even hit 50% of federal revenue. Still, it’s the perfect cudgel to convince naive souls like Christy that billionaires are all evil tax-dodging goblins, except for saintly Buffett, of course.

I could drown you in facts, but libtards like Christy wouldn’t flinch. So let’s poke at Buffett’s genius plan instead. He crows that if 800 companies paid “their share” like his $5 billion, nobody else would owe a dime. Cute, but the federal budget’s $6 trillion appetite says otherwise. Personal income tax hauls in $2.5 trillion, so $5 billion times 800 is $4 trillion. Nice try, except that still leaves a gaping deficit and ignores every other tax propping up the beast. Oh, and that $5 billion per company? Businesses don’t just eat that, genius. They’ll slap it onto your coffee, car, and Netflix bill so fast your wallet won’t know what hit it. Prices soar, inflation flexes, and suddenly you’re broke, all thanks to Warren’s noble “nuke.” Brilliant, he's a sanctimonious windbag.

I could go on with many examples of Buffet's journey to his fortune that includes using every possible loophole he could. I don't blame him or anyone including Trump, Musk and those with a brain. The federal government is the worst possible place to send money to impact the human condition, its where hard-earned money goes to die and much of it ends up in the back pockets of greedy corrupt politicians and friends. Government is a necessary evil that the founders correctly understood it needed to be as small and limited as possible. Sending them money to attack the suffering of the world is a big mistake and a waste of money proven by what we've all seen recently as DOGE looks under the hood.

If you tax the wealthy and corporations, you get the revenue every year. Their fair contributions would slash the debt over time. They have had the tax cuts since Reagan. That is when the debt exploded and why it continues. The wealthy write the laws. With this admin, they have complete control. They will get far richer and the wealth gap will get much worse.

 

[Tobytone]

Buffet actually tried to find actual value, rather than looking for loopholes, gimmicks, and tricks. He has made a lot of money for himself, but also for anyone fortunate enough to invest with him.

Meanwhile trump keeps defaulting on people who invest in him.

Oh, bless your little bleeding heart for trying to prop up Warren Buffett as some saintly capitalist while taking a limp-wristed swipe at Trump. Buffett’s a guy who’s spent decades sniffing out "value" like a truffle pig, sure, and he’s padded plenty of portfolios, mostly his own, while preaching folksy wisdom to the plebs. Meanwhile, your obsession with Trump’s defaults conveniently ignores the fact that he’s a gambler who’s built an empire out of chaos, not a bean-counter polishing loopholes like your precious Oracle of Omaha. Trump’s investors knew the risks, some got burned, others cashed out bigly, while Buffett’s fanboys clutch their pearls and sip soy lattes, pretending he’s not just as ruthless under that grandpa veneer. Cry harder, you poor hoodwinked little dumbass snowflake.

Oh, why not give you a sample of your hero's early start in a career of being a vulture that exploited every loophole on the margins of the law, precisely what you're whining about. So, let’s dig deeper into Buffett’s “value” fairy tale with a little gem about his 1960s windfall with Berkshire Hathaway itself. The textile mill was a dying dog, but Warren spotted a loophole in its stubborn stock buyback program, tendered his shares at a premium after a spat with management, pocketing a tidy profit, then flipped the script and took over the whole sinking ship. Cheap assets, a corporate carcass, and a slick maneuver to turn it into his piggy bank, hardly the noble “buy and hold” sermon he peddles. Add that to his knack for scooping up distressed goodies like a vulture at a garage sale, and your Buffett pedestal’s starting to wobble, champ.

You're being exploited because you and your ilk has proved yourselves good little drones that will eat shit and smile, it's pitiful and sad for you. I'm only being blunt because as usual, I'm only trying to help.

 

[Tobytone]

If you tax the wealthy and corporations, you get the revenue every year. Their fair contributions would slash the debt over time. They have had the tax cuts since Reagan. That is when the debt exploded and why it continues. The wealthy write the laws. With this admin, they have complete control. They will get far richer and the wealth gap will get much worse.

Sorry, in the Reagan years, his tax cuts did what all tax cuts do, contrary to the libtard myth that the sky falls and the coffers dry up. When taxes get slashed, revenues climb. Reagan doubled the cash flowing in after he cut rates bigly, jumping from $375 billion in 1981 to $769 billion by 1989. Democrats swore they’d trim spending, then didn’t, bloating the debt with their pork-barrel fantasies. Your “wealthy write the laws” sob story skips over Buffett dodging estate taxes with his “Giving Pledge” PR stunt. Or how about Bezos raking in billions while Amazon paid zero federal income tax in 2018 thanks to loopholes libs ignore when it’s their idols cashing in? This admin’s “complete control” is a laugh. Reagan faced a Dem House every day and still ran circles around them. Your tax-the-rich daydream just funds more AOC vanity projects. Wealth gap? Tell that to the Silicon Valley billionaires bankrolling your squad.

 

[christiefan915]

Let's see Elon's tax returns from the last ten years.

So no right to privacy?

"Generally, public figures—think politicians, celebrities, or anyone who thrusts themselves into the spotlight—have a reduced expectation of privacy compared to private citizens. The reasoning is that by stepping into a public role or seeking attention, they implicitly accept more scrutiny as part of their position. Courts in places like the U.S. often reflect this: public figures must show "actual malice" in defamation cases (e.g., New York Times v. Sullivan, 1964), a higher bar than private individuals."

Grok

 

[Diogenes]

"Generally, public figures—think politicians, celebrities, or anyone who thrusts themselves into the spotlight—have a reduced expectation of privacy compared to private citizens. The reasoning is that by stepping into a public role or seeking attention, they implicitly accept more scrutiny as part of their position. Courts in places like the U.S. often reflect this: public figures must show "actual malice" in defamation cases (e.g., New York Times v. Sullivan, 1964), a higher bar than private individuals."

Grok

Reduced ≠ no, and New York Times v. Sullivan does not establish your right to see Musk's taxes.

 

[Diogenes]

If you tax the wealthy and corporations, you get the revenue every year. Their fair contributions would slash the debt over time. They have had the tax cuts since Reagan. That is when the debt exploded and why it continues. The wealthy write the laws. With this admin, they have complete control. They will get far richer and the wealth gap will get much worse.

Even confiscating 100% of the wealth of America’s millionaires and billionaires would not retire the national debt, based on the most current estimates available as of February 28, 2025.

The U.S. national debt stands at approximately $36 trillion (as reported in late 2024 data from the U.S. Treasury).

The combined wealth of America’s billionaires is estimated at $6.72 trillion, according to Forbes’ analysis at the end of 2024, covering 813 billionaires.

For millionaires (those with a net worth of $1 million or more, excluding billionaires), the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report projected around 28 million U.S. millionaires by 2025, up from 22 million in 2020. Assuming an average net worth of $2-3 million per millionaire (a rough midpoint, as many hover near the lower end while some reach tens of millions), their total wealth could range from $56 trillion to $84 trillion. However, more conservative estimates, like those from the Federal Reserve’s 2024 data, suggest the total wealth of the top 10% (which includes millionaires and billionaires) is around $100 trillion, with the bottom 90% holding far less.

Adjusting for overlap and realistic millionaire wealth, a combined figure for millionaires and billionaires might land closer to $60-70 trillion.

Even at the high end—say, $70 trillion—this falls short of the $36 trillion national debt by a wide margin when considering practical realities.

Liquidating all that wealth (stocks, real estate, businesses) at full value isn’t feasible; mass sales would crash markets, slashing the actual proceeds.

Historical examples, like forced asset sales during economic crises, show values can drop 50% or more in such scenarios. Plus, the debt grows daily—$1 trillion every 100 days, per 2024 trends—adding roughly $3.65 trillion annually.

So, even if you seized $70 trillion today, the debt could climb back toward $36 trillion in a decade without spending cuts.

Billionaire wealth alone ($6-7 trillion) covers less than a year of federal spending ($6.9 trillion in 2024) or a fraction of the debt.

Adding millionaires boosts the pot but still doesn’t bridge the gap, especially factoring in economic fallout.

The math suggests the U.S.’s fiscal challenge is more about spending than revenue—a point debated across political lines but grounded in the numbers. Confiscation might dent the debt, but retiring it entirely?

Not even close.



@Grok

 

[Taichiliberal]

I'm aware you're a dumbass and I wrote far too much for you to consume and comprehend. LOL You idiots always complain about anything longer than a Meme and if you struggle through a whole paragraph or two you get grumpy from being so tired and never have an actual response to the destruction of your idea or one of your dumbass drone hive member ideas. So, I never get my hopes up that a libtard will have a counter argument, just the type of whining like a little bitch you just did. ROFL

And there you have it, dear readers. Yet another intellectually impotent MAGA troll who can't logically or factually (much less honestly and rationally) answer a simple question or defend his assertions/statements/beliefs. So instead, they just obfuscate and babble like you see above. When I've reduced them to this level, I just dump their dopey asses in the ignore file, because it's a waste of time to feed trolls.

Hope the fool is at least getting scale for bending over the chair for his Cheeto Jeezus and Apartheid Punk.

 

[Diogenes]

And there you have it, dear readers. Yet another intellectually impotent MAGA troll who can't logically or factually (much less honestly and rationally) answer a simple question or defend his assertions/statements/beliefs. So instead, they just obfuscate and babble like you see above. When I've reduced them to this level, I just dump their dopey asses in the ignore file, because it's a waste of time to feed trolls. Hope the fool is at least getting scale for bending over the chair for his Cheeto Jeezus and Apartheid Punk.

Did the chronology of the posts inform that pack of puerile insults?

 

[Tobytone]

And there you have it, dear readers. Yet another intellectually impotent MAGA troll who can't logically or factually (much less honestly and rationally) answer a simple question or defend his assertions/statements/beliefs. So instead, they just obfuscate and babble like you see above. When I've reduced them to this level, I just dump their dopey asses in the ignore file, because it's a waste of time to feed trolls.

Hope the fool is at least getting scale for bending over the chair for his Cheeto Jeezus and Apartheid Punk.

You’re a riot, whining about me ducking your so-called argument while you pirouette around anything resembling a point. Why? Because you’re a bleating fantasist, devoid of a shred of logic, just parroting the soggy drivel you lap up from ‘The View’ like a good little drone. Your platitudes are so stale they’d lose a fight with a wet napkin. Go ahead, smash that ignore button like the spineless quitter you are. I’ll be over here, not missing your unhinged babble for a moment.

 

[Diogenes]

You’re a riot, whining about me ducking your so-called argument while you pirouette around anything resembling a point. Why? Because you’re a bleating fantasist, devoid of a shred of logic, just parroting the soggy drivel you lap up from ‘The View’ like a good little drone. Your platitudes are so stale they’d lose a fight with a wet napkin. Go ahead, smash that ignore button like the spineless quitter you are. I’ll be over here, not missing your unhinged babble for a moment.

Chai Latte Liberal is the personification of this meme, isn't he?

 

[Tobytone]

Chai Latte Liberal is the personification of this meme, isn't he?

Exactly

 

[Diogenes]

Exactly

It's the chronology of the posts.

 

[Earl]

Buffet actually tried to find actual value, rather than looking for loopholes, gimmicks, and tricks. He has made a lot of money for himself, but also for anyone fortunate enough to invest with him.

Meanwhile trump keeps defaulting on people who invest in him.

No, Walter, I invested five figures in Trump and he is paying huuge (sic) dividends.

Our country is safer because Biden's intentional open borders are closed and violent illegal child rapists and murderers are being deported daily (which is being opposed by the far left loons like you, Walter).

The border is closed, for the most part (which was opposed by Biden and his far left loons like you, Walter)

The massive fraud, waste, and abuse are being addressed by Musk and Trump's DOGE (which is being opposed by the far left loons like you, Walter.

English is our official language and the Gulf of America is now extant (both of which are opposed by far left loons like you, Walter).

The Trump train left you at the station, Walter...poor Walter.

 

[Earl]

Is that so?

No , at least this part isn't so, "

"Meanwhile trump keeps defaulting on people who invest in him)."

 

[Walt]

Think so?

Yes. If trump had an actual plan, he would release it, so Congress could get working on it. Instead, he "floats" a plan to get a plan. We will see if he remembers it for long enough to actually tell someone to work on the plan. Past history says that is doubtful.

We have an actual program that is actually working, and we have trump saying random things that he claims might one day become a plan... and then possibly a proposal, a bill, and maybe if someone wanted to do some work... It might be a program.

 

[Diogenes]

Yes. If trump had an actual plan, he would release it, so Congress could get working on it. Instead, he "floats" a plan to get a plan. We will see if he remembers it for long enough to actually tell someone to work on the plan. Past history says that is doubtful. We have an actual program that is actually working, and we have trump saying random things that he claims might one day become a plan... and then possibly a proposal, a bill, and maybe if someone wanted to do some work... It might be a program.

Is that a fact, Salty Walty?

 

[Walt]

The massive fraud, waste, and abuse

The trump administration has had massive fraud, waste, and abuse. Could you imagine a 19 year old, who calls himself "Big Balls", has been fired three times from unpaid internships for fraud, flunked out of college for what appears to be cheating, and is the grandson of a KGB agent, with contacts among Russian hackers being put in charge of your government data? I could not imagine that such incompetence was possible before trump.