What do you like to do when you're feeling a little generous? How's this for inspiration: You can now use Venmo to FLOAT A LITTLE CASH to a friend who's in debt right now. And that friend is . . . Uncle Sam.
The U.S. Treasury Department has just started accepting Venmo payments through Pay.gov . . . so everyday Americans can voluntarily contribute money to reduce the national debt.
They've actually accepted "gifts" like this for a while, but before you had to do it through credit cards, debit cards, or directly from a bank account.
Now it's more hip and convenient. You can easily shoot them a little spare change, and even add a fun emoji in the comments.
Believe it or not, people DO actually do this . . . for some reason.
The Treasury received more than $2.7 million in gifts in 2024, and around $1 million in 2023. In the first five months of this year, the department brought in about $434,500.
Of course, this isn't even a drop in the bucket. The national debt is currently around $36.7 TRILLION . . . so everyone in America would need to send them $107,500 to square up.
Even then, we'll be underwater again soon. President Trump's new "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" is projected to add another $3.4 TRILLION, or $4.1 trillion with interest. Yeah, just that ONE bill alone.
If you are NOT interested, that's cool . . . no one is.
If you ARE interested, that's also cool . . . but keep in mind, you don't "get" anything for it. To receive special favors, you'd have to bribe a politician directly. Oops . . . I mean, donate . . . DONATE to a campaign directly.