That doesn't make sense. You're not going to give everyone that 12000. Just those that make less than that per year, right? If that's the case, then the amount

That doesn't make sense. You're not going to give everyone that 12000. Just those that make less than that per year, right? If that's the case, then the amount is a whole lot less than $3.8 trillion. The calculation is then 12000 * (Amount_of_people_that_get_less_than_12k). Latest poverty numbers (2013) that I could find indicate only 45million are living in poverty. Assuming that poverty maps to less than 12k (and assuming they get all of it, and not simply the difference), then the calculation is: 12000 * 45,000,000 = $540 billion. Which is a lot less than what you mentioned, and would probably be even less. That is definitely do-able, if the political and social will is there.