Some guy figured out that if we divided up all of the money in the world,
$44 (US)Trillion,
and distributed it evenly among the 6.6 Billion Earthlings,
that we would each get about $6,000.00.
That would be fantastic news if you lived in one of the 20 poorest countries in the world* where the average income is about $600 a year. Imagine having ten years worth of income fall in your lap!
That would be fantastic news if you lived in one of the 20 poorest countries in the world* where the average income is about $600 a year. Imagine having ten years worth of income fall in your lap!
*East Timor, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Malawi, Tanzania, Burundi, Congo, Comoros, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Niger, Yemen, Madagascar, Guinea-Bissau, Zambia, Kiribati, Nigeria and Mali.
For those of us living in the 20 richest countries* where the average income is about $30,000 winning your share of the pie equals about two months income, almost enough to take the whole family to Disneyland (the happiest place on Earth) or buy a big screen TV.*Luxembourg, Norway, USA, San Marino, Switzerland, Denmark, Iceland, Austria, Canada, Ireland, Belgium, Australia, Netherlands, Japan, UK, France, Germany, Finland, Monaco and Sweden.
Suppose that one day some intergalactic Robin Hood type Do-Gooders came to Earth and actually redistributed all of the wealth.
Suppose that one day some intergalactic Robin Hood type Do-Gooders came to Earth and actually redistributed all of the wealth. "We could be a Heroes, just for one day!" Did I mention that they loved David Bowie.
What would you do with a tax free $6,000?
What would you do with a tax free $6,000?
How long would it take for all of the money to go back to the current levels?
Ah... that's a nice idea. I think things would change around where I live. I'd probably have to get out into the fields and do some work, growing carrots, potatoes and cabbages, but hopefully people wouldn't be so bothered if me and some friends were to dance on the land in the evening when work was done. Luddite, technophobic and reductionist as it sounds, I'd like to give it a try :)
ReplyDeleteTax-free $6000? I'd retire, of course!
ReplyDeleteThe benevolent effects would vanish almost instantly. The problem isn't simply the distribution of present funds, but stuff like capital accumulation that allows certain people to control the economy. The people in charge would still be the people in charge, and they'd use the various systems at their control (political, religious, economic, etc.) to get that money back in short order. It would probably be an interesting ride, though.
ReplyDeleteA better way to do it would be to distribute all property -- not just money -- evenly, so everyone on earth would get an equal share of all pies. But that would probably also fail because some groups would just have better access to skills and knowledge required to run and dominate those systems, and would set about doing just that -- though we might be surprised who the new ruling class might look like if we all started from a level playing field, even briefly.
Me? I'd pay of debts with the six grand, for what it's worth. ;)
5000.00 - pay down the mortgage.
ReplyDeletedrop in the bucket, but hey.
500.00 - bank
500.00 - frivolous spending spree
charity - see above
david bowie had stick-on nipples on that movie, as i recall. that ruined it for me.
dull, dull, but secure. I'd pay back some people who loaned me $$.
ReplyDeleteInteresting idea. If you want to explore more possibilities in a pageturner : Andreas Eschbach, One trillion dollars. You inherit a fortune, you have now the power to change the world (resolve poverty, save the environment, ...) !! what to do ?
ReplyDelete$6000 dollars= 6000 $1 coins i would go swimming Scrooge Mcduck style:)
ReplyDeleteHave you ever seen the Denis Moore sketch... (Monty Python)... "
this redistrubition of wealth is trickier than i thoguht"
The kicker is, are our loans basically dissolved by this plan too?, since the banks that owned equity in your house lost it when the cash behind all that got distributed out to all the peeps.. You wouldn't really owe anything. People wouldn't owe you?
ReplyDeleteYou'd just have $6,000. They would too. The company you work for couldn't pay you the next month, because HR'd have nothing to pay you with. Would you bring the money back into work so that they could?
It would be pretty interesting to see how long it would take to get divied back out.. People that own apartments, say, would get money in pretty quickly assuming their rates stayed the same... but around here, their tenants would be out of money in 6 months.
Wages would have to flucuate like crazy early on.. an owner of a company with only $6k to give all 2000 employees, say... you couldn't just give out $3/month to everyone... that'd last a month. and the employees would know it.. would they quit? what's the real point, the business down the road isn't going to pay any more either. The little mom/pop places make out best, I spose, not having to give that money away to anywhere near the number of people as the giant corps would.
Would all the prices just change? Seems like big ticket items just wouldn't be purchased, flat out.
--
Anyway. What would I do? I'm not sure I'd have that many choices, truly.. giving it all away and coming down to $0 seems unlikely... :) Would I go to work for my $3/month? Or just stay home and see how far I could get before the money ran out? I think I'd be too afraid of spending on anything..
I'd go back to Fargo and take a busload of adult teetotalers with me, stay the mandatory 48 hours, and spend it on the one bottle per adult cheap duty free liquor.
ReplyDeleteI'd be a liquor P.I.G. if I lived in the U.S. God, it's cheap!
That about amounts to 294,000.00 where I live. This is just about enough to pay for 2 years tuition for both kids.
ReplyDeleteClearly, the $6,000 divi would not solve any global economic problems, so we're talking the frivolous hyothetical here, right?
ReplyDeleteSo...I'd come up to W'peg and make you take me to dinner on some of your 6 grand!None of that junk food, mind.
The remainder? I really don't know.Charity endowment perhaps.
Pay for The Girl's firs year of college suff (minus the scholarship she got, which doesn't cover laptops and such)
ReplyDeleteI really can spell. Honest. Grrrrr on the typos.
ReplyDeletewow amazing!
ReplyDelete6grand only?
that line itself shows how shallow I am :(
Keshi.
ok wut I'd really do with that money wud be just go on a grand holiday. I need one...ard the world.
ReplyDeleteKeshi.
It buys a lot of beer!
ReplyDeleteBugga It!!
I'll have a BBQ and invite ya over.
...and how come Canada is not mentioned in one of the richest list?
ReplyDelete$6.000? That is $1,000 less than my desired China cabinet and hutch.
I'll probably host a crawfish/shrimp/crab/lobster boil for friends. Wait a minute, the lobster just made it impossible. I need more money.
Actually, with my luck, I never get to see any of the windfall (taxed or pre-tax). Mr. Money Manager who shares my bed will deposit it on some fund.
$6000 .... hmmm .....
ReplyDeleteprobably do what I do with any spare $$ I get .... put it away for my boys.
Invest it and watch it grow for them.
jammer,
ReplyDeleteFor some reason your reply summoned forth images of '28 days later' and all that I could hear was Dolores O'Riordan chanting
Zom-um-bay Zom-um-bay!
Bay! Bay!
shelley,
Retire? In Somalia or Mali?
chris bradley,
The redistribution of the means of production would certainly be another story and I agree that the Elites would recoup their losses within 24 hours...which is really pathetic when you think about it.
first nations,
If some guy from another planet (avec fake nipples) brought 7 new paradigm shifting patents to America all of the men would be getting their superfluous rosebuds lopped off in a heartbeat to 'be' just like him.
joyce,
Hello! Just think of the possibilities of spending $6000 at your beloved Supertore or Value Village?! C'mon!
hildegarde,
I would pay all of the idiots running (and ruining) our countries to retire and get the hell out of our way...change the entire pork barrel/crony system from the ground up.
aidan,
HA! Denis Moore
"Shut up! It's a hold-up, not a Botany lesson. Now, no false moves please. I want you to hand over all the lupins you've got."
lv7,
You overestimate the intelligence of the masses..big ticket items would be purchased in record numbers and the money would slip through their fingers like sand...which is precisely why the world is such a mess...remember in Dumb and Dumber when Jim Carey buys the giant foam cowboy hat and beer...that pretty much sums it up!
brian,
It is amazing. Whenever we Canucks wonder why the States is sooo different all we have to do is remember that booze is cheaper than water and everybody has a gun.
menchie,
Ta-da!
1 Philippine peso = 0.0207266773 U.S. dollars..well there you go.
dinahmow,
Alrighty-then! If you came for supper I would be forced to make you eat local specialties like Bison and Goldeye. If you came during the Summer be prepared to lose about 5 US Gallons of blood from Mosquitoes and it it's Winter you will probably freeze stepping off of the plane and be cryogenically preserved like Walt Disney.
Don't say that I didn't warn you.
Pamela,
I know that you can spell you are a real writer! Huzzah on the scholarship...College has really turned into Big Business hasn't it?
What are they going to do as the population of teens keeps shrinking..hmmm..will prices increase or decrease? Hmmm.
keshiroo,
I think that most of us would go on a vacation because we know that by the end of the week all of the wealth would be back in the control of the 'ruling class'...so what are ya gonna do.
steve,
Now we're talkin'. Finally I hear the voice of reason crying in the wilderness.
ces,
Canada is #9(as I am sure you noticed seconds after you hit publish)and you tell Mr Money Managger that he can do whatever he wants to with his $6000 but you are boiling Lobster!
blazngfyre,
Well you don't have to be so practical because this is a once in a lifetime event and everybody else will be going crazy...imagine 6 billion drunken sailors on shore leave...the money will be gone by midnight!
Roadtrip!!!
ReplyDeleteCompletely unrelated, Dave and I were on the road the other day when we spotted a dead cat, Spring must be here, and I turned and said to him " What if Aliens came down and treated us the same way we treat animals, what if we were lying on the road dead and they passed us by as if it was completely normal?!!" Then again we sit and watch the boob tube and flick the channel when we see a world vision commercial. Sad.
christine,
ReplyDeleteAliens would scoop us up and shovel our remains in their trunk and drop us off at one of the Intergalactic Roadkill Cafe & Grill franchises.
Such a tantalizing packet of protein would not go to waste.
Has anyone taken into account that the money you already have would be taken in this scenario? That $6,000 would be ALL you have, for this month's bills and your entire savings.
ReplyDeletemiss cellania,
ReplyDeleteYES! That is great news! Especially since the Canadian Government already pays for 99% of our daily expenditures...it's like winning a lottery! WoOhoO!
teehee- thats about R42k and i can do A LOT with that!
ReplyDelete