As a population and a world of people, we have some problems.
One solution I’ve pondered on more and more this year is one p[proposed by Reddit user r/LateStageCapitalism.
He spent some time digging through the Forbes yearly rich list and built a spreadsheet that shows the wealth that is circulating with some cool use for that surplus coin. I’ll cover that now and give you some of my twists on his initial idea.
So after reviewing the rich list of the Billionaire class, he suggest that the United Nations could seize $6,472,200,000,000.00 from the billionaire class without actually reducing the number of Billionaires. So after removing that amount from the combined class no one drops down to a Millionaire and is no longer in the $2B club.
Some notes on this:
- No Billionaires dropped down in accumulative wealth
- No Billionaires who only have $1B were included in this concept
That’s a huge number. A lot of good can be done with that amount of funding.
With this amount of treasury, the original poster suggests that we could do the following
- First, eradicate world hunger, we should have the funds to do this for 216 years
- Secondly just 1/20th of that amount would stop climate change by 2030
I like his thinking and could see each use case working.
Idea 1: Fighting Climate Change
The 1/20th of funds that could be used for fighting climate change should be deployed almost immediately. There should be additional funds used to look at reversing effects and other preventive measures. The team doing this will need to submit their costs, equipment scope and the plans to get to a halt in climate change.
Brain dump on this concept:
- Look at the way we design our buildings and spaces within these buildings
- Look at the materials we use for our buildings
- Create requirements for cities that include large tree zones to keep the oxygen levels in cities clear and breathable
- Investigate new energy sources
- What else can we do with solar power and are there better ways of absorbing that power
- Document everything and create open transparent monitoring dashboards for the public
Idea 2: Ending World Hunger
With this money, we could provide food for every man, woman and child globally and remove hunger. That’s a feat in itself and one we should look at but not by just buying food supplies for each person. We should be building sustainable farming methods, increasing greens production fruits and veg in sustainable and scalable ways.
Id imagine a team is developed to investigate why these people became unable to feed themselves in the first place and what preventative measures can be installed to help them regain independence and the ability to feed themselves.
Idea 3: Reinventing How We Harvest Resources
The world is on a resource deadline to be out of resources by 2099 or sooner given the advancements in tech. But every year millions and millions of products are created even though the previous year’s products did not sell out, theres no consideration for supply and demand but they just keep going.
Ever go into a shop and see the same items sitting on shelves no matter what year it is or what shop you go to these items don’t sell they never get replaced and the brands are still making them and taking up valuable resources to do so. Like isles and isles of kids’ dolls that have never been purchased the new 2024 season of dolls is coming and the company has already started manufacturing the 2025 versions
We need more reusable materials.
I have some Gym mats that are recycled car tyres and recycled compacted rubbish. This is great I know what it is, I know its helps and to be honest, the gym mats are better, thicker and have more spring than the other mats that are not recycled materials.
We have to start thinking about the future of the planet and the dwindling supply of resources that we have. Or we risk turning into a Mad Max-esque world where we fight over basic resources. We have mined our world to the brink of existence and we keep on going 🙁
Questions I have are:
Is this fair to the Billionaires?
It’s not entirely fair, and I think they should opt into this. But I also think that some type of Save the World fund should be established for people who reach obscene wealth
Who decides what the money is used for?
I’d like to see a council of people who have some money, not too much money and not too little that they are not tempted to take money. I see this council represented by countries that have had hard times and not just the powerful nations. There will be a transparent open vote possibly a blockchain powered vote so there can be no tampering.
The majority vote wins.
Who will monitor the people involved in this project for fraud?
I don’t trust the government with money, and I’d like to see this monitored from day dot, either we force the transactions to be crypto transfers and everything is immutable on-chain and racked openly or we develop a team of auditors that watch the trail like hawks. I think option 1 is the best method but I’m keeping it open for all ideas.
How many Billions does one person need?
That’s a great question and until you have those Billions it’s kind of hard to know just how much is too much. Based on what I know and have read and heard we could establish a benchmark of $10B as the world’s most wealthy club entry level.
Anyone with $2B+ can opt into this project to save the world, they should get some compensation like a status symbol, some exclusive like lifetime meals at In and Out burgers or something that makes sense for someone who has helped in an effort to save our planet.
That’s my thinking and I do want to send props to r/LateStageCapitalism he really made me think and its been fun to imagine the united global population working together to stop climate change and reduce hunger.
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