MAMEWorld Forums - The Loony Bin - Re: interesting question?

> I heard this recently (I am sure we have all heard it at one point). Just give
> everyone 1 million dollars and the world would be a better place.
>
> I will change it up a bit. Give everyone 1 billion (hey if we are giving out crazy
> amounts lets do it right). What would happen?
>
> I have some ideas. What do you you guys think would happen?
>
> Keep in mind whatever you do everyone would probably be doing about the same thing.

Two thoughts...

The first is that it would be pointless. If everyone in the world had a million (billion, gajillion, whatever) dollars, there would be massive inflation. Prices would rise, the value of a dollar would fall, and your million wouldn't be worth much more than what you have right now. It might benefit the poorest in the very short term, but in the long term everything would go right back to the way it is now.

The second thought is that, if you could do it without throwing the economy into chaos, it still wouldn't benefit the poor in the long run. You can't just give a big wad of money to someone who has nothing and expect them to be able to handle it. You see it all the time with lottery winners, sports stars, and entertainers. They blow it all on ridiculous things, get themselves into all kinds of trouble, and eventually end up with nothing.