Imagine

[skinny]

There's an old saying, which is not an absolute rule, but makes sense to me: "In order to be clever enough to make all that money, you have to be stupid enough to want to."

Point is that people who build enormous personal fortunes achieve this because they prioritise it over everything else. Most of us are not like that.

Above a certain level, the money becomes no more than a system of points to show who's winning. A Ferrari or a Rolls Royce is still only a car. A mega-yacht with a liveried crew probably affords less genuine pleasure to the owner than having a 20 footer and the leisure to use it and develop your sailing skills. (At least Richard Branson spent some of his money on ballooning adventures rather than mere ostentation, so respect for that.)

Those of us who like to think that if we won Euromillions, we'd settle our friends' mortgages, see that our kids and grandkids were well provided for, and maybe set up a charitable fund or donate an area of woodland to our community, will never amass a fortune because we don't care enough about being rich.

In a way, I feel sorry for the world's 11th richest person. He or she has unimaginable wealth, but they are not in the top 10, and that surely rankles with them. Similarly, I feel slightly sorry for number 2, because he is the "nearly man", and also for number 1 because he has nowhere to go from there but down. All that money, power, and privilege, but to what end? What an empty way of living.

Nope, enough is sufficient for me.

That said, control of, say, £10 billion, would be a dangerous amount. It would be a drop in the ocean in terms of achieving world peace, solving climate change, or bringing an end to world hunger.

For comparison, £10,000,000,000 is about £143 each for everyone in the UK: a new suit of reasonably smart clothes, or a cheap bicycle each. And the UK has only about the 21st biggest population. It's about £1.40 per person in the world. You just about buy everyone a cup of coffee with it.

On the other hand, £10 billion would be enough to cause a huge amount of damage, whether deliberately, or misguidedly.

[Edited to eliminate error. UK has 21st biggest population (according to Wikipedia). I carefully looked it up then typed "economy" instead of "population" by mistake.]

I only had to read the first sentence to give a like to this post. What a beauty.
Thanks, mike. You're right on the money, mate.

 

[AnonyJ]

Limitless wealth?

Education for all, free of charge to whoever wants it, at any age.

Not just sciences and humanities - I believe empathy and compassion can be also taught. Esoteric philosophy, ethics, metallurgy, motorcycle maintenance with added Zen classes if you so wish.

I think it's the value of being taught to think critically that is priceless, rather than the subject.

Societies where girls and women are highly or even moderately educated automatically see a very marked decrease in birth rate with concomitant benefits for our planet as a whole.

I've seen people in Nepal who basically live in a shed scrape up the rupees to send their children to school because they know that education is the only way out, and up.

 

[Sid]

If we are talking about realistic wealth of £10BN, which is what some Oligarchs have:
My focus would be on countering the effects of pollution.
That kind of money could make a difference to one country, say the UK. and hopefully encourage others overseas to follow.

I would encourage a program of tree planting in cities, to help filter exhaust pollution.

I would fund expansion of railways (mixture of surface, underground and light rail as appropriate) in cities, to encourage less car use.
The London Crossrail line costs about £16BN, which is just one line and is a mixture of of underground and overground sections, so my funding would mainly be light rail networks which are cheaper than this.

£10BN does not go very far does it!

The Hidden Polluter?
Forget Car fumes, this is one that nobody seems to have highlighted as crucial ~ I really wonder how this car-linked polluter is going to be combated. . .
https://earth.org/tyre-pollution/

 

[Aether Blue]

Fact-based medicine, STEM education, and revitalizing the labor movement.

Also, I'd take my dad to see New Zealand.

 

[bugmum]

I like to think I'd fund some housing programs for people who can't afford the over-inflated house prices down here, and buy up odd bits of land to let them go wild. Whether either of these things would have long-term effects for anyone is debatable.

 

[Bad Bungle]

In one second, the Sun generates more energy - approx 380 quadrillion (24 noughts) joules - than has been used in all of mankind's history. Collect, harness, store, distribute - surely worth a bit of research investment.

 

[Ronnie Jersey]

My husband knows that if we ever hit the lottery, I am going to immediately open an Animal Sanctuary to take in all unwanted, homeless, ill animals, for them to live out their days happy and healthy, in a forever home.