We are living in such
extraordinary
times that private citizens have built fortunes of such enormity that
they have usurped NASA (National Aeronautics
and Space Adminstration) at
the leading edge
of the space race and the colonization of the moon and nearby
planets.
I've got to hand it to them. Such projects are very, very intricate and
extremely detailed, with many moving parts (including lives at stake).
Yet there is a nagging
question
I have that keeps coming up for me, which is this: before we even
consider
making life work on the moon and nearby
planets,
shouldn't we at least ensure it works on this one first?
These private citizens' fortunes are so
vast
that they could cover the entire cost of colonizing the moon and nearby
planetsand have life work on this one. Indeed, the cost of making
life work for everyone on
this planet,
would be a fraction, a smidgen of the cost of colonizing
the moon and nearby
planets,
so much so that if they took it from their space exploration budget and
set it aside to make life on
Planet Earth
work, they would barely notice it was missing.
Definition
croesan
adjective
from the idiom
as rich as Croesus
from the name
Croesus
a very rich man
<unquote>
Croesus, King of Lydia (585BC - 546BC), net worth $350,000,000,000 (350
billion) in today's
money,
is the protagonist of the idiom "as rich as Croesus" (a very rich man).
Anyone with a net worth of $1,000,000 (1 million) will have no
trouble
coming up with change to pay their grocery bill in the supermarket
checkout line. I wonder what good could be financed by such colossal
wealth with which Forbes wealthiest net worth listings are famiiar and
already passe.
Consider
this: meticulous research has proved that there are enough abandoned,
empty, foreclosed ie unused homes to house the homeless*
many, many times over. Meticulous research has also shown us that
there is enough discarded, surplus, and wasted food to feed the
hungry**
many, many times over. What's lacking (we are told) is twofold: the
global will to end homelessness and world hunger, and the
wherewithal ie the availability of finances to do so.
How-ever: people of good will everywhere
already have
the intention
to do so ... and ... now we have the wherewithal /
availability of finances to do so.
Take a look at these numbers:
What Today's Billionaire Class Has
If you had a Forbes wealthiest net worth listing of $300,000,000,000
(300 billion), then if you gifted $1,000,000 (1 million) a day
•
which is about $300,000,000 (300 million) over 1 year
•
which is about $3,000,000,000 (3 billion) over 10 years
•
which is about $30,000,000,000 (30 billion) over 100 years
you'd still have about $270,000,000,000 (270 billion) left, rendering
your $1,000,000 (1 million) a day gifts as stingy, even trivial.
These numbers showing that if you had $300,000,000,000 (300 billion)
and you gave away $1,000,000 (1 million) a day for 100 years, you'd
still have about $270,000,000,000 (270 billion) left, give you a sense
of what today's Forbes wealthiest billionaire class has.
If you saved $10,000 (ten thousand) a day since the year 1 AD
•
which is about 2025 years x 365 days = 739,125 days
you'd have saved $10,000 (ten thousand) x 739,125 days
•
which is about $7,391,250,000 (7 billion and change), a trivial amount
compared to a Forbes wealthiest net worth listing of $300,000,000,000
(300 billion).
These numbers showing that if you saved $10,000 (ten thousand) a day
since the year 1 AD, you'd only have about $7,391,250,000 (7 billion
and change) today, give you a sense of how
vast
a Forbes wealthiest billionaire's fortune is.
So Why Do We Still Have Homelessness And World Hunger?
It will cost about $30,000,000,000 (30 billion) a year to end
homelessness, and about $40,000,000,000 (40 billion) a year to end
world hunger by the year 2030, for a total of $70,000,000,000 (70
billion), a small amount compared to a Forbes wealthiest net worth
listing of $300,000,000,000 (300 billion) and you still won't have any
trouble
coming up with change to pay your grocery bill in the supermarket
checkout line with what's left.
These numbers showing that just one Forbes wealthiest billionaire could
singlehandedly finance the end of both homelessness and
world hunger while barely noticing a dent in their wallet, leave me
incredulously wondering "So (tell me again) why do we still have
homelessness and world hunger?".
* * *
Be clear about this: croesan wealth can't buy transformation. And once
you're rich enough to pay your grocery bills, anything more than that
is
the same oldnothing burger. Is it just
ego-gratification
that compels us to spend our fortunes on interplanetary space
exploration but not on homes for the homeless or food for the hungry
(or on programs designed to support the hungry taking charge of their
own situation in life)? Hopefully mankind's legacy will end up being
housed homeless and fed hungry, long before it's the colonization of
the moon and nearby planets. If it isn't, won't we simply be taking the
germs of homelessness and world hunger with us,
trapped
in the same mindset that keeps them unresolved on
Planet Earth,
to wherever we travel in
the universe?
