If I had 100 billion dollars to give away, I would first invest as much as it would take design and build of the necessary facilities to provide clean water and adequate sewage systmes in all human inhabited areas of the earth.
We often hear about how so many of the poor in third world nations should have access to better medications. Rarely does anyone comment on the fact that the water sources these people are forced to use causes rampant dysentary which makes it very difficult to remain healthy enough to tolerate/absorb any medications ingested.
After dealing with the water facilites, I would use any funds left over to buy out businesses and industries in Africa that are owned by Americans and Europeans which could generate food and clothing. After buying these out, i would then field applications from locals who would hope to run these industries and grant complete ownership the businesses and any profits to them on the conditions that they allow some degree of business management oversight by paid business consultants (paid by me). This would hopefully contribute to establishing a modern economy in third world Africa that could be somewhat self-sustaining.
Description: It's not resources we lack, says Boyd.
Transcript: A hundred billion dollars to give away? Mmm. It will seem like a lack of imagination, but I really don’t respond to the question mentally. It’s . . . It’s . . . I don’t think what we’re lacking is resources. I think what we’re lacking is . . . is the will and the passion – or connecting the will and the passion – to where it needs to go. So Move On, for example, doesn’t go out fundraising. We raise all our money from . . . from wealthy . . . from wealthy contributors. We raise all our money from $25 donors and $40 donors, because most of the work of the organization is through those people. And getting them to make a commitment of their time and money is what’s most important. It’s really not about money. It’s really about us putting our attention to these important things.
Recorded on: 7/5/07
Description: Boteach would start with marital counseling.
Transcript: If I had $100 billion to give away, the first thing I would do is take a sizeable chunk – let’s say $10 billion – and make marital counseling free in the United States. Because I think a lot of couples, had they had counseling – they can’t afford it – they’d still be together. Then I would take another $10 billion or $20 billion and I would launch a global education force among the warring world religions to really come together. Jews and Muslims; Protestants and Catholics, which isn’t as bad anymore; but certainly in the Middle East. I would somehow create an effective educational campaign to bring people together to finally rid war from this earth. I would then take another $10 billion and I would dedicate it to an anti-genocide fund, educating people about genocides that are going on anywhere in the world, and inspiring the UN and world governments to do something about it. I would spend $10 billion on an educational fund for women, teaching women about the real values of feminine pride, feminine dignity, of not being a man’s eye candy, of not living for male attention but living from within and the attention will come in a positive way. And I . . . I don’t know what I’m left with right now, but I would give 20% of it – $20 billion – to the state of Israel, and to its institutions and its framework. Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. It’s the Jewish homeland. It is fighting an existential battle for its existence. I would give it to the brave soldiers who defend it. I would give it . . . Israel has a million Arab citizens. I would improve their lives as well, God willing, to show them that they are absolutely welcome, and loved, and appreciated in the Jewish state. Just because it’s a Jewish state doesn’t mean that they’re not equal in every single way. And I would do my best to strengthen Israel because I fear for its existence. I fear for its continuity. And I love it and respect it. I respect its achievements. I respect the fact that it has created so much freedom and liberty in a region that just doesn’t have it.
Recorded on: 9/5/07
Description: Caldwell would use the money to look for multi-faceted approaches to global problems.
Transcript: Well I’d have to . . . I’d have to say that I’m really interested multisectorial approaches to problems. And I think that one of the problems we have is that we tend to compartmentalize. And of course, you know, one of the biggest in challenges in philanthropic terms, is anybody who’s giving any money away – whether it’s, you know, whether it’s me tithing myself, or a foundation trying to decide how to disperse its resources needs to be strategic in terms of its investment. So the tendency is to try to focus your investments very thoughtfully and strategically in given areas. And I understand that, but at the same time part of the problem we face, as I said earlier, is compartmentalization. So for example, I think what Larry Brilliant is talking about at Google.org is very interesting. And if you haven’t spoken to him I think you ought to, because they’re looking at poverty, health and the environment. And they’re looking at the intersections between those three problems which are, of course, inextricably intertwined. And I think it would be a big mistake to focus exclusively on health without look at poverty and the environment. So what I would say is that if I . . . You know for some reason I did decide and was offered the opportunity to think about how to spend a lot of the philanthropic dollars, I would want to be looking at intersectionality. And I would want to be looking at comprehensive solutions to some of the most pressing problems we’re facing.
Recorded on: 8/13/07
Description: Gilbert would build an irrational Walden.
Transcript: (Laughter) A hundred billion dollars to give away. How would I spend it? Well, you know, there’s two ways to spend it. One is to spend it on lots of little things and then one is to spend it on one big thing. I’m so far from being a billionaire that I don’t really know what you could do with 100 billion dollars. But I think it would be amazing to do a social experiment, an experiment in which you created a state – whether that means 1,000 people, 100,000 people or a million people – on a piece of land that lived by different principles. Kind of a Walden II, if you will, that lived by irrational principles. I think this could be a demonstration experiment for the rest of the world on how people can get along, and on how they can thrive or survive. Now I don’t know what those principles should be. I’d gather . . . With part of my 100 billion, I’d gather a whole lot of very smart people for a few years to think this problem through. But to create an amazing community in the desert of people who are living by irrational principles and thriving would do more for the export of that notion that all the arguments in the world. There it is. There is the demonstration proof.
Recorded on: 6/12/07
