If its just a money printer then you are basically just a federal reserve/ central bank. I would make myself rich and then buy up a bunch of property to convert into coops and a bunch if wild land to then to reserves, also some big donations to hospitals. Anything more and I wouldn't trust my ability to predict the economic effects.
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You canβt fix society from the top.
Every person has to do their part to fix society.
The idea that societies can (perhaps only) be fixed from the top is a convenient excuse to abdicate oneβs own responsibility for taking care of things around them.
Literal infinite may be problematic. Let's say that I became rich enough by lottery for example. I for sure would live comfortably. But I trust myself to foster positive changes, but have in mind that collective problems can only be solved by collective solutions. Having money gives you power to mobilize people to work, but for the society structure to change, you need more than just that, you will political change with population support, and that's demand time and a lot of work.
2 chicks at the same time and no one would starve or be withought shelter.
..."I'll tell you what I'd do, man"...
If this is a magical entity, then I would just tell it to give me $100 for every $1,000,000 I use for charitable work that doesn't directly benefit me.
If I give away $1,000,000 100,000 times, that's 100 billion dollars of charitable work. And my net worth would "only" be 10 million dollars, certainly wealthy, but not idiotically wealthy. Plenty for me to invest and have doctor money levels of passive income, but only by giving away the vast vast majority of the money I get.
Or I guess I could just ask the entity to cap my net worth at 10 million dollars, and only give me that money when I have given away some arbitrary amount of money it gives me, like 500 billion dollars or something, Idk.
I think I would be fine. I already have limited wealth and I'm directing a significant portion of it to the betterment of the world around me. If my wealth/income increased tenfold (as an example) I don't think I'd be able to find a use for more than, idk, 15-20% of the additional money? So I'd just heavily ramp up the funds going to charities and local causes.
Extending this out to the infinite wealth scenario, I'd be able to help more causes so I'd need to find out which charities are actually putting money to use for what they say they are, extend my mindset beyond local causes and to the whole globe. Almost certainly drop some fat stacks into buying out basically every fossil fuel corp and start the process of getting that shit phased out. Sure I make some terrible people rich(er) in the short term with the buyouts but fuck it, the environment needs to be prioritized.
How I'd convince this hypothetical entity? Idk, probably just explain all of the above and I guess show some hard data on my track record for this. If the entity is determined to put the money in the hands of someone who is going to do good, either I'll be good enough or I won't.
If its not infinite and "just" billions then I'm probably going to funnel about half of it into local (national) causes and the other half into affecting what positive change I can worldwide. Process for convincing the entity remains the same.
Lol if I had truly infinite money, this is a story of what I would do.
I would first have a "magical investment bank" that would promise 200% per annum with interest paid monthly, but only if paid in cash and at least 50 million to start. Have this scheme open for a few months with actual results and interest paid out. This is to get billionaires and megacorps to liquidate their assets into soon to be worthless monetary instruments. Then, everyone in the world but the top 0.1% would get 1 trillion. Everyone's debt is virtually erased, and the old top 0.1% can go ahead, get their money back and feel bad about themselves. With all currency effectively rebased to a billion times than previously, now we can work on solving the world's problems as shoulder-to-shoulder equals. Give the world food, give the world shelter, give the world healthcare, give the people of the world a purpose, give the people socioeconomic freedom, give them trains, give the world a chance at reversing disastrous effects of climate change.
If it didn't work, then my money would be just as worthless any way (unless my infinite money powers could manifest in bottle caps or whatever the newest thing people found value in was).
I'd be good at first but then slowly get corrupted as I continue on feeling disconnected. The change will be so gradual thatI wouldn't realize until it's too late
I would give it away by making college trust funds for poor kids in my area until I had the 4-5 million left that I would need to retire and never work again. Why anyone has more money than that is beyond me.
Iβd get YouTube premium
I will hire people much smarter than me to fix those problems. Climate change? 100 billion to the scientist with the green coat. Poverty? 80 billion to the guy who gave away his only scrap of food. I will become the master delegator. Heck Iβll even have a guy who will do the delegating. Literally have the money do the work for you.
i think super rich people do fucked up shit because:
- that's the only way you become mega-rich, and
- they want more
if i already have 'infinite' money, why would i want more, and since i'm getting this via magic or something, there's no incentive to be evil in order to become or remain mega-rich. in short, yeah, i reckon i'd be alright, and we'd all be better off in the long run.
No, not because I'd necessarily be corrupted, but because I'm a dipshit who doesn't know shit about fuck, I'd probably, crash the world economy completely on accident and then have an emotional breakdown about the fact that I'd ruined billions of lives without knowing how to fix it.
- Build lots of free housing everywhere
- Lowers rent significantly
- Create a new healthcare provider that everyone is automatically included in with fees of $0
- Healthcare providers will have to lower their fees to even try to compete
- Lobby government for fairness doctrine to he reinstated
- Right-wing media gets neutered
- Create plentiful public food gardens
- Retailers have to lower their prices
- Create a 500km tall gold statue of myself
- Satellites now have to clear larger orbits.
- Shining dong to inspire the masses
For the monument to your hubris, maybe make it a space elevator too? Also satellites can totally get around your enormous shining dong, it won't successfully clear LEO like you hope.
Also satellites can totally get around your enormous shining dong, it wonβt successfully clear LEO like you hope.
*narrows eyes*
what have you heard?
If I had infinite money, everyone would have infinite money.
Except Steve. Fuck you, Steve
If everyone has infinite money, it would suddenly become worthless and society would quickly fall into chaos. You must be an anarchist.
You know too much. I will get to you first.
Right after I deal with Steve
Edit: In all honesty, I'd probably try and do a Manfred Macx, propping up technologies and social change aimed at leveling the playing field between the rich and the poor.
Letβs say that you have an opportunity to gain billions to fix the society from the top.
Society can not, and never will be, fixed from the top.
Nor is money the solution to our problems, if anything, it is a huge part of the cause (and why communism aspires to a moneyless society, among other things).
So even if I say I'd only accept the money if I could instantly redistribute it, as long as other billionaires, and the systems that create and uphold them, exist, my personal actions would probably make little difference in the long run, and any money I shared would end up right back in their pockets (by virtue of how capitalism works).
Elon? That you? Start with overturning "citizens united"
Yeah, Iβm awesome!
I would take it but it would be quite a job to manage that. If literally infinite, and not an amount, it would break the idea of money, right?
I'm not sure society can be fixed from the top but would be interested to see what happens if grants are directed in ways that grow the bottom part of the economy, could it be made vibrant, can the value be circulated around not exploited? Can the land be restored? The oceans? How do you audit to prevent fraud, to keep it from making things worse?
I would be very happy to not have to worry about my personal budget but to have the responsibility to try to fix the world with money seems like an impossible task. Money could fix my personal situation, but can it fix everything? Probably not.
I do think I would try though, yeah.
Screw it. If I had limitless wealth time to see if ending homelessness is possible with every bit of it I can.
What I want for me is a stable living situation, fun times on a motorcycle, and time to do hobbies without killing myself at work and to travel. My secondaries are those things for the people I care about. Other than the killing myself at work, that sort of thing is obtainable without being a millionaire.
So after that, throwing billions into building affordable housing seems like the plan, combat these scalpers that overdo rent and see if I could beat the countries, then the worlds goal of "stable living situation". After that... figure out what's next.
Soo it's nowhere near the same- but in FFXIV I once spent weeks after an expansion crafting/gathering to make money to buy a large housing plot. By the end of it I had around ~600million (an absurd amount). Unfortunately my luck just wasn't here and I lost every lottery I entered. Now- I probably have like 5 million. Where did it all go? To other players. I'd just buy people things. Someone in chat said they really wanted this or that- I'd buy it. People wanted a small/medium plot and didn't have the money? I'd give them the gil. I found literally no reason to have so much gil just for the sake of having it, and I love seeing people get excited. I'd put together little welcome packages with expensive mounts, minions, clothes, etc and gift them to new players. I kind of started doing this in real life to, just to a lesser degree as a stranger handing you a gift can be a bit weird. I'd like to imagine, with infinite wealth, I'd do the same thing to a larger scale- really find ways to improve and bring joy to the lives of others. I'd obviously spoil myself with things, but I imagine I'd spend most of it on other people.
i would become so evil so quickly
Yeah, no kidding. I would never be satisfied with infinite money, I'd need more!
Billionaires should not exist.
But I'm a infinitaire
Yep, I'll use it to combat climate change however I can. Propaganda, lobbying (aka: legal bribery), funding green energy, and use profits from said green energy to continue funding my anti big oil propaganda.
Hijack the platforms of a major political party, purge fossil fuel supporters from the party. Try to get a progressive president elected, use my influence to get them to use executive orders to suspend any pipeline projects, any pro-oil projects, etc.
Try to get fossil fuel vehicles banned ASAP. Like stoping any further productions of fossil fuel vehicles immediately, ban all sales of new vehicles in like 3 years (or less if possible). Begin carbon recapture projects.
etc... etc...
And get a lot of security. I'm sure big oil will try to assassinate me for this.
I would trust myself, but I know that I would be the villain in some people's lives.
Maybe the worst of us should live in fear.
Yes.
Gimme.