Warren
Buffett pledged to give away most of his $40 billion fortune in the near
future. I admire him for giving a big f-you to the government by not
letting them collect half when he dies. Most of his money will go to the
Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. Although they sponsor many worthy causes
they are by no means strapped for cash. If Mr. Buffett wants to leave a
positive legacy, here are some other causes he should consider:
Stop Having Kids Fund
I've been tempted to start this fund for years. The premise is simple: we
will pay you $10,000 to get a vasectomy (in addition to the cost of the
procedure). $50,000 for convicted felons out of prison. The impact to
society would be overwhelmingly positive.
In the worst case, or best depending on how you look at it, let's imagine
that only felons sign-up for the plan. A
vasectomy costs $1,000 at most so the cost would be $51,000 per person.
$40 billion divided by $51,000 is 784,313. If each felon fathers 2.5
children (probably a low estimate) that's 1,960,784 children. I figure about
75% (1,470,588) of these kids will end up in prison, after fathering 2.5
children themselves of course. Now let's figure that it costs $20,000 a year
to house an inmate (also probably a low estimate). $20,000 times 1,470,588
brings us to $29,411,764,705. This program will pay for itself in less than
two years.
Space Exploration
Space exploration is a debatable worthwhile cause. Maybe we'll make some
amazing discovery that will change our lives, maybe we'll waste billions and
find nothing. At least it was exciting for a while. The US and Soviet Union competing
to see who could get to the Moon first. Without competition the space program
has stalled. Maybe once a year we launch a shuttle into space if it's
not too cloudy that day. Booooring. How about this.. fill a couple rockets
with $40 billion in cash and crash them into the surface of Mars. NASA has
been quite successful at crashing vehicles into Mars so I'm pretty sure even
the guys from Mythbusters could figure it out.
If there was $40 billion dollars on the surface Mars it would take less than
a year for the US, Russia, China, and Richard Branson to have manned
missions there. It would be "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" in
space, an old fashioned space race.
North Korean Buyout
Want a way to deal with North
Korea that costs a fraction of the Iraq war? Let's offer Kim Jong Il and
his top cronies a massive buyout offer. $40
billion is the annual GDP for the entire country so this is a good deal.
Hey, it
worked for GM so what's the harm in trying? Sure, the gang running North
Korea are totally insane but $40 billion is hard to pass up. Even crazy
people can see the color green.
If he doesn't take it, just offer $40 billion to whoever can
topple the government. Things would work themselves out nicely in this
scenario too.
