What do you think the world needs right now? Love sweet love? George Bush says that what the world needs now is $700 billion welfare for Wall Street. Let’s face it. We all know that if the economy suffers, we will all suffer. However, we also know that if Wall Street falls and there are bargains to be had, someone will scoop them up and we will all survive to see another day. That includes my miserable little 401K.
But, if we decided not to spend $700 billion on the bailout, what would you use the money for?
Well, Malaria No More could use $10 per mosquito net to protect families from malaria. If we bought one million nets, that still leaves $699,990,000,000 for Wall Street. Malaria causes around 350 to 500 million illnesses and more than one million deaths annually. Malaria is particularly devastating in Africa, where it kills an African child every 30 seconds. Maybe we could redirect just less than two-tenths of one percent to do something about malaria.
More after the break...
Feeding America, the foundation formally known as America’s Second Harvest could put some money to good use. For every dollar donated to Feeding America, they can leverage their resource to purchase $30 worth of food. If we picked off another ten million dollars from the bailout, we could multiply that to $30,000,000 for food banks. That still leaves $699,980,000,000 for those poor folks on Wall Street.
And why don’t we give $100 billion to fund T. Boone Pickens’ energy plan? That will create jobs and stimulate the economy. That still leaves $599,980,000,000 for those poor investment bankers.
Or maybe we could run over to Heifer International and give away a million goats at $120 each. With these kinds of numbers, Wall Street wouldn’t miss a mere $120 million. That still leaves $599,860,000,000.
Maybe we can also fund after school programs, school lunches, single-payer healthcare, etc.
What would you fund with $700 billion?