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January 20, 2011

After seeing this ad, I had a lot of questions for HSBC:

First, would it still be 100,000 Euros after the fantastic gold market crash of 2011, which would have to happen once it was known that all of the gold from beneath the ocean was now available?

Having sorted that, suppose you did give everyone on earth 100,000 Euros. I can imagine so many scenarios:

"Can I buy your 1988 Ford Fiesta for $20,000?" .. "No, I don't need any more money, I need my car".
Someone in the jungle with nothing to do with their money.
Who in their right mind would keep their minimum wage job if they have the equivalent of 20,000 hours of work in the bank?

Would it change anything in a meaningful way? Those in moderate credit card debt would probably be helped greatly, and those with a moderate (but not insane amount) of money would be hurt.

OK I've wasted enough time on this. Carry on.

6 Comments:

Posted by name on Mon 31 Jan 2011 at 17:17 from 24.63.14.x

We've only done a mediocre job of strip mining the Earth thus far. Let's REALLY apply ourselves when we tackle the ocean!!

Posted by Michael on Mon 31 Jan 2011 at 17:19 from 78.51.12.x

Read the fine print! It really says:
"The amount of gold beneath the ocean could give everyone on earth E100,000.
But we will keep it ourselves and then lend it to you everyone for a bargain interest rate of 10% p.a."
10% p.a. on 100,000 times 6,897,100,000 now that's what I call potential.

Posted by Nathan on Mon 25 Jul 2011 at 06:21 from 71.238.158.x

yeah who would keep their minimum wage job? better yet who would keep their sweat shop job? who would bother to be a corporate slave anymore? who would make my clothes, my shoes? how would we get things we don't need? who would make my food? would i have to use my money to buy land and grow my own food and make my own things? as it is right now those with moderate (but not insane amounts) of money are not hurting at all. those with insane amounts are also not hurting. its the people working minimum wage jobs and in sweat shops that are hurting. would there be so much suffering if every one was given a fair share. i dont think so. would everyone make an extreme less amount of money than the current middle class standard.. yep. from what i have read everyone would make around 3 thousand dollars a year (or around 280,00 a lifetime) but everyone would also have a few acres of land.3 thousand seems like very little but with 3 thousand dollars a year or (280,000 to spend how you please) and your own land to grow your own food EVERYONE would be able to make it. money really would not be an issue anymore because people would start bartering. all you would need money for is yearly seed to grow your food. or to by solar panels once every ten years.

Posted by nathan on Mon 25 Jul 2011 at 06:24 from 71.238.158.x

do i think we need to deplete the earth of all its gold for this to happen.. hell no! it can happen without robbing the earth anymore.

Posted by Lon on Tue 23 Aug 2011 at 09:11 from 68.61.109.x

Gold would become worthless. You know, like water? That's free isn't it? Oh, it's the bottle that costs $2.00. Also, everyone would look like Wesley Snipes in 'New Jack City'.

p.s. Apparently, I'm not human because I had to type this twice.

Posted by Ev on Mon 12 Mar 2012 at 06:23 from 81.155.43.x

The Cost of living would just rise and the division of wealth would stay the same.

A more interesting concept would be if the worlds total wealth was pooled and divided equally.

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