What if a billionaire decided to use his money to help the economy?

What do you think would happen if a billionaire decided to use his money to pay the taxes or debt of everyone in his state? Do you think the consequences would be good or bad? Also, would such an action even be legal?

EDIT:

Just being curious, what countries does the U.S. owe money and how much money does it owe China? Also, why haven't these countries demanded their money back, yet?

Philanthropists are always going to donate the majority of their money outside the USA, where problems can be a little more severe than your state government being in defecit.Danm_999

I'm fairly certain the government can't accept money from it's people.

[QUOTE="Danm_999"]Philanthropists are always going to donate the majority of their money outside the USA, where problems can be a little more severe than your state government being in defecit.TechTrek

[QUOTE="TechTrek"][QUOTE="Danm_999"]Philanthropists are always going to donate the majority of their money outside the USA, where problems can be a little more severe than your state government being in defecit.Danm_999

there are more needy people out there weezyfb

id rather help a kid with a weird disease than some guy who maxed his credit.

Philanthropists are always going to donate the majority of their money outside the USA, where problems can be a little more severe than your state government being in defecit.Danm_999

So we should neglect ourselves until everyone else's problems are solved?

The USA has a GDP of 14 trillion dollars. Even gates at his peak with $80 billion is a small component of that with less than 1% of a single year GDP. Sure someone very rich could regenerate a small city, or maybe even one of the small states with half a million people in. Their actual effect on the national economy would be minuscule. mucgoo

How about the GDP of a state like New York or California?

[QUOTE="Danm_999"]Philanthropists are always going to donate the majority of their money outside the USA, where problems can be a little more severe than your state government being in defecit.TechTrek

yea but the problem that i see with that, even if you fix there problems with their money your not solving their root issue of what got them into that spot themself (minus the student loans That makes sense to me)

the main problem with your question is that it would take trillions to get us out of the deficit, but aside from that I don't really know whether it would be legal or not.

Unfortunately, I'm left with the feeling that if, as of right now, the deficit was ZERO, within a few years we'd be in huge debt again. That's just how our government runs things. It's not a Republican or Democratic thing. It's a political thing. Politicians buy votes in one way or another. They make lofty promises that can never be kept.

[QUOTE="TechTrek"][QUOTE="Danm_999"]Philanthropists are always going to donate the majority of their money outside the USA, where problems can be a little more severe than your state government being in defecit.kayoticdreamz

EDIT: lol in 2000 it was running backwards... aah the good ol' days...

The group held a demonstration in Berlin on Wednesday to draw attention to their plans, throwing fake banknotes into the air. Mr Vollmer said it was "really strange that so few people came".

id rather help a kid with a weird disease than some guy who maxed his credit.

Krelian-co

Same here

What do you think would happen if a billionaire decided to use his money to pay the taxes or debt of everyone in his state? Do you think the consequences would be good or bad? Also, would such an action even be legal?TechTrek

Edit: paying off someone's credit card isn't going to help them, they'll be right back in the same position, that is why you have to teach people how to manage their money. I may pay off some student loans but only for those who graduated with a B.S.within 5 years. Master and Doctorate degrees are because you choose to continue with your education, not a bad decision it's just your own. (Yes a bachelor degree is also a decision, but I feel it's a necessary stepping stone in life, the experience is awesome for the most part).

[QUOTE="weezyfb"]there are more needy people out there ZumaJones07

The same could be said of the needy in this country. Which means the rich should just horde as much money as possible for themselves and only look out for themselves. But becaue they're alreadywealthy that means that they'll always have more access to untapped riches than the everyday person,and especially the poor, which leaves the rest of us sol. Not sure that's such a good mo for people to have.

I think the money would be better spent creating a business that employs a lot of people.

My question is this: celebrities like Sean Penn are always asking you to help kids and people in foreign war torn countries, and they're saying that 1 dollar a day can change these peoples lives, why don'tthey give up half of their money instead of asking other people who don't have millions to help. I know this isn't exactly what the TC asked, but it's kind of relevant. There are people with vast sums of money and they could solve a lot of problems by giving more than they do.

domestically (specifically in my state) I'd help fix the education problem; too many layoffs of critical parts of the K-12 area. I feel college/universities can manage on their own.

internationally I would work with that organization that brings water/irrigation to people. I'd convince my friend to go out and build irrigation systems for communities so they can grow their own food.

One thing for certain, though, is that I would never give money out. I'd buy stuff like equipment, supplies, etc but I dont trust anyone with straight up money.

[QUOTE="Danm_999"][QUOTE="TechTrek"] Well, if I were a billionaire, I'd do one of the following: 1. Pay off the credit card debt of everyone in my state. 2. Pay off the student loans of everyone in my state. 3. Pay off the mortgage of everyone in my state. 4. Pay off the taxes of everyone in my state. 5. Feed all of the homeless and create a business to give them jobs. TechTrek

The way I see it, people's credit card debt is their problem. All you would achieve is getting everyone to start getting tons of credit to buy all kinds of expensive stuff because, hey! You're going to pay for it!

[QUOTE="Danm_999"]Philanthropists are always going to donate the majority of their money outside the USA, where problems can be a little more severe than your state government being in defecit.TechTrek

People need to stop spending money beyond their means of earning it. If you could educate people about this, I think national debt would slowly decrease. It boogles my mind to see people getting $50,000 car loans on top of $200,000+ home loans and only make $25,000 a year. Its part being smart with your money and part banks not giving out loans left andright to anybody who wants one. Education, education, education!!!

picture a kid smashing open his piggy bank to help his folks pay the mortgage.