I Want a Billion Dollars

Note that I did not write, “I want to be a billionaire.” I have zero desire to resemble or emulate the likes of Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk, or even Warren Buffet. Buffet has said publicly that his fortune is mostly committed to a charitable foundation and that he could live fine on $100,000 per year, but allowing individuals to accumulate that much money, and far more, in some cases, just seems like a bad idea.

The reason I want a billion dollars is because I can think up lots of ways to help other people if I had that much money. Start a health insurance company that does not consider “pre existing conditions,” which is now illegal anyway, and that pays every claim for a treatment or prescription a doctor orders, absent some good reason to doubt the doctor’s order, such as fraud. Essentially zero medical review.

Lots of options. But first, I would buy a big house in a marginal neighborhood and remodel it into a Buddhist meditation center. Make it appealing to children, with a big play yard and a ready supply of juice boxes. Buddhist monks only eat one meal per day, but serve an evening meal for any hungry childre. Rule number one is always feed hungry children. Be a fount of compassion and peace. Quietly help neighbors in need.

This is not an idea that was much available at the time of the Buddha, but it does seem to me entirely consistent with his teachings.

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