okthen maybe I can take another tac with this. This idea was more for improving the chances of all individuals to to better their situation at pivotal stages of their lives.
At the risk of ridicule I'll post here a more fleshed out version I wrote in the early 90's. If it has merit and can be incorporated with the blockchain and perhaps BTC or other store of value coupled with growth then I expect there are those here than can see a way to convert this ideal from one based on fiat and locked to the cause of BTC mass adoption.
Forget the wording in dollars and try to see the gradual adoption of global equality. Of course, as always, there will always be some that are more equal than another. This is just an attempt at bringing the gap between the two closer together.
Any thoughts are welcome.
I call this idea Humanity's Future Fund. And that's what it is. A global fund for humanity, invested in the global market and over time dispersed to each individual person born. An individual trust fund for every person born that begins earning interest from the date of their first birthday until their fifty first birthday.
Imagine a world, not too far from now, where every individual all over the world has the knowledge that they will come into possession, on their 51st birthday, of an economic boon that totals, more or less (depending on market fluctuations) a million dollars. A million dollars to do with what he/she wanted. The idea adds a certain balance of fairness to the other two ultimate certainties in life. Death and taxes.
Imagine too that by a person's mid 20's their fund will have grown to a point where they are able use it as collateral for financing their own passion in life. Whether that passion is simply to further their education, business, leisure or all three. Just the expectation of this opportunity would be something of both school yard and class room conversation from kindergarten to graduation. Surely there will be contention within many conversation but I believe, over all and generally, that such a fund will give humanity an air of forward thinking optimism. Truly a tide that rises all ships and allows all the opportunity to be captain of their own future.
To many the idea of a world where everyone gets a million dollars, for nothing more than living more than 50 years of age, is absurd. "It will cause inflation." My response is simply; "what price for peace?" We have an understanding of the price
of war. The U.S.A. has already spent the amount (required to make this dream a reality) on the war in Iraq. And although many would argue there will be a long lasting benefit to the U.S., and the rest of the world, for it's sacrifice of a half
trillion dollars...and counting. (Not to mention lives) Far, far many more of us have trouble seeing any benefit now or
ever.
Humanity's Future Fund would take that half trillion dollars, and break it down evenly over 50 years. Not 5 years, and invest (not indebt) it in people, progress and peace. But the foundation doesn't need 500 billion dollars to begin. It needs you, and millions more like you. I've simplified the numbers by stating that one percent of the world population (60 million people) committing 50 cents a day will generate the 10 billion dollars required to get through the first year of the Foundation. The same equivalent will be needed each succeeding year for 50 years running to reach the point of exponential sustainability through the next 50 years at which point (100 years) every child born will be the recipient of this Humanity's Future Fund.
Ten billion dollars a year. Not too huge a number is it now? So what is to be done with it? How does 10 billion dollars a year for 50 years translate to every person born being a recipient of this, Humanity's Trust Fund, 100 years from now? If a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step then it is up to me to take that first step by finding a way of communicating this idea in a way that captures not only interest but but the motivation of the reader to act.
Twenty years ago I saw the internet as being the ideal medium from which to put forward this idea. Making Humanity's Future Fund accessible to anyone anywhere in the world is crucial to longevity and ultimate success. I can't imagine a future without the internet connection, which brings us all closer together. The internet is the only platform where the Foundation can allow humanity full disclosure of it's operation at the click of a mouse.
This is all I can effectively ask of you the reader to do is take that act of clicking a mouse and following your own heart in what you would like to do to help in the next steps along the journey. There is so much to do during the first 50 years and I believe that, for a cause such as this, we all have something to contribute in support of the Foundation. Communication, being the first step, is something the Foundation will hopefully will achieve through the efforts of those supporters who know best how to "communicate" on the net.
Getting the word out about this idea will lead to the creation of a legal entity called Humanity's Future Fund and the second step will begin. the Foundation's operations will begin changing humanity's future one child at a time. Sounds slow but quite the contrary. To get back to the numbers and to try to communicate a picture in your mind let me just say how I've envisioned the best scenario.
With 10 billion dollars a year the Foundation will be able to set up one million trust accounts in the amount of ten thousand each. That's one million one year olds, in essence winning a virtual lottery, becoming a recipient of the Fund for their own future. This trust fund will not be transferable to any individual. The individual must appear in person to verify they are the true recipient to collect the matured fund at the age of 51.
I called the process of distributing this Trust Fund a virtual lottery. I can't think of any better term for it. To accommodate one million random selections there would need to be a drawing every thirty seconds of every day of the year. I envision a ticker tape, scrolling continuously, announcing each recipient child every half minute. Imagine the web site. Who's to build and maintain and protect such a site? So much to do.
So, to simplify all that I've said, each year (for 50 years) 10 billion dollars (to be raised in various ways) will allow 1 million children to grow up knowing that they have a personal trust fund that could grow to 1 million dollars over 50 years. So after 50 years there will have been 50 million individual Future Trust Funds distributed. There will be a web site where full disclosure of Humanity Future Fund's activities.
The million dollar figure of the matured fund is an assumption. The amount can be less or more depending on the fluctuations of the global markets and the administration of the Fund. A reasonable target of compounding growth by the rule of 72 (or doubling every seven years) would see a ten thousand dollar fund grow to close to 1.5 million over 50 years. By the age of 21 the Fund will have grown to 80 thousand dollars. From which a one time predetermined limit can be borrowed against the Fund. Assuming there will be lenders who see the Fund as collateral for the loan. It is up to the individual to protect their own interest by making good on their loan long before the Fund reaches maturity.
This may all look to you, the reader, well and good but you don't see how, (with a population growth of roughly 75 million a year today), does just one million a year over fifty years become everyone by year one hundred? Like the simple math of compound interest we use the same principle to create exponential growth of the Fund in the second phase. After the 50th year of Humanity's Future Fund those who are recipients will be required by the Foundation rules to forfeit 100 thousand dollars from the accrued amount of the matured That 100 thousand will now become 10 individual Trust Funds. In other words, what was done for the recipient is now done ten fold for humanity and the ensuing 50 years will see not one million children but 10 million children all over the world receiving the benefit of Humanity's Future Fund.
Because the funds are now coming from the actual beneficiaries after the 50th year there will be no more requirement for the Foundation to continue to seek funds from the public. Humanity's Future Fund will become self sustaining. Year 51 brings new challenges. A growth rate of the distribution of individual Funds by a factor of ten would require a selection process that would need to happen every 3 seconds of every day of the year. I believe such a challenge will be met. As will the challenge, after year 100, of registering every child born so that they and all of humanity will feel the benefits of this rather simplified proposal.
This is the basis of the idea. It will take much effort to see to it's success. The Foundation itself will grow, through attrition, (those who do not collect) and it's mandate will be to live up to it's name. Helping to fund the basics like food, shelter and education for all humanity. Supporting catastrophic relief efforts for both segments of humanity as well as the planet and it's fragile resources. If you've managed to grasp the idea from my style of presentation you can undoubtedly see that this Humanity's Future Fund will grow into an entity with trillions of dollars, all generated from global commerce, with which to affect significant funding for the issue of global poverty. Personally I see no other way and the time to start is now because the sooner we get to that 100th anniversary of Humanity's Future Fund the better off we all will be. Or at least we will be remembered as a giant step toward humanity's collective maturity.
