A hypothetical situation

[omega 616]

Say the richest man in the whole wide world gave everybody a million or two, what would be the effects?

Not a lot of people would work at first 'cos who needs to work when you have that much cash? Then I assume a lot of people would go back to work 'cos they are bored of lounging round.

Money would become obsolete, why buy anything when it doesn't matter? Nobody needs to make money any more so it would be a free trade

A lot of systems will break down and humanity will be messed up for awhile 'cos who wants to do the really shitty jobs if they don't need to earn money? We will adapt though.

Theft would be erased over night, why steal? You can afford to buy it but like I said before it's all free trade.

Worry would be gone 'cos you never have to care about anything like being late, not paying bills, no pressure from bosses.

What about games, films and books? I assume people with a passion for them would carry on making them actually, like modders mod for fun not to be paid (I assume)

Would it be the ultimate utopia or good till the novelty wore off then it would be hell?

 

[Hero in a half shell]

OOOOOOH, actually would it lead to inflation? since no new currency is created; the billionaire is just hoarding it, or is their a disctinction between the amount of currency distributed and its actual state of circulation?

 

[BrassButtons]

Say the richest man in the whole wide world gave everybody a million or two, what would be the effects?

Massive inflation.

Money would become obsolete

No, stuff would just cost way more. Way, way more.

Theft would be erased over night, why steal? You can afford to buy it but like I said before it's all free trade.

How would an end in money (which would not occur in this scenario) fix resource scarcity?

 

[omega 616]

Say the richest man in the whole wide world gave everybody a million or two, what would be the effects?

Massive inflation.

Money would become obsolete

No, stuff would just cost way more. Way, way more.

Theft would be erased over night, why steal? You can afford to buy it but like I said before it's all free trade.

How would an end in money (which would not occur in this scenario) fix resource scarcity?

The way I am thinking is a house costs £500,000 but what is the point in paying after a year or so you are going to have that back again from interest.

Admittedly I never took a course in economics, I was just thinking about this scenario while I was taking a 2 mile walk.

I had never seen a thread like this on this site so I thought it would be something interesting to talk about, I hate looking through these forums and seeing the same damn threads constantly "MW3 this, skyrim that, ME3 the other!" ... "you are now have something to do with your avatar/fav game".

 

[Jodah]

Ever see the Futurama episode where everyone gets 300 dollars from the Government? Remember when the $.99 store became the $299.99 store? That's what would happen.

The amount of money in the world has very little to do with inflation. The amount of money in circulation is what matters. The billions of dollars that Bill Gates has doesn't help or hurt inflation, if he were to distribute it to everyone it would make a difference. Producers really don't care how much money one person has, it is how much money most people have.

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

I had never seen a thread like this on this site so I thought it would be something interesting to talk about, I hate looking through these forums and seeing the same damn threads constantly "MW3 this, skyrim that, ME3 the other!" ... "you are now have something to do with your avatar/fav game".

Wanting to start new discussions is laudable, but your choice of topic (or perhaps the wording) could be better.

As everyone has said, all that would happen is that the currency would depreciate until it was at a sustainable level for basic economic transactions. Hero in a Half Shell asked if it would depreciate because there is no new money in being printed; a billionaire is just handing out sacks with dollar signs on them. However, that billionaire didn't spend almost any of his money; he just sat on it, occasionally splurging on a Yacht staffed by co-eds or whatnot.

If everyone had massive stacks of money, some people would spend it quickly on houses, new TVs, etc. However, the merchants would realize they were not getting as much as they could, so they would raise prices, which would reverberate from the luxury market to basic commodities like food. The people who sat on their money would find in a short time that they were about as well off as when they started, while those who blew their money would have tough financial times ahead until their jobs started to pay enough to cover living in the new economy.

If your billionaire invested his money into industries to supply everyone in the world with the basics (food, houses, porn, etc.)... That would be interesting.

 

[omega 616]

I had never seen a thread like this on this site so I thought it would be something interesting to talk about, I hate looking through these forums and seeing the same damn threads constantly "MW3 this, skyrim that, ME3 the other!" ... "you are now have something to do with your avatar/fav game".

Wanting to start new discussions is laudable, but your choice of topic (or perhaps the wording) could be better.

As everyone has said, all that would happen is that the currency would depreciate until it was at a sustainable level for basic economic transactions. Hero in a Half Shell asked if it would depreciate because there is no new money in being printed; a billionaire is just handing out sacks with dollar signs on them. However, that billionaire didn't spend almost any of his money; he just sat on it, occasionally splurging on a Yacht staffed by co-eds or whatnot.

If everyone had massive stacks of money, some people would spend it quickly on houses, new TVs, etc. However, the merchants would realize they were not getting as much as they could, so they would raise prices, which would reverberate from the luxury market to basic commodities like food. The people who sat on their money would find in a short time that they were about as well off as when they started, while those who blew their money would have tough financial times ahead until their jobs started to pay enough to cover living in the new economy.

If your billionaire invested his money into industries to supply everyone in the world with the basics (food, houses, porn, etc.)... That would be interesting.

Well "if you throw enough pasta at a wall some will stick and some will drop to the floor" OR ?I have not failed 1,000 times. I have successfully discovered 1,000 ways to NOT make a light bulb.? maybe "you're not going to hit a home run every time"

It was just an idea that I was thinking about on my walk back from being a scum sucking leech (or getting my benefits as others call it) and I guess I was dreaming about money.

Yeah, it seems the general consensus is it would be like Germany after WW1, massive inflation.

 

[BrassButtons]

The way I am thinking is a house costs £500,000 but what is the point in paying after a year or so you are going to have that back again from interest.

Do you know what "inflation" is? (Serious question--I know sometimes questions like that can come across as mockery, but that's not the intention here).

Admittedly I never took a course in economics

Neither have I. However you can learn about economics (the basics, at least) without taking any classes. You have the internet, after all

 

[Lionsfan]

Hyperinflation, if everybody ever has 1 million dollars then that becomes the new average for the middle class. And prices would go up like no other