Poll: If You Could Take One Cent From Everyone In the World.

[Maze1125]

If I could fine-tune the device so it only acted in first world counties, then I would definitely do it. Otherwise I probably wouldn't.

 

[Guffe]

At first when I saw the thread I was like "of course I would" but now I am not sure.
I will think about it and maybe come back later and edit this post when I have wrapped my head around this.

 

[alandavidson]

As much as I want to say "yes", I couldn't do it. I've been to places where a penny literally was the barrier between life and death, and that's something you can never get out of your head. And besides, stealing is stealing, no matter who you're doing it from, and it's wrong no matter what.

 

[Phisi]

I would do it... over and over till i didn't think I could get away with it anymore.. and I would spend it all on hookers and blow

And then he died of syphilis ;P

Yeh I would over and over and set up my own charity to give the money to those that really need it. What's a little wealth redistribution worth.

 

[Feylynn]

Randomly given this option with conveniently no downside? Yes. Zero reason to do otherwise.
There is nothing to stop me from just not stealing from certain places is there? Regardless, there is ways to offset any real impact if not that.

The real trick in comes with the other numbers involved. You see, 90% of (Our terribly atrocious sampling of) the world is now willing to do this so really, after all is said and done? The people that didn't take the cent are now out billions of pennies and the people that did take it are only getting 10% of that initial monetary estimate.

Let's hope this is an exclusive hypothetical offer or everyone is going to lose. =O

 

[NightHawk21]

In a heartbeat, and then I would use said money to buy nice first world things that I don't need but want. On second though I'd invest the whole thing in a safe way that makes me roughly 100k a year and I'd live in a nice small house with internet or fund my own experiments.

 

[Whispering Cynic]

Of course I would, seventy million credits would go a long way to securing my future. And the impact of such a theft would be pretty negligible, thus no moral qualms. Of course, I'd rather pinch seventy (or more) mil from Apple or something, but beggars can't be choosers...

 

[emeraldrafael]

... Since there are currently 7+ billion people in the world, probably most of which having at least some money, it's a pretty sure bet that you'll walk away with over 40 million dollars.

...

if you're literally taking a penny from everyone one of the 7+B people thats 700+M

and I'd better find a way to hide it all two cause taxes will be a ***** abit out for sure.

but anyway, no. I wouldnt take it from EVERYONE. Isntead, I would use my newfound powers 9because I have just vastly increased in intelligence if i can do this) and find out who has money and who does not, and who can afford the penny. I would then take from those who could afford to lose mulitple pennies (cause if you can afford to lose a dollar, thats 100 pennies right there, and we all know the old saying that bill gates is so rich he can afford to walk past 100 dollars lying on the ground and thats 10K pennies) so that those who cant afford to lose a penny wont have to give it up and i can still take the equivalent.

 

[Arakasi]

Yes I'd do it, but I'd donate a shitload of it back into 3rd world countries.
1 cent could mean a lot to them for all I know.

 

[Nikolaz72]

On larger issues like this I try to ask myself, what would happend if everyone did it? Just randomly youknow.

And I figured, if everyone stole one cent from everyone in the world, everyone would be millionaries! So therefor it is not morally wrong

 

[Silas13013]

Yes, because I'm an asshole.

 

[omega 616]

I know you factored in the people without money but I don't think you factored in enough. Millions of people in Africa have no money, let alone the homeless people in the world etc say there 7 billion in the world, 5 billion have money ... at my guess anyway.

I would still do it, why not? Nobody would miss a penny, most people would give you a penny anyway! I bet you could walk around your town and ask every person you met to give you a penny, every person with money on them would.

It's a penny, you can't even buy a penny sweet with that! (not even joking)

5,000,000,000 people with .01 dollars = 50,000,000 dollars. Or fifty million. Greater than what the OP said would be a rough estimate for money (he said 40 million).

I know, my comment was more for clarity as opposed to accuracy or correcting him.

I kind of hate money threads like this, they always make think "if I had that money I would ...." then the crushing reality sets in afterwards that I am a broke ass 22 year old with no job .... fuck reality right in the face!

 

[That_Sneaky_Camper]

I wouldn't take money from everybody, but I'd take it from everyone who wouldn't miss it. I'm sure there are countries where every tiny scrap of money you can get would be valuable. Even just taking money from people who wouldn't even noticed the loss, you'd end up pretty darn rich.

Say I ended up with 40 million, I'd give away 10 million to assuage my guilty conscience, use 15 million to secure my family's financial situation for the rest of our lives, and use the rest of the money to start my own business and employ some folk.

This was pretty much what I was thinking. In places like Africa they need every penny that they can get their hands on. I wouldn't however mind taking those pennies from a bunch of people who were rich enough not to notice it or if I do take it from poor people that I at least get the chance to give back more money to them to repay them for their loss.

After that I would just take care of my own interests and live my life peacefully with my family, it would be nice to have enough money where you never have to worry about everyday financial issues anymore and can just enjoy your life.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Yup I would do it. Most people would not notice at all unless either they are poor or they keep a track on their money.

 

[Pain Is Inevitable]

I wouldn't. Flat taxes are sooooo 19th century.

 

[lRookiel]

Why just a penny? I'd rob about 10p off everyone (Providing they have 10p to spare), I'd be a very wealthy man :3

And then donate to the needy and poor people in developing countries.

Then... Jetpacks......and, and, and infinite cookies! and.... Many games :3

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

No because while in any country where you can afford to go on the internet this would not be a problem but the last time I checked the average wage was ?0.02 but that was awhile ago. So I am not comfortable with taking roughly >50% the wage of a large portion of the people on this planet.

 

[Soods]

Yes, I would win in life and the rest of the people just have to learn to live without that one cent.

 

[Vanitas likes Bubbles]

Sure I dont see a problem with it. Stealing from an orphan or stealing from a starving african child sounds fun. /sarcasm

Seriously though how much would it cost to get to all these places. Besides stealing one cent is a pussy job. Imma gonna rob a museum or bank (I think this what I would call hyperbole, I never pay attention in english).

 

[Roxor]

No, because I don't think I could live with myself if I did.

On the up side, taking one cent from every bank account in the world would be a great way to finance giving developing countries a helping hand.