How would you spend the $42b?

[Belu]

Ok,

so i like to think we have quite a decent level of intelligence on these forums, and as such I got to wondering if people could come up with a way to spend the governments $42b other than what it is currently being spent on.

For me, I think a massive building like the dams that were built in the US in the great depression would be the best bet, but being 2009 and not 1933 my preference would be to a massive solar power plant or string of plants.

What if we could use the $42b to create a string of solar power plants?

Here is an interesting article on the amount of land needed to produce solar power to fuel the world's needs:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/04/solar-thermal-power-photos-how-much-world-europe-germany.php

And here is a plant using older technology which cost $100m:

http://www.metaefficient.com/news/north-americas-largest-solar-electric-plant-in-switched-on.html

Using the figures from the second link at $100m to power ~4,000 people the plants could generate a minimum amount of power to fully power 1.68million people, or 30% of the power to 5.6million people.

Also taking into account where the job cuts have been felt - mining and finance, and this would allow these people to be employed in a massive capital works program. Not to mention the need for the raw materials would increase helping the mining sector out.

Anyway, that is my thought, but how would you spend the governments $42b given the chance?

Looking forward to the replies!

Cheers

Ben

 

[keithj]

my preference would be to a massive solar power plant or string of plants.

What if we could use the $42b to create a string of solar power plants?

Agreed. Large scale solar power would go a long way towards fixing 3 major global problems -

• dependence on oil (& all the related political/conflict crap)
• greenhouse gas/global warming
• almost zero running costs leading to increased productivity, leading to more dollars to spend on making people happy (like a better house than those damn Jones)

Nuclear power would have a fairly similar effect - but it could supply power when the sun don't shine albeit with higher running costs.

 

[ianvestor]

I would spend it on a fully decked out A330, a two-week holiday in space, a very big house, several exotic cars, a nice boat and as much rain-forest covered land on the east coast as I could.

 

[Belu]

haha ian the point of this was how to best benefit the Australian population not your wish list of personal assets

 

[ianvestor]

haha ian the point of this was how to best benefit the Australian population not your wish list of personal assets

Oh Well, I still think quarantining more rain-forest is a good idea, if not with these particular funds.

How about giving it back to the exact same people it came from, so that they can make their own decisions as to what to invest in?

 

[J Martin]

Just do anything that would increase the productive capacity of the economy long term, but stimutes jobs in the short term.

Renewable energy is a good example, leading to cheaper energy for business longer term.

invest in road infrastructure within cities. Imagine the productive activity going to waste waiting in traffic. Tradies, Trasnport of material etc.

 

[Aaron Sice]

i would use the money to rid australia's dependance on oil and, to a lesser extent, NG.

i would use the money to improve education in remote areas, including aboriginal communities. there's a lot of promise in the younger aboriginal generation - and not just sweat shop paintings and didge carvings.

instead of building new hospitals, i would fund and staff the ones already in existence.

i would rip up all the traffic lights and fit roundabouts

 

[ianvestor]

i would use the money to rid australia's dependance on oil and, to a lesser extent, NG.

Natural Gas? At first I was thinking Nigeria.

i would rip up all the traffic lights and fit roundabouts

That could slow things to a crawl. Yes red lights are annoying sometimes but a green-light run is much faster than navigating roundabouts.

Plus it doesn't work well for people stuck in side-streets for 20 mins while trying to get out onto a main road full of traffic.

If you want to ditch some traffic lights, maybe more tunnels/fly-overs would be good (in the right places).

 

[Aaron Sice]

don't care - anything to help people start to think for themselves again.

 

[ianvestor]

don't care - anything to help people start to think for themselves again.

Oh, in that case, let's make seat-belt-wearing optional again. Filter out the dumb people.

 

[Aaron Sice]

sweet. and motorbike helmets as well

 

[ianvestor]

sweet. and motorbike helmets as well

Heh, I suddenly pictured something like this:

 

[chrispy]

Desalination plants for Victoria. We have one being built that will supply 1/3rd of our water, build 2 more so we are self reliant, then we can throw some water around and stop the parched land leading to fires

We are desperate for water, there is no point in building more dams when we no longer get rain.

Chris

 

[LynnH]

i would rip up all the traffic lights and fit roundabouts

Only someone who has never tried to navigate the roundabout at the Brisbane Airport turnoff (Gateway Motorway/East-West Arterial Rd) - before the traffic lights were installed - could ever suggest that!

But the tow-truck operators loved it - at least 2 or 3 trucks 'stationed' there during the busy times!

Cheers
LynnH

 

[vincenzo]

Geothermal power plants & solar panels for every home & electricity run de-salination plants & more hospitals & schools & childcare.

Might need $100b or more, but spare change like that is easy to find. All we need is a few of the big guys and girls here to shake thier pockets a little bit

 

[Aaron Sice]

what about building more holding pans for the sewerage system, and get everyone to plumb their gutters into the sewer.

then the whole of suburbia could collect rainwater.

 

[letiha]

i would rip up all the traffic lights and fit roundabouts

That would be great more accidents = more work for me and round abouts + accidents

 

[Patosan]

Standardize the rail guages throughout Oz ... a huge benefit and something that would probably never normally be done.

 

[Aaron Sice]

That would be great more accidents = more work for me and round abouts + accidents

exactly - propping up the economy - disaster capitalism.

 

[hobo-jo]

Here is how I would like to see the $900/$950 distributed to those eligible:

The money is earned by doing volunteer work for the community, cleaning our highways of rubbish, planting trees, assisting with infrastructure projects, specifically volunteering in your line of work, working to help the needy/homeless/elderly. Obviously some of the volunteers would need to be in charge of monitoring the group doing the volunteer work.

$900 is allocated to each eligible person provided that they do 18 hours of volunteer/community work. At $50 hour (tax free) there will be plenty of people motivated enough to do the work, so everyone benefits. With approximately 12.5 million payments (?) that would create over 200 million hours towards making this country a better place.

For those that weren't interested in working for the payment they could either donate the money to an Australian charity working on Australian causes or donate the money back into the pool for other people to earn it doing extra volunteer hours.