How $6 Billion Could Solve World Hunger

You may have heard that the UN says that it can cure world hunger with only 2 percent of Elon Musk’s money, a mere $6 billion. Musk has offered it, if the UN can explain its plan in detail. At the time of posting, the UN promised to share it with him. That is odd because if the plan is made public, and is likely to work, the money could be easily crowdsourced. 

I don’t think Elon Musk should take on this cost by himself, but $6 billion could solve world hunger. Forever. No joke. Read on!

World hunger stems from some people not having enough money to buy enough food to sustain themselves, not from a lack of global food producing capacity. It is a problem of political economy, not agriculture per se.

So how can one help people have enough money to buy enough food? Well, it would cost about $6 billion per day if the money were simply handed over. Half for the food and half for bribes to ensure that the money reached those in need, who mostly live under nasty authoritarian regimes.

So maybe make the payments in kind instead? Pay the poor with food that nobody else wants. That isn’t such a good solution either as all food, properly defined, will have a positive market value and hence will have to be protected from theft. And it will have to be distributed. So, again, lots of waste.

Plus, we are still talking billions of dollars per day, not a $6 billion one and done deal.

But $6 billion could be used to induce the world’s petty dictators to abdicate and transition to a less predatory form of government, a scheme I first developed in Fubarnomics. 

Less predation means more economic freedom means more economic growth means less extreme poverty means a lot less global poverty.

Would $6 billion be enough? It would certainly be enough to establish proof of concept in several countries. And if it works, the rest of the money will flow easily.

Maybe we could try it out first in the United States, or at least California? Just pay ‘em to quit. Yeah, some are power hungry but they have a price and it is less than $6 billion. What would Biden need to save his beloved son from the drudgery of making those horrible paintings? To stop the “Let’s Go Brandon” chants? Only one way to find out.