Corsair

Issue date: 6/2/08 Section: Opinion

There may not be a greater indulgence in the new techno-savvy world than online shopping. I've always tried to avoid this costly convenience but working a desk job with all the world's commodities a click-away has offered me up as victim to the online experience.

It is relatively easy to drop $200 or $300 on items at Victoria's Secret or on Amazon, but I just had a heck of a time trying to spend $3 trillion dollars on the website http://3trillion.org It is much harder than one can imagine to try to spend that amount of money. I mean, granted, I could just blow the money on a false occupation in an oil rich country, but I saw some better options on the site that might make the money better spent. Now it was tempting to buy a Missile Defense System for $100 billion dollars or a few nuclear bombs for $500 million a piece, but I tried to go toward the philanthropic options (and a few minor luxuries for myself.)
As I filled up my cart with items without worrying about the price tag I felt as giddy and free from consequence as I'm sure our executive committee feels when they sign bills without counting the zeros.

Over the next thirty minutes I bought:
Universal clean water for everyone $5 billion
Safe and Effective birth control production $5 billion
Heart Disease and Diabetes Treatment for all people currently suffering $50 billion
Malaria Eradication World-wide $2 billion
Pay off Liberia's Debt $3.7 billion
Rice to feed the world for 1 year $60 billion
Grants for Artists $500 billion
A Free, Fair, Unbiased Media $2.5 billion
100 New Libraries $5 billion
A free bus system in the 100 Largest Cities $200 billion
One year of Dental Insurance to all Americans $16.4 billion
A National High Speed Rail System $300 billion

At this point the shopping adventure is still fun and I got the warm and fuzzies.

Revamp the U.S. Education System $100 billion
Repairing the damage from Hurricane Katrina $200 billion
Achieve Universal Literacy $5 billion
End Dependence on Foreign Oil $500 billion
End World Hunger $195 billion
New Clothing, Shoes, and School Supplies for 10 million children $10 billion
Plant 4000 trees in the Rain Forrest $27,500
Hearts on Fire Engagement Ring $25,000 (That's for me but hey I've already ended world hunger so give me a break.)
Food for life for 50 American families $20 million
Fund a Medical Researcher for 4 years $800,000
International Bullet Train production $650 million

Continued...

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