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| How 'You' Ended Global Poverty |
| What Time's 'Person of the Year' can do to earn the honor |
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Paul J. Lamb (plamb)  |
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Published 2007-01-27 07:24 (KST) |
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Since Time magazine named you the person of year, don't you think you should do something worthy of this incredible honor?
Why not end global poverty?
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TODAY'S TOP STORIES |
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FROM THE SECTION |
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| If you are truly as empowered as Time thinks you are, then it really shouldn't be such a big deal. The heck with the U.N., the International Monetary Fund and yet another global initiative by Richie Rich's latest foundation. They have had plenty of time to solve poverty and yet over a billion people in the developing world must survive on roughly a dollar a day. In the United States there are over 37 million people living in poverty -- more than one out of every ten people.
What is the solution? You of course! According to Princeton professor Peter Singer, if Americans earning $92,000 per year or more contributed an average of 10 percent of their income we could virtually eliminate poverty across the globe. That means enough food and water, proper medical care and education for everone on the face of the planet.
So what should you do? You should get right to work on an End Global Poverty Campaign. If you can get at least 1 billion people to donate from between $1 and $100 each, you can get the job done yourself, once and for all.
If you can collect an average of $50 Billion dollars you will have in hand 10 times what the Bush Administration has committed to global poverty reduction through the millennium fund as of last year. That's an achievement even Bill Gates will be jealous of and perhaps less troubled by.
Now you may be wondering what you will get for your contribution and who will be charged with distributing the money?
For those who even need a reason beyond solving global poverty to contribute their cash, here is what a people's campaign can offer them:
A chance to earn social points. Each dollar donation equates to a series of points. Instead of trying to impress your friends with how much money you have or how many possessions you own, social points will become their own status symbol. Thanks to you, caring will become the new cool.
And for the more materially oriented you will be able to trade your social points for discounted purchases of goods and services at businesses worldwide. No doubt commercial sponsors will be rushing in once word of the campaign gets out.
Second, and building on the Web 2.0 craze that got you fame to begin with, donors will be able to post a statement, picture, or video telling the world why they are contributing to the campaign and to share their ideas for how to best spend the money you collect.
As for who will manage the distribution of money...the only person you can trust -- you of course.
Yes, you had better get to work while you are still in the public eye. You will discover that flame is fleeting. But if you play your cards and social points right, you may become an early front runner for next year's Nobel Peace Prize!
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| Paul Lamb is the principal of Man on a Mission Consulting and a Next Generation Fellow with the American Assembly at Columbia University. |
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©2007 OhmyNews
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