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April 11, 2006
A Million a Day for 30 Years
How could I spend a million a day? Say I want to get to Boston from Seattle – a trip on an executive jet might cost $15,000, and then I could stay in the penthouse of the Ritz, say another $2500. I could bring in my own chef, serve fine wines, maybe another $5000. So far, I’m up to $22,500. Not making much of a dent in a million for that day. Creature comforts, however lavish, won’t get me there.
I have to up the ante. Hmmmm. OK, say I charter a helicopter to fly up to the Hinckley Boat Company in Southwest Harbor, Maine (another $10,000, tops). There I buy a $2 million 52 foot sailing yacht. That sounds promising … two days worth of spending, but, wait, it will take me at least a week to pick and choose all the wonderful gear I want on my boat. I have to tell their engineers how to configure the interior, etc., so I don’t think the boat is too promising. At least a week to spend $2 million. I’m losing ground on my goal.
So, even the yacht isn’t going to do it. OK, maybe I buy the University of Washington a new building for the College of Business. Now we’re talking. That will run, say, $100 million, and that buys me 100 days of relief from my spending spree. (It probably also gets me, finally, a decent parking place at UW.) Now, I can use the 100 days to take my new yacht somewhere exciting --- maybe South Africa.
But, 100 days is just a third of a year. I’ve still got another 2/3 of the year to figure out.
Even a trip to outer space only costs $20 million – that’s not even 3 weeks of spending.
Doesn’t sound like that much fun, does it? Something’s been lost, somewhere.
Posted by DavidK at April 11, 2006 08:05 AM | Permalink