A Billion Dollar Wish

I continue to follow the Madoff case closely. It's the who's who of the money world, many of whom were taken for huge sums of money.

It makes me wonder... what would I do with a billion dollars?

First, I had to be sure what a billion was. I asked Ben.

So, it's 1,000 million, right? 800, 900 million, then a billion.

Yes.

You sure?

Yes, Mom.

We won't mention that I worked at an investment firm. I will say not one of the clients had that kind of money- I didn't need to know the right number of zeros for a billion.

These days, talking about a million almost seems trite when hundreds of billions are being talked about daily in the newspapers. Most people in the world will never see anything close to a million dollars. Ever.

When I read about these clients who had massive losses, people who lost nearly a billion dollars... I wonder.

What would I do with a billion? 1,000 million dollars. It's an absurd number. I would have a few absurd things to do. Like buy a jet. I hate airports, I hate having to strip to my socks when I board a plane. I'd buy a jet. I have no idea why I thought of that first except we're getting ready to travel in airports over the holidays and there will certainly be problems.

I'd buy land and have a world wide competition to design the most amazing, beautiful LGBT center for Boston. We don't have one. I'd made it happen.

Next on the list would be to create a 100 million dollar scholarship fund for artists. Little broader than Ruth Lilly who gave Poet's Magazine 100 million.

And before I knew it, even if I was invested in the most conservative vehicles, I would have made the money back that I just spent on my plane, my LGBT center and my arts program. I'd have to start over again.

Maybe it's me but I simply do not understand that kind of money. And I understand money.

What would you do with a billion- don't forget all the zeros and how quickly it grows at that size...