How to lose $30 billion

Following on from yesterday’s post on how money can deal with some of the issues we face today, I was comparing the numbers highlighed by the Copenhagen Consensus against an summary table of bank write offs.  For example, you could save 500,000 lives by spending $1billion on malaria treatment and prevention, in comparison to the $382 billion that the banks have written off since Jan ‘07.  Even the Asian banks write off at $2.8 billion could have saved so many lives.

I think to restore my faith, I may need to do some research on charitable donations by the banks.  Watch this space.

How I would spend $30 billion

Interesting piece in today’s Times on the Copenhagen Consensus.

It raises the question of how you could spend $30 in dealing with some of the world’s issues, with options provided including tackling malaria, tuberculosis and HIV, or funding nutrition in developing countries or even dealing with climate change.

Ten topics have been chosen and the Times have designed an interactive page to allow you to add your own views. Here is my ranking

After recent news headlines, may have changed number 10 to ‘dealing with teenage violence’