kottke.org

...is a weblog about the liberal arts 2.0 edited by Jason Kottke since March 1998 (archives). You can read about me and kottke.org here. If you've got questions, concerns, or interesting links, send them along.

A holiday on the George Lucas coast

An article in Forbes postulates which countries billionaires could purchase, factoring in their estimated worth and the countries' GDPs. On the list: Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, George Lucas, Zambia, Haiti, and Belize.

Update: A valid point to make here is that a billionaire's income isn't an accurate measure of their ability to "purchase" a country based on their GDP, especially if you think of the GDP as the equivalent of rental income. For instance, if a person's net worth is $9 billion, which is equivalent to the Bahamas' GDP, that doesn't mean the billionaire could buy the islands. He or she could only rent it for a year, theoretically. Then again, the idea of countries being up for sale, and individuals purchasing (or renting) them, is a somewhat silly premise. (thx, ian)

Update: Perhaps purchasing countries isn't such a silly premise after all. In 2003, the entire principality of Liechtenstein was up for rent. The tiny country, which borders Switzerland and Austria, attempted a "rent-a-state" program sponsored by Xnet. The idea was to draw attention to the tourist-friendly charms of Liechtenstein by essentially "renting" the country's hotels, restaurants, and sports stadiums en masse. (thx, colin)

By Ainsley Drew    Oct 6, 2009 at 08:34 am    economics

kottke.org, quickly...

The best way to get a sense of what kottke.org is all about is to head to the front page or check out some random entries from the archives. Follow kottke.org via RSS or Twitter.

Want to share your something special with kottke.org's readers? Sponsor the RSS feed for a week!

Looking for work?

See more on the Job Board.

Recommended sites

David Archer    Matthew Paul Thomas    Rebecky    greg.org    jimr(ay)    evhead    panopticist    strange maps    Nivi    Type for you.    Airbag    Ikeepadiary    The Pop!Tech Blog    Eater    tremble.com    Frumination    Personism    NYT Science    Idle Words    The Laboratorium