How Would You Spend $200 Billion?

By the way, the post below about Britain pledging to pay down 10% of Third World debt had an interesting factoid at the end.

The New York Times article said, "Some estimates put the total debt owed by the poorest countries at around $200 billion."

That coincidentally, is the very amount Bush has spent so far on invading Iraq (not to mention the cost in lives). Instead of invading Iraq, Bush could have paid off the ENTIRE debt of some 30+ Third World countries, given countless nations a radical chance at improving their economic livelihood, created tremendous good will for the US, encouraged them (through incentives) to embrace democracy and economic reform (which would be far harder for governments to avoid with the huge opportunity this would have provided) and in the end helped turn impoverished nations into vibrant nations and -- hey, it's good for the US economy -- growing markets for our goods and services.

Imagine our world today if that was what Bush had done. So how would YOU spend $200 billion? Fully fund a Manhattan Project of Energy to end our dependence on foreign oil and non-renewable energy sources in general? Truly tackle AIDS in Africa -- the greatest scourge of our time?

Give us your ideas. The best response gets...well, nothing, probably. But who knows? Maybe George Soros will read it and give you a call.