# Rich then or poor now? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 7, 2011, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rich-then-or-poor-now/570477 "2011-02-07T01:52:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rich-then-or-poor-now/570477/41 "2011-02-08T18:26:12Z")
If I could take Celtling with me I’d go in a flash! No hesitation whatsoever. If she stays, I stay. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rich-then-or-poor-now/570477/42 "2011-02-08T18:38:16Z")
Assuming the wife and cats come with me, the billion then. That’s “buying Montana” money. I’m too old to be drafted into the war, so that’s not a problem. Buy cheap real estate, stay isolated from The Festering Masses, and set up long-term trusts and procedures to insure that certain people never come to political power in the future. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rich-then-or-poor-now/570477/43 "2011-02-08T18:46:18Z")
I’d let everybody burn in the fire. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rich-then-or-poor-now/570477/44 "2011-02-08T23:41:16Z")
As others have pointed out, it’s a trickier question if you’re anything but a white male. There are definitely cases of bloody rich women and minorities getting special treatment because of their money… assuming they could hold onto it, legally. But that would be quite a chance to take. ---
**Author:** ![Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrogance_ex_machina/32/192_2.png) [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrogance_Ex_Machina)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rich-then-or-poor-now/570477/45 "2011-02-09T03:52:38Z")
Had to go check what the USA poverty threshold is, and was surprised it uses different method of calculation as the Finnish one – here it is 60% of average income, roughly 18k USD a year but in USA its 11k USD even though the average income in USA is higher. If I could go by the Finnish poverty line I’d stay here in 2011 as I’m already just right below it, but the USA poverty threshold would be crippling enough to send me to 1911. Maybe I could help finance the Winter War should I live long enough. ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rich-then-or-poor-now/570477/46 "2011-02-09T04:22:07Z")
> [@Trubie](#): > > Also, to my knowledge most of the people who died on the Titanic were poor and staying in the poor sections. Still covered. Money makes a lot of things easier. Cite ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rich-then-or-poor-now/570477/47 "2011-02-09T04:52:29Z")
I’m living below the poverty line already and I still manage not to slit my wrists in agony. There’s no way in hell I’d go back and lose my family. And what, I’d just disappear and put them all through that grief too? For _money_? ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rich-then-or-poor-now/570477/48 "2011-02-09T05:37:20Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Besides, with a billion dollars I can get Henry Ford and the Wright Brothers together to build my flying car! Flying car, I’m going back! ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rich-then-or-poor-now/570477/49 "2011-02-09T10:07:11Z")
I’d go back in a heartbeat. I’d buy a nice estate in the Western Isles. Or maybe southern New Zealand and plant vines. I won’t try to change history too much - no putting out hits on Lenin and Hitler - but I will quietly support people like the Suffragettes, Churchill, Rolls and Royce, and Marconi. Later I’ll bankroll Whittle. I’m too old to be drafted for WW1, and my isolation will see me through the Flu. I’ll find an eminently practical young lady and raise a family. I probably won’t live to see WW2. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rich-then-or-poor-now/570477/50 "2011-02-09T11:12:10Z")
> [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#): > > $1 billion in [1911 dollars](http://www.westegg.com/inflation/) is $22,830,135,938.17 in today’s money. All things considered, I still prefer the right to vote. I’m also a fan reliable utilities, effective birth control, and wearing pants. Skipping the flu, the Depression, a couple of world wars, and polio is nice, too. I like 2011. My people are here. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rich-then-or-poor-now/570477/51 "2011-02-09T23:32:50Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > What do I do with the other 58 seconds on the clock? Since I also made my mind, you can talk with me about what you intend to do in 1911. I’ll check wikipedia to see what happened to you in the 20s (assuming I can keep an internet connection with a poverty line income). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rich-then-or-poor-now/570477/52 "2011-02-10T22:11:19Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > All things considered, I still prefer the right to vote. I’m also a fan reliable utilities, effective birth control, and wearing pants. Skipping the flu, the Depression, a couple of world wars, and polio is nice, too. > > I like 2011. My people are here. My people are too, they’d get a better world, and I’d go down in history as the man who discovered penicillin, microwave cooking, helicopters, rock and roll, wrote Stranger in a Strange land, Fight Club, 1984, Animal Farm, and Jurassic Park. Though the details might differ from the books from my time line. Sod utilities, I’ll buy a tropical island with a pure running stream. And you know the best part? I’ll be able to troll moderns with half baked, won’t work, but seems plausible except for minor but important details technology with mumblings about ways to overcome these problems, but no concrete steps. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rich-then-or-poor-now/570477/53 "2011-02-10T22:18:27Z")
Oh yeah and I could invent rockets and jets too, secretly until WW2. We’ll see how the Germans and Japanese do when the allies have turbojets. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rich-then-or-poor-now/570477/54 "2011-02-10T22:20:23Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Since I also made my mind, you can talk with me about what you intend to do in 1911. I’ll check wikipedia to see what happened to you in the 20s (assuming I can keep an internet connection with a poverty line income). Actually, my grandfather worked hard to keep his behind-the-scenes work anonymous or attributed to others. All this talk of wiping out Hitler and avoiding the flu certainly is serious, but from what I learned from the time-sealed letters, they are actually much better than what you would have otherwise experienced. Oh, he does apologize for nixing the flying car, but the chaos and destruction it wrought in WW IV was just too much. He does hope his invention (cheekily (mis-)attributed to that Gore fellow) makes up for it though. ---
**Author:** ![Caffeine.addict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@Caffeine.addict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caffeine.addict)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rich-then-or-poor-now/570477/55 "2011-02-10T22:27:53Z")
I’ll take 1911. My folks are long lived anyhow so I should survive into the fifties. A billion dollars back then was a lot of money. I will spend $ 5 million of ordering hits on various folks who needed killing. Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Mussolini, and Lenin. If I am somewhat successful, I’ll know whether the [Great Man](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Man_theory) thesis is true or not. I’ll spend a chunk of money to fight the passing of prohibition laws and drug laws, hopefully avoiding the growth of organized crime. I’ll invest in companies like GM, and probably invest in established armaments companies. I’ll buy real estate in places like Southern California, and in Florida, taking care to unload the Florida real estate by the early 20s. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rich-then-or-poor-now/570477/56 "2011-02-10T22:57:03Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > I’m a non-white woman. There is no amount of money you can entice me to go back in time to that date. The Nineteenth Amendment wasn’t even passed until 1920, do you know that? I don’t want to have kids, either. I suppose I could be an eccentric billionaire recluse but it just isn’t worth it. Same thought. A single, non-white woman on top of that. I simply don’t believe that I’d be able to get the billion, much less hold on to it. Is a bank going to hand it over to me? really? And if they decide not to, I don’t think I have any recourse. In fact, if anyone takes the money from me (not unlikely), I’m pretty much screwed. I’m not sure I can buy a place to live where you drop me, I’m not sure I can travel to a place where I can buy a place to live. I don’t know enough about 1911 to be able to insulate myself from the huge mountains of crap that I think I’d have to deal with in 1911. I think it not unlikely that my choices are actually ending up poor in 1911 and being poor now. I think now is an easier time to be poor. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rich-then-or-poor-now/570477/57 "2011-02-11T03:18:47Z")
> [@Rushgeekgirl](#): > > For _money_? From what I hear, money ain’t no bad thing. Best wishes, hh ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rich-then-or-poor-now/570477/58 "2011-02-11T13:57:14Z")
If it’s $11000 or less for me, then I’m already there. I make just under $700 a month. The basic trade off is that you can’t get a house of your own and might have to move in with mom and dad. Believe me, I’d rather be like this than risk everything I would going back that far. Plus, no Internet–and I’m addicted. If it’s $11000 for my family, then you severely overestimate what we can afford. That’s less than a $1000 a month, and the best housing/rent I can find is around $500, even in this dinky town. That’s $400 for groceries, utilities, etc. You can’t afford anything else. And don’t assume that medicaid just comes because you are poor. For kids, yes, but not for adults. That’s kinda the point of the whole UHC thing. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rich-then-or-poor-now/570477/59 "2011-02-11T16:16:45Z")
I’d take the deal. I’d miss my friends and family but I already live a thousand miles away and wig that kind if money I think I could keep myself destracted and I’d send them a letter BTTF 2 style to let them know what happened. Out side of the severed relationships this isnt even a question for me. Sure posting this from my phone is really cool but so would be buying southern California. I wouldn’t do anything to prevent any of the major historical events since I wouldn’t want to get yanked out of the paradise I would create for myself. I would mainly focus on investments and sculpting the development of California in my image. ---
**Author:** ![MegaBee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@MegaBee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MegaBee)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rich-then-or-poor-now/570477/60 "2011-02-11T17:38:36Z")
I don’t even think I’d go back to 1971, let alone 1911. Somebody would eventually lynch my ass for looking at their daughter or something, billionaire or not. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rich-then-or-poor-now/570477.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rich-then-or-poor-now/570477.md?page=4)