A New Modest Proposal

This weekend I heard two numbers that I found somewhat disturbing.  The first, offered up in all the pregame hype about the Super Bowl was  the average cost for a thirty-second commercial during the game: $3.5 million dollars.  That did not include the cost of production, the cost of actually making an ad.

The second figure I heard had to do with ongoing presidential campaign.  It has been predicted that President Obama alone may raise upwards to $1 billion (that's with a "b") for his campaign.  No figures were mentioned for the current Republican primary costs or the fall campaign dollars.  But I assume they would be comparable.

Look--I watched  (and enjoyed) the Super Bowl.  I even enjoyed some of the commercials.  And I am very intersted in the presidential campaign.  It is of vital importance that we give serious consideration as we choose our governemental leaders.  But something is really out-of-whack (if you will allow such a technical term) if we feel compelled to lavish such sums on either! 

I did a little digging around the internet and discovered two other numbers that are of further interest.
The average cost of a three-bedroom house built by Habitat for Humanity in this country is $46,600.  (http://www.showmehabitat.org/)  The average cost of groceries (at the highest rate) for a family of four in this country, is $1235.90.  (http://www.usda.gov/)

So I ran the figures.  For the cost of just one, just one, Super Bowl ad, Habitat could build 75 houses. For the same cost, 11,328 hungry people could be fed (very nicely) for a month. For the cost of a presidential campaign, Habitat could build 21,739 houses!  And, 3,236,507 hungry people could be fed for a month.

So, here's my proposition:  let's encourage all those involved with the Super Bowl to forego more of those ads, and donate the money local food banks.  Thousands, would be fed!  And then let's ask our politicians to rely on the coverage they receive from the media to replace at least half of their advertising budgets and then encourage their supporteers to build a few houses.  If both campaigns cut their campaign budgets in half this fall, and their donors diverted their funds to Habitat I figure we'd have about 37,500 more houses for those who need them.

I guess if my team had won Sunday (which they didn't) I might not be grousing so much.  And if I was sure my candidate was going to win (which I'm not) I might feel otherwise.  Still, win or lose, it seems to me both of these contests, and the costs involved in mounting them, need to be reexamined!