I know the source of the question, but it is a good one.

1) I would fund organizations to spread objectivism,
2) I would fund research into solving some of the problems in physics related to Copenhagen Interpretation of quantum mechanics.
3) I would fund research into my ideas on economics.
4) Most of my money would be part put in a invention/venture capital fund. I love working on and with inventors and new technology.
5) Fund entertainment projects that push more or less objectivist ideas.

In my case I would do more traveling, including a 6 month stint on a catamaran in the Caribbean.

Not necessarily in that order.

You have to ask?
Just call me Midas.

I would invest companies founded by people in their who reminded me of myself when I was starting, and I would try to advise them (i.e. being a sometimes-annoying angel) on how to do what I did or better. I would do a mix of long-shots and conservative investments, with the goal of having $100 billion in seven years.

My favorite long-shot is a business incubator in a remote site that has a shot at becoming Gulch of sorts.

What a silly question. Of course, I would:
a. Stop Climate Change
b. Save the Animals
c. Back Hilary Clinton

Have a nice day!

Build a Galt Gulch?..Or...start buying valuable but corrupt corporations, make them private and straighten them out so that they no longer harm the consumer.

I'm 72, so I would invest it in wine, women, and song. The rest, I would waste.

I would do the R&D to create an electronic camouflage for large areas to avoid detection from the air. Welcome to the Gulch.

Buy gold.

$18 billion to build a real school system, k-12, that would graduate students ready to go directly into a STEM program. The teaching would primarily use the writings and discoveries of the folks who invented and discovered the things that transformed the world. That means that, in studying about the founding of the US, the primary texts will be the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution and the Federalist Papers, along with writings by the enlightenment philosophers. In studying about economics, we would study Smith, Bastiat, Say, Rand, etc. In studying math, we'd read Euclid, Pythagoras, Heron, Archimedes, Al Quarizmi, Euler, Newton, Leibniz, etc.
2. $18 billion to invest in R&D, a hedge fund, a private equity fund and venture capital. Each division would specialize in invention, investment in established companies, buying out and turning around troubled companies and funding startups.
3. $9 billion for my dynasty. Each of my descendants would have access to the best education, travel and experiential opportunities available, in addition to living a very good life.

Only $45 billion? Hell, you can hardly buy a decent power company for that.
First I would buy all the toys I wished I had, even if I can no longer use them. Then I woulf buy or build a media organization comprised of an on line newspaper, a TV station and a radio station, and diatribe away until we get sponsors or the money runs out. It sounds so delicious that I'm drooling.

I'd find some small dictatorship being looted by corrupt officials, and offer them a paid retirement on a tropical beach somewhere. Then I'd turn their country into the next Hong Kong.

buy an island and invite gulchers to join me!!! -- j
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Fund a massive number of entrepreneurial ventures worldwide via microlending and microinvesting. Plow the profits back into more of the same.

And require the entrepreneurs I deal with to attain basic literacy in free-market principles and practices.

I'd buy myself some government officials. I hear the going price for Senators is pretty reasonable and Congressmen as well. Secretary of State is rather expensive, costing around $200 million ATM. I think Secretary of Health and Human Services might be an easier buy.

[/sarcasm]

In reality, I'd buy my own little country in Central America. Or maybe Africa.

If I had as much money as that, I would make a lot of trouble for a lot of ideological opponents--by promoting "everything you hate," to quote Orson Welles as "Citizen" Charles Foster Kane. And if you want to know all the kinds of things I would promote, send me a private message.

But among other things, I just might build more than just one privateering ship. Think Ragnar Danneskjöld's Task Force! And I would have a precedent for that. The infamous "Boz" Jean Lafitte had a fleet of sea raiders, not just one ship.

That is more than enough to build a complex of artificial islands in international waters on which to make a real world Gulch or at least a city state based in true individual rights. I would put at least half of such a fortune into such a project. I am done attempting to beg for the least scraps of liberty.

There isn't room to list everything, but one of the first things I would do is generously fund the making of Atlas Shrugged into a blockbuster miniseries. I think $150,000,000 would do it nicely.

When I was little, I remember my mother saying to me that being rich was not all it was cracked up to be: "Look at all the problems rich people and their families have - drugs, divorce, suicide." I thought to myself, "But that is their choice. They don't have to do that; they could do neat stuff with their money instead."

Now we are seeing this happen, with billionaires spending money on the commercialization of space or eliminating HIV and polio. So, my decision, formed as a child, is to spend it on 'neat stuff' (which is a list rather like db's):

1. Math. I am not good at math, but face it - mathematicians are the only ones who can keep the physicists humble. I would offer prize money for the development of mathematical theories such as modified/improved Alcubierre equation (such as White's mods). If we want effective FTL, we need to start with Math.
2. Physics. We might as well work up the chain here - physics for transportation and for power generation is essential. I would find a way to get Thorium reactors in production use - probably not in the US, but in some country that needs power enough to not strangle innovation. Then I can move them into the US.
3. De-extinction. We are at the point of de-extincting the passenger pigeon (research under way) and several groups are working on de-extincting the mammoth. I would put some serious money towards that, just because it is cool.
4. Minoan Linear A. This is still undeciphered, mainly due to lack of a body of texts. I mean, there are tons of plausible schemas, but nothing to test them against. I would support many digs to try to find the lost texts that can tell us about the Minoan Empire 5K+ years ago.
5. Land. I love land. I would buy tons of land, mostly in the US (which is still the best place to be) but some in other countries.
6. I am jealouse of db's #5. I agree with it, but I would not have thought to include it in this list. Hey db! If I run your name in the credits, can I make a movie? Fair trade?

Jan

I'd hardly be an American. Just realized that...

I would start 3-4 companies, list provided on request. I would put around $30 billion in various longer range R&D projects such as anti-aging, machine phase nanotechnology, Artificial General Intelligence and space exploitation. Not that these need be separately funded efforts of my own. I would fund a lot of private enterprises and innovators in these areas under an arrangement for some equity sharing to keep the fund self replendished indefinitely.

$45 Billion? I would purchase two islands: one in tropical and one probably in the San Juans or BC Canada. I'd equip each island with my own personal home, complete with docs, helipads and maybe runways. I'd relax and fish a lot, enjoying a couple of very nice boats.

I'd set up trusts with financial management for my kids.

I'd fund research for tuna farming and to study their lifecycle in order to help their populations thrive.

I'd stop autism.

I'd probably fund a new style of school to teach children the three Rs, along with critical thinking. Well, that'd be new compared to what we have now... I have always wanted to have my own version of Deep Springs College (check it out) with greater emphasis on math and the sciences and less on liberal studies.

In light of all that, I'd try to keep a low profile.

I would retire and enjoy doing nothing but what I felt like after making sure my family and friends who could respect wealth were taken care of. With the left over 44 billion I would once again do what ever I damn well pleased with but the organizations such as wounded warriors and other veteran centered charities that pass the grade would get the lions share. Those Orgs. that would use the cash to send the CEO and executives on Bermuda vacations could kiss my rich ass and not one dime of my money would directly go to buying some jerk off politicians Surf & Turf dinner or his new limo. Money made in America will be wasted right here in America any way I see fit.

I dont think $45b would be enough to secure a galts gulch and fortify it from the socialist attackers who would try to attack it. But, its probably worth a shot. Zuckerberg is a socialist idiot, so he will just further socialist ideals

Very tough question. I would set aside everything that I would need to have a good life doing what I like doing (scientific geek stuff). I would want a few assistants to help me with things I didnt understand. I would NOT want to commercialize the inventiions I made. I have no interest in furthering the statists' aims by making THEM money. I would consider seriously destroying, burning, or otherwise keeping the rest of it from the hands of the moochers.

As far as funding objectivist things, I wouldnt waste time on that. Statist oriented people will only, in my humble opinion, change their minds when the current socialist system collapses of its own weight (As was portrayed in Atlas Shrugged, by the way).

I'd like to see the retail price list of each politician and the make a decision.