What would you and your family do with a million dollars? Almost certainly, you would pay off your debts straight away.

If you were in the slightest danger of losing your home because you could not, at the moment, keep up your mortgage payments, this danger would come to an abrupt end, because you would eliminate your mortgage and be the full owner of your home.

It sounds like a lot of money, but anyone can blast through a million bucks if caution is thrown to the wind. But you wouldn't do that, would you?

You might invest some; you would almost certainly prepare to send your kids to school. If they are not college age, perhaps you would send them to a private school - fewer students, more teachers, maybe a better system of schooling - that is the raison d'être for private schools, after all.

In any event, you would be sure that your young people could go to university, if they were inclined - or a technical school - or computer sciences - or anything for which they have the talent!

You might not quit your job, but if you do, you might start a small business. You might adopt a child, in reality or by proxy overseas. You might give support to a charity in a substantial way.

You would definitely go shopping; you might go on a holiday.

You might turn your attention to the environment and buy a truly eco-friendly automobile, or plant a forest, or start a project.

While you might fritter some of it away, you would, for sure, do many wise things with your million dollars.

What you would do, what every beneficiary of such a sum would do is start putting money back into the system. You would go out to eat; you would patronise the theatre, go to sports events, buy beautiful things from beautiful boutiques.

In other words, if every family were given $1 million, the economy would revive quickly, because the money would be in the hands of those most skilled at disposing of it.

Think I'm kidding? Think this is another of my silly spoofs? You would be wrong. I am sincere. And I readily admit that this is not altogether my idea. This has been propounded by economists, but not loudly enough.

How could we possibly be giving money to the oil industry which has been so instrumental in the current fiasco?

Two years ago, when oil was at about the price it is now, that was high but normal. Then, outrageously, it doubled and oil company executives were wetting themselves with the joy of those soaring profits. Now that that price of gas is back to more or less normal, they are singing the blues and holding their hands out!

What is achieved by giving, called "lending," money to automobile companies who have been running their businesses into perdition for the last decade in their arrogance and folly? They have been ignoring, for decades and with considerable disdain, all the writing on the wall that said clearly that small, fuel efficient and more environmentally friendly vehicles were becoming the vehicles of choice.

They have refused to advance with the times, to refit and rethink even to their larger vehicles.

They have mismanaged their administrations and blown away every opportunity to scoop the cars coming out of Asia.

It is certainly not the very recent collapse of the economy that is ruining the motor industry, it is their own faults that they are in such dire straits and they are to blame for all the pain of unemployment that is currently and more and more the case in so many communities.

Why give them money? They will be glad to take it, but it will not stem the tide of their ruin.

Perhaps they should start to talk about consolidation with an Asian car company. On the other hand, why would a successful car company accept a deal with those ignorant buffoons who are in such a mess, which is quite of their own making? Forget the North American car companies.

Why give money to the banks? There is a pretty sight. They, whose profits have been sickeningly huge forever; they, who have learned all he had to teach until his revelations from Scrooge; they, who scratch every penny, who change the rules at any moment to save themselves, who pay their executives unbelievable wages with even more incredible bonuses - ah, yes, let us, by all means, support and throw money at the banks.

It is our beleaguered, dumbfounded, insecure, short-sighted, irresponsible governments, caught completely off their guards, with nary a plan in sight, that will pitch more money than you ever realised you paid in taxes at those who have already had lots of millions of dollars.

Yet, there will be no revolution. None of us will receive anything. We will simply go out of business, watch our friends and favourite shops close down, make do, try to resist being further taxed.

Meanwhile, those who are rich will be protected, forgiven, saved.

So, this is my pitch to big governments around the world and to Bay Street, Wall Street, the City of London, etc.: give the money to the people and they will save each other - and you.