There are really only two big problems in this world, right? Lack of money, and the human tendency toward frailty and sin. Good news! Now we’re down to only one problem, practically speaking, because the money thing has been solved. Money is not a thing to worry about anymore.
It’s not evenly distributed, yet, but like all the rest of our future, this news comes from greater Silicon Valley, or the San Francisco Bay Area. That is where the Golden State Warriors are building a new basketball arena. A short item on Bloomberg explained that although the arena was supposed to cost $1 billion, the construction costs are up to $1.3 billion and it’s not yet finished—but this doesn’t matter, because the unfinished basketball arena, in which no one is currently playing basketball, is already profitable.
Going 30 percent over budget—that is, exceeding the budget by $300,000,000—turns out not to matter at all, at this particular economic time, in that particular economic place (which is attached, one way or another, to your own economy, wherever it may be). The Warriors have already made $2 billion “in the form of tickets, suites and sponsorships, more than double the franchise’s estimate,” Bloomberg reported.
Expect $1 billion, collect $2 billion. There is so much ambient money in San Francisco, you can dig a hole and watch it pour into the construction site. Marketwatch, building off the Bloomberg item, named some of the sources, starting with JPMorgan Chase, which put the Chase name on the building for $300 million. There are also:
United Airlines [UAL, +1.46%], PepsiCo Inc. [PEP, -0.05%], Accenture [ACN, +0.40%], HP Enterprise [HPE, +1.08%] and Alphabet’s [GOOGL, +0.13%] Google Cloud, according to the arena’s website.
Banking! Consulting! Cloud computing! Beverages! Prosperity is for everyone, and there are no visible limits to how far it can go. It is only reasonable to assume there are no limits at all. Chase, which makes money off the flow of other people’s money, has spent the equivalent of 80 cents for every person in America, so that TV announcers will say “Chase” during blimp shots of the roof of the arena during the NBA playoffs. Forbes described how Chase celebrated the deal in October 2017:
Chase is launching a “Golden Victory Ball” tour to celebrate the partnership and the start of the new NBA season. The 8-foot-tall golden basketball display will make a tour of the Bay Area for five days leading up to opening night on Oct. 17. Fans who take photos with the display and post to social media with the hashtag #GoldenSweepstakes are eligible for a contest to win opening night tickets and other prizes.
Did you hashtag yourself with the giant golden basketball? Don’t worry if you missed the chance back then—soon enough, inevitably, the entire world will become a Golden Victory Ball. Everyone just has to keep pumping air into it. And why would they stop? When have they ever stopped?
