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[LordSlowpoke]

Let's keep this short and simple: You are to build an island from scratch. This island must be outside any current country's territorial waters and outside Antarctica for legal reasons. Your estimated budget is $4 trillion (more or less the entire US budget expenditure in 2009).

How and where exactly would one do it? How would you ensure your new island doesn't sink after a decade? From where do you get enough material for such a project?

This is a question absolutely not related to anything in real life that might occur, and I absolutely am not planning anything that might disturb the international community. Just a disclaimer.

[Lectorog]

Aggravate an underwater lava vent for some cheap landmass.

Note: Depending on the direction you want to go with this, you may want to put it in FG&RP instead.

[Drakale]

Mmh, I wonder if we have the technology to do this in a controlled fashion, with nuclear detonation perhaps? Would be pretty interesting from an engineering POV.

Barring that you can go for a floating island, but my guess is that it would be considered a boat by the international community and not a proper landmass.

[10ebbor10]

With that budget you can just hire all related companies and build it stone by stone.

[LordBucket]

You are to build an island from scratch.

Your estimated budget is $4 trillion

Build a steel floating platform and anchor it via cables to the sea floor. Or  build steel-reinforced concrete tubes directly into the sea floor and build on top of them. Take your pick. This is century-old and well established technology. Offshore oil rig platforms larger than footabll fields are routinely built in mile deep water for only hundreds of millions of dollars. Right now there are functioning international airports built on artificial islands. If you're only building an inhabitable platform and not doing any oil drilling it would probably be much cheaper. Your 4 trillion dollar budget is way more than you'd need.

Reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_island
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_artificial_islands
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offshore_platform

How would you ensure your new island doesn't sink after a decade?

Neft Daşları is a 60 years old platform that lies 55km off the coast and is large enough to accomodate a population of 2000 people.

Again...old and well established technology.

[Flying Dice]

LB pretty much hit the nail on the head. It's (relatively) cheap to do, at least by the standards of U.S. spending, and the technology has been in use for a good while. The real challenge would be finding ways to invest and spend all of the excess money. If you check the wikipedia page on international waters, it has a nice illustration of just how much space you'd have to choose from. Pretty much the only way you could fail would be if you decided to build supports to the bottom of a deep-sea trench.

[10ebbor10]

Do note that most of these are build in fairly shallow coastal waters. (Including the floating town).

As long as you stay on the continental shelf, everything should be fine.

[Flying Dice]

Actually, I've got a simpler method: You've got 4 trillion dollars. Buy an island.

[Strife26]

Buy an aircraft carrier.

[Grek]

Actually, I've got a simpler method: You've got 4 trillion dollars. Buy an island.

Specifically, Great Britain. 4 trillion dollars is enough to win a LOT of elections.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I don't think we could get all of Great Britain, but I've got a plan. We'll just buy Scotland, install Owlbread as our easily manipulated Supreme Leader puppet, and all kill each other in infighting when we can't come up with a cohesive direction for what to do after that.

[Grek]

Political spending in the UK peaked at 45 million pounds in 2005. That's the same as 70 billion dollars. Which is a lot of money.

But 4 trillion dollars is 57 times that much. 57 times as much as all of the UK's political parties spent for that whole election. Even if you spent a tenth as much, you'd still be the force in UK politics in terms of who politicians suck up to for contributions.

[werty892]

Why buy the UK when you can buy Sealand?

[Aklyon]

Actually, I've got a simpler method: You've got 4 trillion dollars. Buy an island.

Buy an aircraft carrier.

Why buy the UK when you can buy Sealand?

I have a feeling we're going in the wrong direction. These are getting smaller, not bigger.

[werty892]

Actually, I've got a simpler method: You've got 4 trillion dollars. Buy an island.

Buy an aircraft carrier.

Why buy the UK when you can buy Sealand?

I have a feeling we're going in the wrong direction. These are getting smaller, not bigger.

Solution! Buy the Americas. That's one big island. (americas refers to North, Central, and South America.)