THINK of what we could do with diverted war funds! [View All]

[LearnedHand]

(edited to change thread title)

Please tell me why this WOULDN'T work.

NOTE: This is not an all-inclusive proposal; it looks only at what we might do to address some of the very large problems facing us by reallocating the money we're spending in Iraq. It does NOT look at Constitutional issues, immigration issues, educational and childcare issues, women and minority issues, individual spending and saving issues, veterans' issues, and the like.

1. Repair our relations with the Middle East

• Remove ALL troops immediately from Iraq and close and dismantle the bases.


• Divert some funding from war costs to the UN for help in rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure. Provide US assistance in rebuilding when asked.


• Launch an immediate, intensive diplomatic effort to broker a two-state peace agreement between Israel and Palestine.

WHAT DOES THIS SOLVE? Immediately ends the "war" with Iraq and our pouring of our national funds, emotions, lives, resources, and international goodwill into a lost cause. Frees up enormous sums of money to invest in much more pressing issues. Saves thousands of lives -- both American and other. May allow us eventually to repair relations with the Middle East and with other world entities. Allows us to turn our attention to much more important and crucial issues closer to home.

2. Focus on government-funded R&D in energy, transportation, alternative materials, and heating/cooling.

• Set ambitious, realizable, near-term goals (<= 5 years, e.g.) -- as well as longer-term goals -- for alternative energy, a new public transportation infrastructure, and low-cost solutions for homeowners.


• Launch a nationwide science & engineering PR campaign, similar to Kennedy's goal to reach the moon, to regenerate interest in these technical fields and focus the entire country on solving the energy and transportation issues we've for so long solved only with oil.


• IMMEDIATELY fund the national laboratories to SERIOUSLY investigate all manner of alternative energy solutions and alternative materials -- ESPECIALLY those not based on carbon. (NOTE: One huge, seldom-talked-about issue is that to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, we MUST find a material to replace plastics.)


• Fund the automobile companies to research alternative transportation modes -- both individual and mass transportation.


• Fund the universities to do the same, including studying alternative transportation infrastructures and building heating/cooling options.


• Provide grants to small businesses to do all of the above.


• IMMEDIATELY put people to work repairing our existing public transportation infrastructure and creating new public transportation options -- EVERY state, EVERY city.


• Impose taxes on the transportation of goods via long-haul, OTR trucking; provide tax breaks for shipping goods via train and boat. (NOTE: This is only a stop-gap measure, not a long-term solution.)
  

WHAT DOES THIS SOLVE? Obviously, it will help SERIOUSLY define and set out on a path forward out of our dependence on carbon-based solutions. It will help us begin solving global warming issues. It continues to funnel lots of money into our economy, but gets it out of the hands of military contractors (well, somewhat) and spreads it more evenly. With nationwide focus on solving energy and transportation problems, we will actually discover some creative and innovative solutions -- as Americans have ALWAYS done when we've tackled problems together. It will allow us to also focus on global warming issues and begin finding immediate solutions to mitigate them.

It will help turn around this two-decade national trend toward anti-intellectualism and will help parents encourage their children into technical and scientific fields (we cannot survive as a country if we don't produce the inventors and innovators). This in turn might help solve SOME of the problems with primary and secondary schooling. We DON'T abandon the automobile manufacturers, this country's first homegrown automated industry; we make them part of the solution and help them retool in doing so. It spurs secondary economic growth (through related research and development), and it employs large numbers of people. It puts more people to work rebuilding our neglected transportation and energy infrastructures.

3. Strongly focus the federal government on healthcare issues

• Fund the universities to investigate medical conditions and associated medications and treatments that the for-profit pharmaceuticals don't consider profitable enough to investigate.


• Provide funding to the pharmaceuticals for the same, with creative provisions for them to make SOME profit (but not exorbitant) from the development of new medicines.


• Fund the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control (others?) to investigate solutions for potential pandemic threats and the US infrastructure to deal with them.


• Create and implement a national healthcare funding solution that mandates healthcare coverage for every person; removes employers from the solution; and provides that coverage to every person. This would be accomplished by government-funded coverage of everyone, with additional private coverage available in addition. (Sorry single-payer folks; although that solution is closest to my heart, I truly don't believe it will work in practice.)


• Fund research organizations to investigate aging and geriatric issues and create and implement eldercare solutions.

WHAT DOES THIS SOLVE? It wrests the say-so about which medical issues are investigated from for-profit companies. Obviously, it provides access to healthcare for every person, which in turn will reduce healthcare costs over time because people are healthier and the "risks" are spread over the entire population. It employs more people in the medical and healthcare fields. It will help us anticipate and prepare our infrastructure for pandemic issues. It helps us prepare as a country for the retirement of the Baby Boom generation -- like it or not, we HAVE to prepare for it.