Woolleybugger
Mayor
Let's not talk about anything but a blank check here just as an exercise in thinking. Let us ask ourselves a simple question:
If all of a sudden we had 3 trillion dollars a year to spend every year for the next 10 years on the most critical national interests and we simply ignored the debt incurred, what would be the wisest use of this investment for the nation?
Before everyone starts in on whether or not this is practical or even doable, lets just go through some possible ways to spend this money that would provide us with a new nation at the end of this period of time that could somehow pay it all back and not impact our ability to prosper down the road. In the following list, I posit some very needed expenditures that would likely provide benefits for our nation for years to come and would make us stronger financially, competitively and provide a more efficient and useful society for the next generation to inhabit.
1. Massive investments in long haul mass transit along the East Coast, West Coast and along Interstates 10 and 80.
2. Massive investments in urban transportation systems making the use of cars non-essential on a daily basis.
3. Massive investments in smart power, renewable energies, efficiency and in the way we heat and cool buildings.
4. Massive investment in solar technology for every building in the nation exposed to sunlight.
5. Massive investment in space technology.
6. Massive investment in preventive health measures and in a healthy lifestyle.
7. Education for both college bound and trade school bound kids.
8. National standards for intelligent building construction to allow for high speed networking to be the standard model everywhere.
9. Fiber buildout for every home in the USA within 20 miles of an urban center of 5000 people or more.
10. Urban planning standards for maximum quality of life while impacting the land as little as possible.
11. Protection and stewardship of our remaining national parks and forests.
12. Upgrades of all federal, state and local election systems to form one national standard that was impeachable and trustworthy.
13. National database of health information.
14. National database of SS numbers for valid authentication of working status.
15. Upgrades of all bridges, roads, damns and highways.
16. Carbon scrubbing devices on every coal burning system in the nation.
17. Science funding for genetics, batteries, cancer, fuel cells, propulsion systems, computer science and so on.
Those are some ideas which would employ millions and could pay off in the future if we had the funds or desire to borrow to get them done. We don't want to do this anymore it seems. If any of you have been to Europe, imagine if the founders of modern Paris did not make giant investments over hundreds of years to create that glorious city we now enjoy. What if Rome had been built in a day and looked like a typical American city with stucco buildings, strip malls and parking lots. Now, we could do all these things and put millions to work doing it if we actually thought long term. But we don't. And this is why the Chinese are going to kick our asses because they do think long term.
If all of a sudden we had 3 trillion dollars a year to spend every year for the next 10 years on the most critical national interests and we simply ignored the debt incurred, what would be the wisest use of this investment for the nation?
Before everyone starts in on whether or not this is practical or even doable, lets just go through some possible ways to spend this money that would provide us with a new nation at the end of this period of time that could somehow pay it all back and not impact our ability to prosper down the road. In the following list, I posit some very needed expenditures that would likely provide benefits for our nation for years to come and would make us stronger financially, competitively and provide a more efficient and useful society for the next generation to inhabit.
1. Massive investments in long haul mass transit along the East Coast, West Coast and along Interstates 10 and 80.
2. Massive investments in urban transportation systems making the use of cars non-essential on a daily basis.
3. Massive investments in smart power, renewable energies, efficiency and in the way we heat and cool buildings.
4. Massive investment in solar technology for every building in the nation exposed to sunlight.
5. Massive investment in space technology.
6. Massive investment in preventive health measures and in a healthy lifestyle.
7. Education for both college bound and trade school bound kids.
8. National standards for intelligent building construction to allow for high speed networking to be the standard model everywhere.
9. Fiber buildout for every home in the USA within 20 miles of an urban center of 5000 people or more.
10. Urban planning standards for maximum quality of life while impacting the land as little as possible.
11. Protection and stewardship of our remaining national parks and forests.
12. Upgrades of all federal, state and local election systems to form one national standard that was impeachable and trustworthy.
13. National database of health information.
14. National database of SS numbers for valid authentication of working status.
15. Upgrades of all bridges, roads, damns and highways.
16. Carbon scrubbing devices on every coal burning system in the nation.
17. Science funding for genetics, batteries, cancer, fuel cells, propulsion systems, computer science and so on.
Those are some ideas which would employ millions and could pay off in the future if we had the funds or desire to borrow to get them done. We don't want to do this anymore it seems. If any of you have been to Europe, imagine if the founders of modern Paris did not make giant investments over hundreds of years to create that glorious city we now enjoy. What if Rome had been built in a day and looked like a typical American city with stucco buildings, strip malls and parking lots. Now, we could do all these things and put millions to work doing it if we actually thought long term. But we don't. And this is why the Chinese are going to kick our asses because they do think long term.