Monday, August 24, 2009
Did you know that in the space travel industry there is a wide gulf between "haves" and "have nots?" Only a handful of employers provide space travel to their employees, and even they reserve this benefit to certain high level employees.
I find it curious then, that Obama apparently wants to privatize space travel. I mean to some extent it makes sense. Here we have an industry driven by complicated science and bleeding edge technology that has the ability to extend the life of our species, so opening up the industry to the free market would dramatically increase the quality and slash costs.
But what about the millions of Americans who don't have space travel options and would have to then negotiate with greedy corporations? Are they no less worthy of avoiding the next asteroid strike?
I think that is the wrong approach to take. Instead we can learn from what I'm sure will be his highly effective plan for the healthcare industry. First, we should upgrade the information technology currently in use in the space program. The flight systems on the space shuttle were installed in 1990 and have one MB of storage!
Second, we need more research into what works and what doesn't work. Currently we waste too much money on items pushed by lobbyists from Lockhead Martin without knowing if they are indeed the best.
Third, we need to focus on prevention. This doesn't really apply to space travel, but since it doesn't make sense for healthcare either I'm leaving this one in.
Once these measures have been implemented and trillions of dollars have been saved, the government will be able to provide space travel to everyone. This will be way better than private companies, who have no incentive to help consumers, other than needing to repeatedly provide something that these consumers are voluntarily willing to hand over their hard-earned money for.
I find it curious then, that Obama apparently wants to privatize space travel. I mean to some extent it makes sense. Here we have an industry driven by complicated science and bleeding edge technology that has the ability to extend the life of our species, so opening up the industry to the free market would dramatically increase the quality and slash costs.
But what about the millions of Americans who don't have space travel options and would have to then negotiate with greedy corporations? Are they no less worthy of avoiding the next asteroid strike?
I think that is the wrong approach to take. Instead we can learn from what I'm sure will be his highly effective plan for the healthcare industry. First, we should upgrade the information technology currently in use in the space program. The flight systems on the space shuttle were installed in 1990 and have one MB of storage!
Second, we need more research into what works and what doesn't work. Currently we waste too much money on items pushed by lobbyists from Lockhead Martin without knowing if they are indeed the best.
Third, we need to focus on prevention. This doesn't really apply to space travel, but since it doesn't make sense for healthcare either I'm leaving this one in.
Once these measures have been implemented and trillions of dollars have been saved, the government will be able to provide space travel to everyone. This will be way better than private companies, who have no incentive to help consumers, other than needing to repeatedly provide something that these consumers are voluntarily willing to hand over their hard-earned money for.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
I think the government should start with an easier problem than giving out healthcare. For example, they could try starting with issuing people cards that give them the authority to drive a car. That should be pretty easy. Once we see how well they handle that we can give them more responsibility.
