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Ideas
06.15.09
In the July/August "Ideas Issue" of The Atlantic, the magazine's contributing editors and authors address a few ideas on, modestly, "how to fix the world."
As each suggestion is short but well argued, they clearly supply them as entertainment, knowing full well that the world moves too slowly, too self-servingly and too ignorantly to actually implement these ideas (the result of which would in fact be world changing and more than likely "fix" the problems we have today — even if some of them might unearth new problems in the process).
The fact is, we could use a shake-up, by which I mean an alternative to the economic collapse fueled by arrogance, apathy, idiocy and greed.
What if we actually caused remarkable change on purpose? What if we did things that had as dramatically life changing effects as this new depression we're in, but for the good?
My favorites, as they seem to possess the most obviously positive outcomes, are:
Rent your own home — With this plan mortgage companies would, after foreclosure, let the prior homeowners stay, renting their once-owned property at a fair market price. It saves on empty houses, saves the homeowner from homelessness, and give the companies a chance to recoup some money.
Pay the artists — For every $30K the government spends on art, someone gets a job. Compare that to other projects like road construction, where typically one job is created for every million dollars spent. (What we really need is some artistic road construction.)
Train Detroit — Simply, have Detroit start building trains instead of cars. The transition is not as hard to make as people may think and not only would it provide lots of work, but if executed smartly, could revolutionize U.S. transit as much as it did when Detroit started making cars (or when the first rain system was laid down for that matter).
These are only three of 15 compelling ideas that seem (in the face of the collapse of nearly everything else we thought was a good idea) like they are worth a shot.
SAH
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How many of us even notice our independence, or do much to exercise it? It seems to me that independence is wasted on the free.
submitted by SAH
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