Getting Things Done

Albert Einstein said:

           

“The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”

We could go down a long list of things that need to be fixed. They all are manageable. We can fix them or improve upon them if we concentrate on the doing!  For example:

Global Warming: we dump tens of millions of tons of carbon waste into the atmosphere each year. The Earth’s atmospheric envelope cannot accept this abuse without consequences. Rather than arguing about whether global warming is real or not, or if we accept it is the truth, rather than arguing about how to fix it, why don’t we at least agree to lessen our carbon footprint over time to ease the problem until we can figure out something more effective? Doing nothing is not even trying. Doing something helps, even if we fail on a larger scale.

Gun violence in America. There is a problem. We pretty much all agree on that. Too many people die from senseless gun violence every year in America. We can do something about it. That is, to lessen the death and disability statistics. To bring it under better control. This is not about banning guns. It is about controlling owner access and owner behavior of guns. We license fishing and hunting. We license automobiles and boats. Why not guns. Why not gun owners just like car owners. Health or mental disability issues? Gun ownership and use is restrict. Do something to lessen the consequences of gun violence.

National Debt. We do have a problem. It has many causes, however. And changing economic conditions cause different applications of fiscal remedy. When in a recession (high unemployment, sluggish investment, slow economic growth or stagnation) investments need to be made in public infrastructure. These produce economic goods of long life that benefit the efficiency of the society and the functioning of its economy. Huge benefits result from investment in new highways, dams, sewer and water treatment plants, bridges, power grids, etc. Immediate improvement in employment is one such benefit. Improved consumer spending from higher employment levels is another benefit. Confidence in the economy slowly builds and then the economy functions better. Slowly additions to the debt cease. Then when the economy is cooking along we will have the dollars and budget margins to pay down the debt in an orderly manner.

Deficit Spending. This is not always a problem. It becomes one when expenses and revenues of the federal government are widely out of balance.  Discipline will restore relative balance to the budget. It does not have to broadly swing from one extreme to another. Use of debt is often wise. Long term purchases or long lasting goods purchased are wisely accomplished through debt instruments. Knowing what to fix and when is different than ‘addressing the problem’ of deficit spending. There are times when deficits are OK and other times when they are not OK. Listen to the experts in economic theory and policy to determine which is best at any given time.

Education Reform. America spends too much money at all levels of government compared with outcomes. We need better outcomes and they are greatly possible. We do not need to spend vastly more money to achieve the desired outcomes. We do need to retool the functions and budgets of public education periodically in order to dump out of date programs and improve efficiency. Education is our number one investment in our people. It must be done no matter what. Without education we have a dismal future nationally. It is also the number one economic good our economy relies on to function properly. Do something about this. Stop the ideological arguing and get something accomplished that improves desired outcomes of the education system. Work long and hard to lower the cost of the system, too.

Defense Spending. This area need not be out of control if world peace objectives are being met. Changing technology also alters both the expense and the shape of the defense overhead needed to ensure the nation’s security. We need to define our defense objectives and coordinate efforts for global peace to lessen the need for defense costs in the first place. Such efforts include: foreign policy that makes partners of our global citizens, both friends and enemies; economic development throughout the globe to reduce the number of have-not nations and people; non-petroleum energy expansion to lessen reliance on Middle Eastern nations’ supply of oil.

These examples are powerful enough to make the argument. Do something to improve our situation. Stop the obstruction. Partner with Einstein’s idea and prove him right or wrong.

January 30, 2013