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Daria
Ideas Voted On
  • 270
    Points
    With respect to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict Roger Cohen of the New York Times  suggested drafting Shibley Telhami, Vali Nasr, Fawaz Gerges, Fouad Moughrabi and James Zogby who are  'a distinguished group of Arab-American and Iranian-American scholars, with wide regional experience ..  to signal a U.S. willingness to think anew about the Middle East,' why not create such a special group to work on bringing about peace and connect with what seems  the forgotten half of the equation.
    1 Comment »   Posted by Doug Huffman to Foreign Policy on 1/12/2009 11:13 AM
  • 360
    Points
     Antibacterial coatings on pens, paper, socks, facial tissue, and other products plus the excessive use of bleach and other antibacterial chemicals to wash floors and windows in department stores, schools and homes is creating strains of viruses and germs that are resistant to any form of antibiotics, bleach or alcohol. Unless the overuse of these products is controlled, we will see epidemics of resistant disease.
    1 Comment »   Posted by HilaryLVH to Health Care, Technology, Additional Issues on 1/13/2009 5:07 AM
  • 420
    Points
    My hope is that the administratiion will adress what the the Chidren's Defense Fundj calls the "cradle to prison" complex that millions of young black men face in America today.  As the single mother of a young black man, working hard to keep my son away from the problems  and influences that  lead to imprisonment or death in the streets of our cities, our hope we can begin to look at this very complex issue and address it from the many fronts  that are apparent.  From education deficits, to job placement options to basic parenting issues, we need to consider why we have such a disproportionate large population of young black men in our prisons, soaking up the kind of money that could solve our economic problems if we could make these people productive. 
    6 Comments »   Posted by Mona to Economy, Education, Health Care, Service on 1/13/2009 9:37 AM
  • 350
    Points
    The government is in a unique position to use the power of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to mandate certain improvements to the administrative aspect of US healthcare.

    The vast majority of doctors in the country lose out on efficiency by participating in antiquated business practices. Medical records are kept on paper -- leading to inefficiencies of storing, looking up, and sharing patient data, and leading to costly mistakes. Billing often still happens on paper, and even when it does not it may take days, weeks, or even months to have a charge for a service get paid.

    The government can mandate that all providers who bill Medicare must use an Electronic Medical Records system that meets certain standards of data interchange. The government can require all secondary insurance providers to respond to coordination-of-benefits adjudication within minutes or hours. The government can help coordinate secure data sharing between hospitals and smaller providers.

    In a system with hundreds of thousands of medical practices, including some as small as a single doctor, a systemic inefficiency can have disastrous effects. There are some estimates that administrative costs of healthcare are as high as 30% of the entire healthcare cost in the country. Attacking this area of cost can bring tremendous improvement to the ability of the nation's most vlulnurable to afford health care coverage, without compromising the cost of care itself.
    12 Comments »   Posted by ilya to Health Care, Technology on 1/12/2009 11:47 AM
  • 420
    Points

    Money Management / Personal Finance should be built into the basic school curriculum so that we can teach our youth to become more responsible over their own finances.  They should be better equipped to make educated decisions with their finances.  They would better understand the consequences behind making unwise financial decisions.  We (American government) can continue to give out welfare checks, stimulus packages, bailouts, etc.; but without the basic financial fundaments, there are many recipients who make unwise financial decisions and run out of money before the end of the month.  An important topic to cover in money management course is about being an educated / smart consumer.  Yes, we are partly in this mortgage crisis because of mortgage lenders. However, many of these consumers play a part in their own fate by taking on loans that they cannot reasonably afford.  They took on a loan just because it was approved instead of making their decision on what was more realistically affordable.

     

    We should educate our youth now so that a similar economic tragedy does not occur with future generations.   There are many adult Americans who may also wish to have a money management course.  As for the adult Americans who have already graduated from public schools; these types of money management classes should be available to them as a tax deductible continuing education class.  Being a tax deduction can be an incentive to taking the class for those who need it.

     

    I believe that many of the predatory lenders are successful because they dwell on individuals who are in need of financial assistance (the poor) but do not understand how to make a wise decision on fulfilling that need.   I believe that through education (basic money management courses) we can produce wiser consumers and make it more difficult for these institutions to prey on the less fortunate.

    Also, by creating a wiser consumer, the consumer can lessen the financial strain on themselves by wisely spending the resources they have available to them.  Hopefully, this will help many who are able to successfully implement good money management skills into their lives to be more prosperous resulting in less people reliant on government assistance and more to be self-sufficient.

     

    This is, in some ways, similar to Obama’s Hospitals Report Card Act where the attempt is to educate the consumer / patient so that they are empowered to make a knowledgably decision on where to get quality healthcare and competitive pricing.   Providing basic money management education will help consumers make good financial decisions overall.

    2 Comments »   Posted by Crystal Ideas to Economy, Education on 1/13/2009 12:51 PM
  • 390
    Points
    We must get private insurance companies out of healthcare and convert to a single payer, universal healthcare system.  We must also change the way pharmaceutical companies relate to our healthcare delivery.  They must not be able to reap the benefits of taxpayer sponsored research [e.g. NIH research and other research] and then charge whatever they like to provide medications to the public.  Healthcare never has and never will fit the "market" model of capitalism.  When a patient is ill or injured, the idea of "choice" is a lie.  All citizens deserve the kind of medical coverage that Senators and Congressmen/women receive.  The vast majority of physicians want an universal single payer healthcare system. 
    5 Comments »   Posted by citizenNW to Health Care on 1/12/2009 5:42 PM
  • 430
    Points

    No one should have there job at risk because they are LGBT. Pass and sign ENDA.
    In many states it is legal to FIRE a person just because they are LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered)

    2 Comments »   Posted by 75230 on 1/12/2009 2:14 PM
  • 370
    Points
    Please see these links for background information.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maglev_train

    http://www.MaglevNow.com/

    MAGLEV, or magnetic levitation, is a system of transportation that suspends, guides and (usually) propels vehicles, predominantly passenger trains, and could include personal transportation, using magnetic forces. This method has the potential to be faster, quieter and smoother than wheeled mass transit systems. The technology has the potential to exceed 4000 mph (6437 km/h) if deployed in an evacuated tunnel.

     

    Just think, this type of transportation system could replace many of our outdated systems we depend upon today. This technology is proven and it is all available now.

     

    To prove the point:

     

    Main advantages:

    1. This is the only type of transportation system that can be run entirely upon renewable resources, solar, wind, geothermal, water generated, etc. This is an all electric system which lends itself perfectly to our problem we find ourselves in right now, dependant on external oil.

        A. Depending upon where in the country the system traverses, you can take advantage of the resources that are plentiful in that area, as well as sell any unused power back into the locale grid, in other words a grid-tie power system.

     

    2. The US has all the resources required to accomplish this monumental task right here, right now. We would not have to be dependant upon any external manpower or resource, this project would employ millions of US workers over many many decades. We would be investing in our own future, not others. Also, It would put many of our withering industries back in business, and create many new ones.

        A. Engineers, construction workers, technicians, etc.
        B. Steel industry, automotive, airlines, ect.

     

    3. It could, over time, replace the existing and outdated transportation infrastructure, including land and air systems.

    Please comment:

    8 Comments »   Posted by Robert1 to Economy, Energy and Environment, Service, Technology, Additional Issues on 1/12/2009 2:22 PM
  • 450
    Points
    The United States is one of the few countries that do not encourage multiple languages for students. In Germany, most students speak a minimum of three languages, which provides them more opportunities as well as more understanding of the world they live in. If we spend the time to teach our children several languages when they are young, we better prepare them to compete in the global job market. In doing so, we fortify the foundation of our own country. Education is our future.
    4 Comments »   Posted by http://warismyconcern.wordpress.com to Education on 1/12/2009 1:09 PM
  • 390
    Points
    Since 2004, the Pentagon has spent roughly $16 billion annually to maintain and modernize the military's business systems, but most are as unreliable as ever—even as the surge in defense spending is creating more room for error. The basic defense budget for 2007 was $439.3 billion, up 48 percent from 2001, excluding the vast additional sums appropriated for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to federal regulators and current and former Pentagon officials, the accounting process is so obsolete and error prone that it's virtually impossible to tell where much of this money ends up. The problem is so deeply rooted that, 18 years after Congress required major federal agencies to be audited, the Pentagon still can't be.

    For the first three quarters of 2007, $1.1 trillion in Army accounting entries hadn't been properly reviewed and substantiated, according to the Department of Defense's inspector general. In 2006, $258.2 billion of recorded withdrawals and payments from the Army's main account were unsupported. It's as if the Army had submitted multibillion-dollar expense reports without any receipts.

    According to David Walker, who recently left his post as head of the Government Accountability Office, the failure of the Pentagon's outdated and incompatible systems to keep tabs on expenditures—even as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan eat up an ever-bigger chunk of the federal budget—puts several Defense Department agencies high on the G.A.O.'s list of federal programs that are mismanaged and prone to fraud, waste and abuse.

    In a September 10, 2001, speech, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld pressed for a top-to-bottom overhaul of Pentagon financial systems, which he later estimated would save the department as much as $25 billion a year. "It is not, in the end, about business practices, nor is the goal to improve figures on the bottom line. It's really about the security of the United States of America," Rumsfeld said, arguing that waste, mismanagement, and overspending on bureaucracy were taking resources away from weapons and troops.

    In 1990, Congress enacted legislation requiring all federal agencies to pass independent audits. Every year, the Defense inspector general dispatched dozens of auditors to the military's financial and accounting centers. Every year, they reported back that the job couldn't be done. Defense Department records were in such disarray and were so lacking in documentation that any attempt would be futile. In 2000, the inspector general told Congress that his auditors stopped counting after finding $2.3 trillion in unsupported entries made to force financial data to agree.

    Without an audit, anecdotal evidence suggests, contractor fraud is likely to go undetected for years. Two South Carolina sisters who supplied small parts to the military bilked it of more than $20 million by charging wildly inflated shipping costs for low-priced items, like $998,798 for shipping two 19-cent washers to an Army base in Texas. The scheme lasted six years before they were caught in 2006.

    As the second or third largest line item on the national budget it is essential that the Department of Defense be properly audited and accounted for.  Not only will this reduce fraud, waste and abuse, it will potentially save trillions of dollars and provide a safe means of accounting for the country's most dangerous expenditures.
    0 Comments »   Posted by thefuture to Economy, Homeland Security, Additional Issues on 1/13/2009 5:44 AM
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