Health Reform

After reading a few of the articles I strongly support the policy agenda of the United States having mandatory comprehensive health reform by 2014. Reading some of the stats of what America can look like if we keep our health system the way it is with how the American people eat and exercise is really scary. The way I see it, it would be a lose-lose situation for everyone because middle and higher income families would be the ones with most people uninsured and to add on top of this the fact that premiums will get increasingly higher for both employees and employers will make it less like for people to afford insurance. It honestly to me looks like the housing crisis scenario that we are in currently, prices will continue to go up and up until everything eventually comes crashing down and then where will the American people be? I think that government should be involved in this new implementation of health reform and that it should be on a national federal level and not left up to the states. There should be quite a few health plans so that people can cater it to their lifestyles and livelihoods and not have to sacrifice their saving at the same time. The way I see it government should put its hand in with anything regarding health care; make it affordable while still making a competitive industry where we still have doctors getting paid for there expertise and where research and development is still something to be profitable from. I don’t think that health care should be so affordable that if makes the practice of research and development lose its profitability and become obsolete. I like the efforts that the government is currently putting into the whole be healthy… exercise plan it has going on but what I really think that government should put its efforts into is parks and recreation because coming from the video only 30 minutes a day can a significant difference in the health of the American people. Building parks and new and creative recreation options would promote better life styles and better communities. One of the major concerns is whether this will be implemented on a state-by-state basis or if it will be federal and I feel like its all economics that is driving the states to not want to reform. I think this is a stupid reason to let money come between the overall health of the American people; we need to look and pay attention to the stats of how much of a bad condition everyone will be in if we do not have reform. I understand that everyone might not want health insurance because of money and other aspects but if the whole nation were to come under one umbrella that would make if more affordable for everyone and everyone will get the help they need.      

Extra-Credit High-Speed Rail

I think that the feasibility of the phoenix metropolitan area getting a high-speed light rail is very low. As seen from the videos just the cost of obtaining a high-speed light rail that only services about 3% of the population is not probable at all. It just doesn’t make sense for economists to support such an example initiative when people are choosing to drive or fly more and more. Another reason why a high-speed rail would not work here in the states is that unlike really high gas prices in Europe our gas prices are still manageable. Another thing that I know economists will be considering is the usability of the train tracks and how once the track lines are set they are only good for trains and that’s it. On the other hand with roads that have a life of 50 or so years they can always be upgraded  or have versatility with usage. I honestly think that we are doing good with the light rail we have right now, and we do not need a high-speed rail that is going to save us 20 minutes of our time but cost this nation billion of dollars. Also it is not ok that we spend so much money for such a small amount of people. I believe the video said that only about 17,000 people will even use the high-speed rail and honestly all that money could be used to better the lives of the millions of people in our nation. I even think that gentrification is also going to be a huge deal with the high-speed rail but also the limited number of stops the rail will be able to have.