Water - Power & Decarbonization - Healthcare - Housing - Safe Public Spaces
Water is certainly a perceived problem -- but there are a wide variety of choices to be made. Frankly, if we still have grass lawns in the cities and wasteful irrigation processes, I don't think access to water is one of the top 5.
Healthcare is certainly a problem and will be a much, MUCH larger problem if the Federal government follows through on the House's instructions to cut Medicaid and Medicare.
Safe Public Spaces is another perceived problem. Similar to what you write about K12 education, we know problems exist, but don't know what to do about them or THINK we know but can't gather a consensus to take action(s).
I'd drop one of those three and add the problem I think is quite pressing -- we do not have adequate methods or places for communication to develop a consensus on major issues. The problem happens at virtually every level. Institutionally, we have lost common media outlets in vast areas of the state and those that remain do not have the credibility or audience to advance a common agenda. Individually, people are spending increasing amounts of time on their screens - with individualized choices and algorithms designed to increase engagement by the individual, but little ability to develop cooperation among individuals. Robert Putnam has spent the last 30 years talking about "Bowling Alone" -- a loss of community organizations that had been so prevalent in the first half of the 20th Century. I'd add that even those organizations we DO see have tended toward internal agreement and may even add to the polarization and alienation from other portions of the population.
I think your comment about consensus is even more basic. We've stopped talking to each other. We've stopped listening to those we disagree with. But I think the answer there requires each of us to widen who we converse with and what sources we listen to.
I can address #1 and #2 pretty easily. 40% of freshwater withdrawals go to powerplants. Using the numbers I have handy, U.S. water use was approximately 322B gal/d, 87% of which was freshwater. Thermoelectric power plant cooling (133B gal/d) and irrigation (118B gal/d) were the largest withdrawals. Though 41% of daily water use is for power plant cooling, only 3% of these withdrawals are consumptive.
Consume less water in power plants, then you'll have more water for everything else. Converting existing power plants to supercrtical carbon dioxide systems would hugely reduce these freshwater withdrawls and allow for 97% carbon capture. SCDS systems actually make fresh water. Oh, and reduce power costs.
Healthcare I'd start building an endowment-based health care system. Just endow charity hospitals that would provide low cost, or free health care. Over time, medical cost would start to decline.
Japanese solve housing by using a zoning pyramid - all land is zoned for housing. Funny thing - people building huge apartment complexes want to build them NEAR amenities and public transport. That is the type of renters they are hoping to attract. We just don't have to regulate this to the degree we have been regulating it. Zoning is bonkers in the U.S.
Lastly - arrest the homeless, especially if they are public nuisances. In Switzerland it is illegal to be homeless. Arrested doesn't need to be something bad. It can just mean some of your rights are abrogated. If they are mentally ill, they go to a mental hospital - no discussion. Drug addict - treatment. Just plain homeless- we work to find them shelter and we make them use it. It's not complicated. You just don't make being homeless an option anymore. The cruelest thing I can imagine is letting people live on the streets.
Overall - build financially sustainable infrastructure. What does that mean?
Imagine you have $1 billion/year for infrastructure, and you build 10, $100 million projects. Next year you have $1 billion minus the O&M costs for each of those projects, right? Let's say each project has a $10 million annual O&M cost. That leaves you with $900 Million for 9 new projects. In 10 years, you are spending $1 billion on O&M and have no money for new projects.
Okay - what happens after 30 years, and the first 10 projects wear out and need to be replaced? All your money is tied up in O&M - you can't afford to replace them. Then the next 10 fail, and the next...and so on. That is what creates the infrastructure crises.
What should happen is this - you pay to have the project built AND set up an endowment to pay for the O&M in perpetuity. That means you projects cost $300 million, $100 million each, and $200 million in a stock and bond fund, the proceeds of which pay for your O&M. You build infrastructure slower, BUT the infrastructure is financially self-supporting. When the time comes to replace, you have more than adequate funds to do so, and the O&M fund can be rolled over for the new project.
Your list:
Water - Power & Decarbonization - Healthcare - Housing - Safe Public Spaces
Water is certainly a perceived problem -- but there are a wide variety of choices to be made. Frankly, if we still have grass lawns in the cities and wasteful irrigation processes, I don't think access to water is one of the top 5.
Healthcare is certainly a problem and will be a much, MUCH larger problem if the Federal government follows through on the House's instructions to cut Medicaid and Medicare.
Safe Public Spaces is another perceived problem. Similar to what you write about K12 education, we know problems exist, but don't know what to do about them or THINK we know but can't gather a consensus to take action(s).
I'd drop one of those three and add the problem I think is quite pressing -- we do not have adequate methods or places for communication to develop a consensus on major issues. The problem happens at virtually every level. Institutionally, we have lost common media outlets in vast areas of the state and those that remain do not have the credibility or audience to advance a common agenda. Individually, people are spending increasing amounts of time on their screens - with individualized choices and algorithms designed to increase engagement by the individual, but little ability to develop cooperation among individuals. Robert Putnam has spent the last 30 years talking about "Bowling Alone" -- a loss of community organizations that had been so prevalent in the first half of the 20th Century. I'd add that even those organizations we DO see have tended toward internal agreement and may even add to the polarization and alienation from other portions of the population.
I think your comment about consensus is even more basic. We've stopped talking to each other. We've stopped listening to those we disagree with. But I think the answer there requires each of us to widen who we converse with and what sources we listen to.
I can address #1 and #2 pretty easily. 40% of freshwater withdrawals go to powerplants. Using the numbers I have handy, U.S. water use was approximately 322B gal/d, 87% of which was freshwater. Thermoelectric power plant cooling (133B gal/d) and irrigation (118B gal/d) were the largest withdrawals. Though 41% of daily water use is for power plant cooling, only 3% of these withdrawals are consumptive.
Consume less water in power plants, then you'll have more water for everything else. Converting existing power plants to supercrtical carbon dioxide systems would hugely reduce these freshwater withdrawls and allow for 97% carbon capture. SCDS systems actually make fresh water. Oh, and reduce power costs.
Healthcare I'd start building an endowment-based health care system. Just endow charity hospitals that would provide low cost, or free health care. Over time, medical cost would start to decline.
Japanese solve housing by using a zoning pyramid - all land is zoned for housing. Funny thing - people building huge apartment complexes want to build them NEAR amenities and public transport. That is the type of renters they are hoping to attract. We just don't have to regulate this to the degree we have been regulating it. Zoning is bonkers in the U.S.
Lastly - arrest the homeless, especially if they are public nuisances. In Switzerland it is illegal to be homeless. Arrested doesn't need to be something bad. It can just mean some of your rights are abrogated. If they are mentally ill, they go to a mental hospital - no discussion. Drug addict - treatment. Just plain homeless- we work to find them shelter and we make them use it. It's not complicated. You just don't make being homeless an option anymore. The cruelest thing I can imagine is letting people live on the streets.
Overall - build financially sustainable infrastructure. What does that mean?
Imagine you have $1 billion/year for infrastructure, and you build 10, $100 million projects. Next year you have $1 billion minus the O&M costs for each of those projects, right? Let's say each project has a $10 million annual O&M cost. That leaves you with $900 Million for 9 new projects. In 10 years, you are spending $1 billion on O&M and have no money for new projects.
Okay - what happens after 30 years, and the first 10 projects wear out and need to be replaced? All your money is tied up in O&M - you can't afford to replace them. Then the next 10 fail, and the next...and so on. That is what creates the infrastructure crises.
What should happen is this - you pay to have the project built AND set up an endowment to pay for the O&M in perpetuity. That means you projects cost $300 million, $100 million each, and $200 million in a stock and bond fund, the proceeds of which pay for your O&M. You build infrastructure slower, BUT the infrastructure is financially self-supporting. When the time comes to replace, you have more than adequate funds to do so, and the O&M fund can be rolled over for the new project.