The MTA and LIRR are constantly in the news about being unable to remain solvent, so they always have to raise prices at rates that outstrip inflation and wages. Raising of prices is only going to hurt the common people, who are already hurting badly from the horrible economic recession. A few months ago, the LIRR passed a proposition to raise prices that just went into effect last week. Whether or not raising prices was the right thing is arguable, but what is not arguable is the fact that they should be taking precautions to make the entire system more effective in order to save money and become solvent in the long run.

As I was sitting on the Long Island Rail Road on my way home from New York City, I noticed that by having a person walk through the train was extremely inefficient and a horrible waste of monetary resources. The LIRR pays a significant amount of the budget on salaried employees to walk up and down the aisles to punch tickets. After thinking about how to make their system more efficient via innovation, I recalled my trip to Madrid and the NYC subway system. Both the New York and Madrid Subway system use a paper card with a magnetic strip that the commuter swipes in order to use the subway systems. This system does not work as is with the LIRR because the LIRR charge different amounts to go different distances. For this, the LIRR has to have a card-swipe system where people swipe as they enter and exit their train stations so the system can automatically deduct money or points from the system depending on the distance traveled. The card swipe system would cost a fraction of the cost to implement and maintain when compared to the cost of employing X amount of LIRR employees. Of course you have to keep some employees for safety and security purposes, but the majority of them can be cut.

Some people are going to argue that we shouldn’t cut jobs in an economic recession, but I strongly disagree. If you can use innovative or even common technology to make something more efficient and save money, it will allow you to actually raise wages without outstripping productivity, but productivity, wages and real investment is for another post that is on my to write list so I’ll save that for another day. I predict that if you do implement innovative technology in the LIRR, it will create jobs to design and maintain the system, as well as give consumers extra money. With the extra money, consumers are going to do one of two things. They are either going to spend it, and in that case it goes right into the economy directly and is multiplied by the multiplier effect or they will put it in a bank, which will subsequently loan it out to companies, who will hire new workers and make good use of the money.

If approximately 80% of the American population is insured, they pay $X amount of money to be insured. The insurance companies then take U% of $X as profit, leaving $C as the cost of insuring that mere 80%. The cost of insuring 100% of the American population is $Y. The question at hand is what’s the difference between $X and $Y? I bet its a lot smaller than a lot of people think. If the government can find a way to make up the difference between $X and $Y in the ridiculously complex budget then universal healthcare could actually be a reality.

Of course doctors and professionals in the medical field still have to recieve competitive salaries in order to pay off their education loans, so the government can’t save money there. Can’t cut money from the medical research field. Someone has to pay for the other 20% to be insured, but who? Do we raise income tax or do we impose a tax on a specific good or service? I really don’t know, but the first thing we can do is change Americans’ life styles: encourage physical activity and eating healthy. Parents have to start teaching their kids from a young age and it must be reinforced in the schools. Do you really think teaching kids about the food pyramid alone is going to really help them stay healthy and active?

Several companies around the country have started employee fitness and welness programs. What the government should be doing is creating financial incentives to encourage these programs as they are going to be one of the key factors to decrease the cost of healthcare for all. If everyone put in a little bit more effort to stay healthy, it decreases the cost of healthcare, allowing the concept of universal healthcare to become more and more feasible.

*I would also like to note that encouraging digital records will further streamline the medical industry, allowing savings on provoding healthcare. The government is already begining to do this, but should most certainly continue to do so, as we do live in the 21st century.

Keep in mind that the photo of my brother is about five feet high

Saw Pinetop live back in October