Situations
There are
many ways to utilize the ideas on this site, and the
situations below represent a few attempts. This page is
a work in progress.
Situation 1: A single mother of 35 has a fourteen
year-old son. Her son is a good kid, but anxious, unable
to concentrate, and as a result acting up. She makes
about $40,000 a year, which is good, but she doesn't get
health care at work, and can't qualify for free
insurance. Possible Solutions: 1) For the son, we
might go through the four main points on the site
education checklist; does he have access to vocational programs,
either full or part-time? Are the physical education
classes meeting his fitness and wellness needs? Is
he acquiring the basic knowledge of mortgage and finance
that he will need? Are the language programs in his
school effective? For the mother, responses might be
short term or long-term. Of course, assuring the above
educational goals are met for her son will make her life
easier. And, the "Community Pools" model in Chapter 1 is
one model that might work well in her area, and give she
and her son another resource. Short term,
looking at if and how the multiple mortgage payer model
on the "Tools" page can work for her is another possible
first step. Secondly, if she can't afford full
insurance, "catastrophic" insurance (limited but
affordable) can be an option at least worth looking at.
Above all, of course, we need to get health care costs
down. And, although we haven't had any success with
that, one fact can help give voters a little more
clarity; the rising costs of health care is one of the
big factors driving manufacturing out of the country. In
turn, medical malpractice insurance is one of the bigger
drivers of those costs. And, as is discussed in more
depth in Ideas for America 1, (Source: Healey
Solutions, 2006) one of the causes of that insurance
being so high is the inability of doctors to tell the
truth in the courtroom. So, one could argue that getting
the price medical malpractice insurance down (while
maintaining safety standards) is important not only to
controlling health care costs, but also to American
manufacturing, each of the persons in the situations on
this page, and for creating a public culture friendlier
to those that tell the truth.
Situation 2: A ten year old from the Dominican
Republic arrives at a grammar school with no English
skills, and has to go into a mainstream classroom. The
“inclusion” model is in place at his school, which means
that the student has to participate in everything,
including taking standardized tests in a language he's just
beginning to learn. The Possible Solutions don't need to cost money. Most important is implementing the principles of the “Model
Language Program” in Chapter 1. In addition, writing a
more effective curriculum frameworks for English
language learners. That, and assuring there is effective
individual daily work to do, not ruling out the half day
option, and learning the utilize the "Frequency
Dictionaries" (see library) can make a huge positive
difference.
Situation 3: A 60 year-old widow who works in a
factory for $12 an hour in New Hampshire is nearing the
end of her work years. She has some savings, but on
Social Security she's going to have to pinch her
pennies. How can she save for her retirement?
Possible Solutions or responses to this situation on
the site or in the site book; roommate pooling, (see
tools page or chart on page 80) effective implementation
of the ideas on greater fitness for older Americans,
and semi-public community pools. For planning
retirement, the retirement principle on the tools page
is a good start.
Situation 4:
A 45 year-old homeless
man on Boston's North Shore is broke, living in and out
of shelters. He has almost no skills, is battling drug
and alcohol issue, and no one, including his family
knows what to do to help him have a good, productive life.
Short term successes might come from successfully
exploring the possibilities with the multiple-mortgage
payer system (see tools page), barter opportunities,
effective postings of work (including day labor)
opportunities etc.
Long term,
finding manufacturing models that work are potential
boons to be explored. Health care
reform, the diet and exercise principles espoused here,
and the semi-public community pool model.
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