| Photo by Raitis Krikis on Unsplash
Part IV of “Searching for Super Agers Among Filipinos and North Americans” Series
It appears that national policy and decision-makers (NP&DMakers) in the United States do not like to concern themselves with mundane matters, such as addressing homelessness and a host of other social problems. They leave the issues to state, county, and city governments to solve. Yes, as if local government units have ample human and financial resources to address the lack of basic needs.
Take, for instance, the cost of a space rocket, which can range from tens of millions to billions of dollars, depending on factors such as size, purpose, and whether it’s a reusable or expendable vehicle. SpaceX’s Falcon 9, for example, costs around $67 million per launch. Larger rockets, such as NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), can cost over $2 billion per launch, according to the National Security Technology Accelerator (NSTXL).
The cost of a rocket to Mars or to the Moon can range from hundreds of millions of dollars for unmanned missions to hundreds of billions of dollars for human missions, depending on the scope and duration of the project. For example, a recent robotic mission, such as the Perseverance rover, cost NASA nearly $3 billion. Human missions, however, are significantly more expensive due to the need for life-support systems, crewed spacecraft, and extended mission durations.
But the federal government’s budget for NASA, its contractors, and subcontractors pale in comparison to the costs of developing armaments, aircraft carriers, and weapons of war in invading countries like Iraq and Afghanistan, which cost over four trillion greenbacks over 20 years. The U.S. military-industrial complex generated the most profits from its military misadventures. And all the public funds did not make Israel or the United States any safer. Perhaps, as described in this column, building positive projects like the multiethnic and interfaith “Abraham Squares” in the Middle East would have been cheaper, more socioeconomically productive, and could have saved thousands of lives.
” … PPPs can build homes for the aging, especially military veterans who have PTSD and other ailments, and for civilian homeless folks, and form cooperatives for them. Co-ops that can engage in backyard farming, the operation of food courts with an urgent-care wing, and an exercise gym.”
What if the trillions of dollars — instead of enriching billionaires and Corporate America — were spent on eradicating homelessness, other social ills, and investing the rest in socioeconomic projects? And building nursing homes, medical centers with hospitals, research-and-development (R&D) centers, schools of medicine, nursing and other sciences, other educational centers, and sports facilities?
Perhaps the NP&DMakers in the U.S. government, especially in the U.S. Congress, could have devoted federal tax revenues to investing in Public-Private Partnerships (PPP). Yes, PPPs can build homes for the aging, especially military veterans who have PTSD and other ailments, and for civilian homeless folks, and form cooperatives for them. Co-ops that can engage in backyard farming, the operation of food courts with an urgent-care wing, and an exercise gym. And help those growing older to age better and healthier — like the Super Agers, the super-octogenarians that are mentally and physically fitter than folks two to three decades younger.
And better yet, retired physicians, nurses, and other First Responders, who are now Super Agers, can be motivated to assist in saving nearly a thousand rural hospitals that are on the brink of bankruptcy. And about to close their doors forever — unless they are converted into co-ops as part of PPP projects. They can turn a wing of rural hospitals (or build adjacent new facilities) for nursing-and-retirement centers for Medicare members and other seniors with prepaid healthcare insurance. This suggested step may make social security, Medicare, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and state medical systems more sustainable and add decades to their viability.
Here is also a respectful suggestion for candidates for state assemblies and U.S. Congress who plan to run in the coming elections, as well as aspirants for the presidency in 2028. Can they now start discussing how to implement common-sense and back-to-basics legislation and governance? And end the use of taxpayers’ money to fund war as an apparent national policy? After all, modern warfare is now mainly fought with cheaper drones and smaller missiles, which constitute more effective deterrents against belligerent states. Gunboat diplomacy is now obsolete.
