How Safe Are We?

Manhattan.

Those who advocate that armed forces at every street corner increase the security and safety of the nation, must feel safe and secure when traveling through the city’s streets, malls and train stations. Special police units in blue uniform randomly search your bags; Army forces in desert camouflage, holding submachine guns, watch your every movement. DHS, metro police, HPD, TSA, helicopters hover above the city, can we ever feel any safer?

But how much do you trust these armed-to-the-teeth guys, or is it only a big Hollywood production? I am not talking about bad intentions, abuse of power or civil liberty – unlike the regular, mostly rude, NY police force – they seem reasonably nice. You can have a chat with them, ask a question, or even exchange a joke or two.

But do you trust that at time of need they will be able to perform their job? I have my doubts.

According to the American, Adam Smithian, pin-factory doctrine, it’s the system, rather than the individual, that creates value. Individuals are cheap and replaceable. This trend has started decades ago in the manufacturing sector, but with the advance of computers and automation, this trend has proliferated to all walks of life. More and more we suffer deteriorating services because employees, who has no authority to make any decision, provide no better job than a computer terminal with semi-decent software. No wonder that such employees show no interest in their jobs, and believe that following orders – as if they are incapable of thinking for themselves – is the only way to fulfill their duty. After all, any other behavior is a sackable offense.

While in some areas this trend can improve efficiency, in others it may lead to disastrous results. For example, when I took a flight over the New Year eve, the security guard spent over ten minutes examining each of the four passengers who boarded the plane in the empty terminal. When I asked, why he was spending so much time on each of us, he explained that as he had an hour to check passengers, the less passengers there were, the more time he had to spend on each. He was not interested in the safety of the plane. After all, that was not his job. His job was simply to check passengers.

So what has it got to do with the safety of Manhattan?

The other day, on 33rd street – a station I did not know – I needed to change from the subway to the Path train. I approached a group of soldiers securing the station to ask for direction. “Path?” they asked. “Never heard of it.” Kindly they called another group not far away. “I don’t think it runs from here anymore,” another said. It took another few minutes of discussion over the radio when they eventually figured out that it was just around the corner, and was still running, as it had for years. The Path, by the way, is one of the main lines that connects Manhattan and New Jersey; 33rd Street is not a big station. They clearly did not know the ground.

The first thing a military force does when it reaches a new place is to familiarize itself with the grounds. These guys had not. It was not their job. So what would happen if at time of emergency they needed to get themselves from one point to the next? What happened if lights turned off, of if place was full of smoke? These armed forces, would not have found their way.

Often, the only way to deal with emergency is to think independently. But this is against what these guys were trained to do. I just hope that my life will never depend on their abilities.

The sight of a needle about to pierce the skin sends shivers down many backs, enough to prevent them from going for a medical treatment, enough to block their minds from considering blood donation. According to Red Cross statistics, a mere 3% of US citizens have ever donated blood, a much lower rate than in most of Europe, and a real problem for the blood bank here in the US.

Donating blood was a regular part of my life. Since I was a teenager, I would donate blood twice a year. I the many countries I lived in, the process was nearly identical: step into a station nearby, fill in a quick questionnaire, get your arm stung, and be out with a cup of juice and a cookie in no more than half an hour. US has been the exception. Despite the big 'We need your blood' posters, the pleas and the expensive advertising campaign, donating blood in the US remained an ordeal.

When I first arrived here I thought of continuing my donation tradition and sought a place to donate. The station nearest to my place was too far to be convenient; the station nearest to my work, had inconvenient operation schedule. And when I once drove past a blood donation bus and stepped in, even though there was only a single person waiting, I was asked to arrange an appointment and come back another time. I never did.

But,as the say goes, if Mohammad is prevented from going to the mountain, the mountain will eventually come to Mohammad. After long advertising campaign, posters and emails, the Red Cross came to our office. They were not very popular, and the line was short. So, with a questionnaire in my hand, I waited for my turn.

Unlike any short blood donation questionnaire I had ever filled in, this one had seventy questions. They wanted to know if anyone I had sex with had ever used a needle (as if I'd know). They asked if, since 1977 I had ever taken money, or other payment for sex. (As if it matters). They could not answer if my wife's dinners and a nice bottle of wine should be considered 'other payment'.

But this was not the reason I failed their test. I failed because in the past 10 years I have spent more than three months in the UK, which made me a possible carrier of mad cow disease.

Next week they are coming again to my office. This time, there will be one less person in the already short line.

The ultimate solution to the American debt

The solution to the spiraling American national debt crisis is quite simple. Instead of the government printing money they don’t have, they should allow us, citizens, print money directly. This ingenious policy has three advantages over our current, post-financial-crisis, system:

First, if individuals are only allowed to print physical money, they can’t print it faster than the government, so the overall increase of national debt will cool down. 

Second, as the money will be in our hands, we will consume more, which will help refuel the struggling economy (after all, how many new houses or cars can the few rich financiers that receive most of the tax payer money buy?)

Third, the government will be able to tax us more, but as we'll be able to print it, even the Republican wouldn’t mind. The additional debt will help the government close the public debt, and allow the Democrats pass the Health Bill, which will make it the very first time in American history that a policy satisfied both parties - a great way to alleviate our growing bipartisanship problem.

Naturally, all citizens will have to declare that they will not print more than they need to. But as we can include it in our tax return declaration every year, it will even be easier and more efficient to handle than the presidential election.