Deep Thoughts from Dr. Who

Last night Marc and I were watching an episode of Dr. Who. (Boy do I feel geeky admitting that!)
Regardless, they were visiting New York in the 1930's and they were set in Hooverville - the homeless encampment that was there during the great depression.

What struck me was the thought, will this happen again with our current economic crisis? There was a recurring theme - work, no matter how menial the job - or starve. Will it get that bad? Mixed in with these thoughts was the recent NPR report on a farm in Colorado that offered to let the general public come and pick the fields bare after the harvest. 40,000 people showed up and there was some massive amount of food that was harvested and taken home.

The ideas that arise in my head are, "How can we have Americans going hungry when we are still exporting food"? We have more sophisticated food production techniques and we subsidize our crop production - can't we better manage that to bring food to those without in America?

Next, with the housing problems, will we again see Hoovervilles? In the 30's there was a general stoppage of the economy. The engine stopped humming. We are facing a current slow down of the engine now. Seems like we could use this time to improve the fundamentals of our system. What brought us out of the Great Depression was a war. This time I expect that innovation will save us. We have a fantastic base of intelligence in this country - and a culture that fosters innovation. Put money into research, development and solutions. The dot.com brought us a new way of doing business. Find new, cheaper, faster ways to do things and then lead the world with an engine of brain power.

We can do more science research, stem cell discovery, computer innovations, green energy - provide a better value proposition than over-sized, gas guzzling trucks from Detroit. We can make the needed changes. We have the internet and new, cheap ways to innovate. Anyone with access to a library can give themselves new skills, educate themselves and put themselves in a better position.

The people in Hooverville in the show didn't have those resources. They didn't have ways to add skills, or value. Now, with our new economy more people have more means to prosper. I think helping people see the new avenues could help fix our economy.