Greatest Achievements of Public Policy

[nwdiver]

31) Science; Paleo-Climate Archive

Want a sample of atmosphere and temperature (O2 isotope derived) from 150,000 years ago for research? Send your request to the National Ice Core Lab jointly operated by the USGS and NSF.

 

[nwdiver]

32) Exploration; Re-discovery of Americas by Europeans

Thought I'd have a little fun. Columbus was funded the Spanish government. And he was a monster.

It was also a point made by Jared Diamond in 'Guns, Germs and Steel'. Columbus was turned down several times by many investors. It always helps to have multiple funding options and a government agency with a specific mission can go a long way.

 

[nwdiver]

33) Science; First artificial satellite

Credit where credit is due. The Nazi scientists the Russians captured beat our Nazi scientists to orbit.

But Sputnik did give us the kick in the a$$ we needed to emphasize science education. It's pretty unlikely The Apollo Program would have had the public support it needed in the 60s without a Russian probe flying over our heads in the 50s.

 

[nwdiver]

34) Public Health; Universal Healthcare

Congratulations to the following countries for ensuring your citizens can receive the healthcare they need regardless of socio-economic status.

• Austria
• Belarus
• Croatia
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Iceland
• Ireland
• Italy
• Luxembourg
• Malta
• Moldova
• The Netherlands
• Norway
• Poland
• Portugal
• Romania
• Russia
• Serbia
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• Turkey
• Ukraine
• The United Kingdom
• The United States*

*Only independent of socio-economic status for prison inmates, Uniformed Service members, people >65 and people with certain medical conditions or disabilities some restrictions may apply.

 

[nwdiver]

35) Science & Everything; Earth's Mightiest Scientists

If critical thinking was a super power then JASON would be the Avengers and Uncle Sam would be Tony Stark.

JASON (Advisory Group)

I guess cognitive dissonance would be Hydra and Trump would be a diabetic Red Skull after some kind of horrible brain injury.

 

[nwdiver]

36) Environment and Public Health; Forest Management

If there was ever an example of how the mission of an agency can influence its policies it's the US Forest Service vs the NPS. National Forests are set aside for public use and enjoyment. If you've ever been on an awesome ATV trail that maybe cost $3/day that was probably a national forest. If you've ever gone mountain biking with your dog in rugged wilderness that was probably a national forest. National Parks on the other hand are intended for preservation. A NP is like an art museum while a National Forest is like a petting zoo... where you might be able to harvest one of the goats of you buy a permit

National Forests are one of my favorite places to go. They're FAR less restricted than parks. I've always hated that dogs usually aren't allowed on any trails in a park. There's ~300,000 mi^2 of national parks that are available for practically any use public or private. Obviously you need approval to mine or harvest timber but both are done frequently and it's up to the forest service to ensure its done sustainably.

 

[nwdiver]

37) Public Safety; Search and Rescue

If there's sufficient evidence to believe someone is missing and in need of aid I'm always amazed at the resources which can be mobilized in a fairly short period of time. Within hours helicopters, aircraft, ships, boats, dogs and in some cases even national guard troops will scour the seas, mountains and valleys in search of a missing boater, hiker or child that has wandered off. It's not unusual for >$100k to be spent on fuel, flight time and man-hours.

I've read debates on whether the rescuee should be required to repay some of what it costs to find and save them but this is usually pushed back on because people don't want to disincentivize someone from calling for help until it's too late. If only we could apply the same morality and common sense to healthcare in the US...

 

[nwdiver]

38) Public Safety; Finding out what happened to reduce the risk of it occurring again (Industrial Version)

The CSB was modeled on the success of the NTSB. They also have an 'entertaining' / 'horrifying' YouTube channel. If you think adults don't need Uncle Sam babysitting them.... watch some CSB investigations. My favorite is the apparently common practice of testing for flammable vapors in a confined space with a blow torch.

 

[nwdiver]

39) Environment & Commerce; Fisheries Management

How do you set policy and negotiate treaties to ensure sustainable commercial fishing? You ensure fish populations are stable. How do you ensure fish populations are stable? You do research on fish populations. Thank you NOAA I considered getting a job with NOAA after the Navy but it seemed like WAAAY too much work.

 

[Mattski30]

36) Environment and Public Health; Forest Management

View attachment 496059


If there was ever an example of how the mission of an agency can influence its policies it's the US Forest Service vs the NPS. National Forests are set aside for public use and enjoyment. If you've ever been on an awesome ATV trail that maybe cost $3/day that was probably a national forest. If you've ever gone mountain biking with your dog in rugged wilderness that was probably a national forest. National Parks on the other hand are intended for preservation. A NP is like an art museum while a National Forest is like a petting zoo... where you might be able to harvest one of the goats of you buy a permit

National Forests are one of my favorite places to go. They're FAR less restricted than parks. I've always hated that dogs usually aren't allowed on any trails in a park. There's ~300,000 mi^2 of national parks that are available for practically any use public or private. Obviously you need approval to mine or harvest timber but both are done frequently and it's up to the forest service to ensure its done sustainably.

I'll add that many/most Western USA Ski Resorts have the majority of their skiable acres on public USFS land where they give the resort operator a monopoly on everything including lift operations (which makes sense), food service and ski/snowboard lessons (which makes less sense). If you ever wondered why US Ski lessons cost more and are taught by instructors who are paid less compared to other top resorts outside the US, its because most European & Japanese ski areas allow competition with multiple ski schools and independent instructors being licensed to operate on both public and private land. OTOH, the United States Forest Service opts to create a resort owned monopoly by only granting a single "non-exclusive" permit. This is why your $1,100+ private ski lesson at Vail may be taught by an instructor making less than $15/hr.

 

[nwdiver]

I'll add that many/most Western USA Ski Resorts have the majority of their skiable acres on public USFS land where they give the resort operator a monopoly on everything including lift operations (which makes sense), food service and ski/snowboard lessons (which makes less sense). If you ever wondered why US Ski lessons cost more and are taught by instructors who are paid less compared to other top resorts outside the US, its because most European & Japanese ski areas allow competition with multiple ski schools and independent instructors being licensed to operate on both public and private land. OTOH, the United States Forest Service opts to create a resort owned monopoly by only granting a single "non-exclusive" permit. This is why your $1,100+ private ski lesson at Vail may be taught by an instructor making less than $15/hr.

Have you contacted the USFS superintendent to resolve the problem?

 

[Mattski30]

Have you contacted the USFS superintendent to resolve the problem?

I communicated some with the USFS a few years back and also wrote to some politicians...not sure how high up the food chain I got.
Unclear if they see it as a problem as there are lots of different ski areas across the US. The justice department might say no monopoly if a single company owned 20 gas stations in the US, but a non EV owner might feel it was a monopoly if these were the only gas stations within a 100 mile radius of where they lived (especially if owners of many other stations regularly met to discuss business).

The USFS looks at ski corporations as their partners, so why not give your partner a winning hand (monopoly)
Ski Areas: An Enduring Partnership | US Forest Service

Several different Aspen instructors went to court over this in the 1970s
Skiing Heritage Journal


Heath v. Aspen Skiing Corporation, 325 F. Supp. 223 (D. Colo. 1971)

 

[nwdiver]

The USFS looks at ski corporation(s) as their partner(s), so why not give your partner a winning hand (monopoly)
Ski Areas: An Enduring Partnership | US Forest Service

Several different Aspen instructors went to court over this in the 1970s
Skiing Heritage Journal


Heath v. Aspen Skiing Corporation, 325 F. Supp. 223 (D. Colo. 1971)

How is it a 'monopoly' if it's plural? That's not what a monopoly is. It's in the name. 'mono' being greek for 'single, alone'.

Seems like the USFS should grant separate permits for other uses. Maybe the ski operator just sells lift tickets. What do you see as the ideal solution?

 

[Mattski30]

How is it a 'monopoly' if it's plural? That's not what a monopoly is. It's in the name. 'mono' being greek for 'single, alone'.

Seems like the USFS should grant separate permits for other uses. Maybe the ski operator just sells lift tickets. What do you see as the ideal solution?

Yes, in Europe, there is typically one company that runs the lifts at each resort while multiple individuals/companies offer food and ski instruction. No reason Congress/Dept of Ag/USFS couldn't do the same here.

Its not a Nationwide monopoly. Rather, there are multiple local monopolies (thus multiple resort partnerS, but moving in the direction of a nationwide duopoly in terms of destination ski resorts).

Tom Quinn of the USFS wrote an interesting analysis in 2002. The idea of a single vendor (regulated monopoly, like a utility) was put forth for National Parks almost a century ago because competition was so fierce at Yellowstone that nobody was making any money and the level of service was low (in a race to the bottom). As Quinn notes, in practice, it has often been long on monopoly, and short on regulation. With recent consolidation in the ski industry, it has only gotten worse.

I see competition as the answer with some minimum standards (training/certification/insurance) for ski schools & independent instructors. Right now, almost all US Ski Schools employ (some) uncertified instructors with many being able to charge monopoly prices.

 

[nwdiver]

40) Economics; The Central Bank, Federal Reserve

I can't even begin to imagine how bad things would have gotten if we didn't have the mechanisms in place to flood the markets with liquidity during a crisis. Even if you think COVID-19 is a Chinese hoax you do believe viruses exist... right? Even if you think this one was fake or we over reacted you do agree something similar or worse is feasible... right? I'm glad we have an institution with ~limitless economic firepower whose sole purpose for existence is to keep the US economy from collapsing.

Through various means the US has added ~$6T to the economy to keep it on its feet but inflation barely flinched. The value of anything is partially based on supply and demand. I read an interesting economic theory that one of the primary mechanisms that maintain the value of the dollar is taxation. Not by limiting the supply in the market but by creating a demand for them since US taxes must be paid in US dollars. As production of goods increasingly exceeds our ability to consume them it's also increasingly impossible to cause inflation by increasing the supply of US currency so long as some level of demand is maintained through taxation.

 

[nwdiver]

41) Public Health; mRNA vaccines

It's easy to overlook what an incredible 'miracle' of science the Pfeizer and Moderna vaccines are. My understanding is that they had the vaccines literally days... like less than a week after the genetic code of SARS-COV2 was released. That's crazy. Thanks to billions of tax dollars that funded research into mRNA for decades.

For Billion-Dollar COVID Vaccines, Basic Government-Funded Science Laid the Groundwork​