# What problems could we solve in America, that could actually save money by solving the problem, but we still don't solve them **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-problems-could-we-solve-in-america-that-could-actually-save-money-by-solving-the-problem-but-we-still-dont-solve-them/1018017 **Category:** Great Debates **Created:** [May 7, 2025, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-problems-could-we-solve-in-america-that-could-actually-save-money-by-solving-the-problem-but-we-still-dont-solve-them/1018017 "2025-05-07T16:49:32Z") **Posts on this page:** 1 **Showing post:** 11
### Author: ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense) #### Post date: [May 7, 2025, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-problems-could-we-solve-in-america-that-could-actually-save-money-by-solving-the-problem-but-we-still-dont-solve-them/1018017/11 "2025-05-07T21:52:20Z")
One thing which comes to mind is the payments system in the U.S. We had a thread about it a month ago: > [@Is the US banking system "backward"?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-banking-system-backward/1016579): > > From [Debit card: PIN or no PIN? - #42 by Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debit-card-pin-or-no-pin/1016452/42) The following was a reply to a post that described writing checks for items like PBS memberships that need the membership slip mailed back with the payment. Is it really possible in other countries to pay all of your bills through the bank’s website, without the bank ever having to mail a check? I just checked my very large bank’s billpay site and although there are payees listed in every state of the US, none of my doctors are listed. Which i… Generally the U.S. payments system is high cost and/or slow and/or high fraud. Many other countries have better payments systems–although none is perfect. Some of the other suggestions in this thread are poor, for example legalizing drugs. While I think a case can be made for legalizing marijuana the costs of the two major legalized drugs is extremely high–much higher than the costs of the drug war. Tobacco is associated with 490,000 or so deaths a year and alcohol with 180,000 or so. Alcohol is also associated with a lot of violence. Why add more substances with these kinds of massive costs? --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-problems-could-we-solve-in-america-that-could-actually-save-money-by-solving-the-problem-but-we-still-dont-solve-them/1018017)._