--- description: China's duty to Africa's Ebola crisis, philanthropy's role in biomedical research, reining in the NSA, debt laws hurting the poor, and more. title: These Are Today's Best Ideas image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Ideas](/section/ideas/) ## Ideas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Innovation](/tag/innovation/) ## Innovation Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Five Best Ideas of the Day: September 19 by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 19, 2014 4:01 PM CUT by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 19, 2014 4:01 PM CUT **1\.** [**China should match its massive investment in Africa with robust support for the Ebola fight.**](http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-09-16/africa-s-ebola-should-be-china-s-problem "undefined") By James Gibney in Bloomberg View **2\.** [**The market alone can’t drive advances in biomedical science. Philanthropy has a role.**](http://www.wired.com/2014/09/biomedical-industry-ignores-diseases-private-money-saves-lives/ "undefined") By David Panzirer in Wired **3\.** [**Far from radical, the new USA Freedom Act protects citizens from government spying with better oversight and less secrecy.**](http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/09/18/nsa-surveillance-reform-senate-usa-freedom-act-column/15662427/ "undefined") By Mary McCarthy in USA Today **4\.** [**Outdated laws on debt collection and wage garnishment are crushing the working poor.**](http://www.propublica.org/article/old-debts-fresh-pain-weak-laws-offer-debtors-little-protection "undefined") By Paul Kiel in ProPublica and Chris Arnold at National Public Radio **5\.** [**Scotland** **’** **s referendum was a reassuring exercise in the ‘majesty of democracy.’**](http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/e2cdcc62-3f5a-11e4-984b-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3Dlxol871 "undefined") By Michael Ignatieff in the Financial Times  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/ "undefined") _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3403761/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-september-19/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3403761/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-september-19/"},"headline":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: September 19","datePublished":"2014-09-19T16:01:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:43:03.409Z","description":"China's duty to Africa's Ebola crisis, philanthropy's role in biomedical research, reining in the NSA, debt laws hurting the poor, and more.","url":"https://time.com/3403761/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-september-19/","keywords":["Innovation","NSA","Africa","poverty","China","Debt","Spying","democracy","Scottish Independence","referendum","Secrecy","ebola","philanthropy","Scotland topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3403761/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-september-19/","name":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: September 19"}}]}] ```