Recently, a friend of mine, pursuing a degree in accounting, posed the following 5 questions to me about certain elements of the so-called stimulus package, or properly known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA):
1. How do you feel about the stimulus package?
2. Do you think converting medical records to electronic form is an excellent idea?
3. The stimulus package will help only those whose homes are in foreclosure, but those who have lost their homes already will not be helped by the plan. How do you feel about this matter?
4. The package will also offer a large financial support to help laid-off workers to maintain the same health plans they had from their former employers. Do you think it right to carry your insurance to your next employer?
5. The stimulus package has an $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers. How do you feel about the tax credit?
With a modicum of trepidation and some forethought, I went about answering her queries, based on my layperson's knowledge of this much discussed legislation.
1. The stimulus package - I believe the general purpose of the stimulus package is beneficial to our economy, in that it will put out-of-work people back on their feet, repair our crumbling infrastructure, assist those in danger of losing their homes and provide a degree of tax rebate or incentives for our middle class and below. Those facts alone are enough to cause an outcry among conservative, capitalists traditionalists, although there is much more to the ARRA. However, it is an enormous amount of money that will require prudent oversight, lest it falls prey to corruption and /or mismanagement. Based on historical antecedents, the latter will surely happen; the question is to what extent. The stimulus package is such a voluminous work that it would require timeless research to provide a statistically correct projection of its outcome.
2. Electronic medical records - We are and have been it seems, since ad-infinitum, overly reliant upon paper trails, even during an enlightened age where computerized files are the norm. Conversion of medical files to electronic form is a way to conserve a shrinking resource (the forest). It is also easier and swifter to retrieve, and allows one to avoid loss through misplacement or wear and tear associated with paper records. The main problem with electronic files is compromising them with inadequate security measures. The latter is a necessity if the electronic form of medical records is to be the new wave of the future in health care.
3. Home foreclosures - It is unfortunate that the plan will not help many who have lost their homes and I believe that people in the latter category should have entitlement to some type of assistance from the government. Banks that exploited a system of greed are being given a helping hand, even as they continue to lose money. To me, it seems disproportionate that the U.S. Government will offer our financial institutes assistance, while letting those that have been put out of their home by these same institutions fall by the way side. There should be an agency tasked with reviewing those individuals who are homeless now, due to foreclosures and evictions and providing some type of assistance to either reclaim their homes or start anew.
4. Health plans - I have to swallow hard when I broach this subject, because I feel overall, we do not have a credible health care system. We have highly trained doctors and professionals in the health care field, probably the best, as we claim. However, the health care system in this country is capitalist-based and provides great care for those who can afford it. The problem is that few working folks can afford it and once laid-off, the expense becomes prohibitive. I believe that it should be a good thing that one can carry his/her insurance to the next employer, but unless revamped, it will be costly. I agree with President Barack Obama that the health care system needs a tremendous overhaul, but in the vernacular of my grandmother, "It's gonna be a hard row to hoe." The health insurance lobbyists and other big-money folks will come out of the woodwork to kill an effort to restructure our health care system. This is a great country, but I'd rather get my health care from somewhere else.
5. Tax-credit - I believe that first time homebuyers need an $8,000 tax credit. I only hope that it won't bite them in the butt further down the road. I haven't had time to examine what the requisites are for this credit to say much more.
One can only wonder if this stimulus package will resolve some of our economic woes; I have faith that it will help, but more bumps are in the road. It is certainly not the panacea to all of our problems, as there is a multiplicity of variables that serve as roadblocks to a decisive recovery. Although I cannot recover lost investments, this stimulus package will help me indirectly, at least by bringing my property values back up, after their disastrous tumble in the real estate market.
Eugene G. Savage, Ph.D
Chief Consultant
m-gconsulting.com m-gconsulting.com
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