In David Cutler’s article “The economics of the Affordable Care Act, ” he discusses the outlooks that economists have on the new healthcare bill. At the beginning of the article, his stylistic tone is very calm and enlightening, by the middle of the article though I sensed a more aggressive approach to give his readers the data, facts and his opinions on how the economy will benefit. By Cutler’s prolific use of the word I, we know that the article is written in first person. Throughout the article Cutler cites many other economists and studies done that back up his argument. This is done by hyperlinking the works of others in his text. He chooses not to have and footnotes, or citations after the end of the article. A huge positive from my perspective of the article, is his use of numerical data as well as anecdotal data such as his reference to the Red Lobster details. These combined can definitely make an argument stronger and easier to add your own take on a situation. Lastly, Cutler’s structure is another thing to take note of. He starts the article with where the country is at now progress-wise, and then leads the reader to his two main points of how the economy can benefit from the ACA through his use of subtitles. This segregation of the argument makes his points a lot clearer and easier for a reader to understand.

I recently saw the film The Story of Luke, which tells the story of an autistic man, Luke, trying to be independent and fulfill the dreams he was told to have. All his life he was raised by his grandparents, and did what they said. Whether it was, taking his time in high school, learning how to cook, finding a girlfriend, or getting a job, Luke based his life’s goals on what other people dictated for him.  When his grandparents died, he struggled with how to proceed in life with no directions being given to him anymore, pleading with his grandpa (at the time in a coma) to wake up and tell him what to do. When Luke, finds a job, moves in with his Aunt and Uncle, and sets his sights on a girl, we see the true, kind, and smart nature of Luke and his desire to be successful. With the growing household tension among his Aunt, Uncle and cousins, Luke becomes the grounding unit and brings the family close again through his kind gestures and aspect on life that gives hope to those around him. This movie portrays someone with a disability as a functioning part of society that is equal to everyone else. Luke has the same desire as other people to better himself in anyway possible and in the end shows that you should never give up hope, and always strive to reach your dreams.

In the movie Rainman, Dustin Hoffman plays a mental hospital patient (Ray) with savant austism. In the beginning of the movie, his brother (Tom Cruise) meets him at the melsees him as someone who can’t function and can’t live on his own. During one of Cruise’s later visits, he sees his brothers mathematical savant abilities show when toothpicks fall on the floor and Ray knows the exact amount that fell by looking at it. Cruise later “kidnapps” his brother to exploit his abilities. At the beginning of the movie, disability is reflected as a complete handicap, with someone who can’t live on their own and care for themselves. By the end of the movie, we see how disability can connect people as it did these two brothers and we can understand how powerful, and not powerless a disability can make someone. This was a movie that created a stereotype about mathematical savants with autism and how they can “dominate the Las Vegas scene.” When people think of savants now, they usually think of mathematical savants, specifically Ray from this movie. It is famous for portraying a savant in a positive way, and highlighting ability not disability.

Cbpp.org / Policy Basics: Where Do Our Federal Tax Dollars Go? Rep. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 12 Apr. 2013. Web. 2 Nov. 2013.    


The report I annotated was from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which gathers data from the Office of Management and Budget about areas of government spending and releases it to the public. The most important parts of this article are the data on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and National Debt payments. These all give precise data on how much money was spent and what percentage of the budget it was spent on. A negative though is that it is last year’s data, since we haven’t finished 2013 yet. I plan to use this data in my research to show a correlation between money spent on these programs and how the U.S economy benefited or suffered from such spending.  

In my last post, I discussed how I want to go into finance after I graduate from college. In my research of how disability correlates with finance, I want to explore how the funds put into Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security programs affect the economy and if we are maximizing our potential as an economy and country. There are different disability regulations that must be met to receive benefits and if regulations were stricter, it’s likely that less people would receive benefits; therefore, leaving more money left to be spent by the government. With this extra money, we may be able to pay off our debt or fund other productive programs that can benefit a larger mass of people. I’m am interested in this because last year, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security accounted for nearly 43% of budgeted spending in the United States. This is an outrageous amount of money to be spent in such a specific area, and there may be more beneficial places for this money. Since Obama-care has recently passed and changes currently being made to the health care and benefit systems, it will be interesting to see how the budget changes, and program changes affect the economy in the future. With my research, I hope to find patterns and economists testimonials & models that prove a correlation between disability funding, and economic status. This is an important, and sensitive topic that can hopefully shed light on better ways to improve the economy and have great health care benefit programs.