The Spectrum
March 24, 2010
O P I N I ON
Editorial Board Editor in Chief Stephen Marth Managing Editors Jennifer Lombardo Matt Mosher David Sanchirico Editorial Editor Jacob Shillman Campus Editors Caitlin Tremblay Brendon Bochacki, asst. Amanda Woods, asst. City Editors Jennifer Good Chelsie Hinckley, asst. Lauren Nostro, asst. Arts Editors Christopher DiMatteo, senior Eric Hilliker Jameson Butler, asst. Vanessa Frith, asst. James Twigg, asst. Life Editors Adrian Finch, senior Shane Fallon Rachel Lamb Jessica Brant, asst. Jessica DiGennaro, asst. Sports Editors Andrew Wiktor, senior Matt Parrino Joe Paterno Luke Hammill, asst. Christy Suhr, asst. Photo Editors Katie Carlett, senior Samantha Hicks Clinton Hodnett Rob Schulz, asst. Copy Editors Forrest John Crawford Meghan Farrell Laura Neese Graphics Designer Rafael Kobayashi
Professional Staff Business Manager Debbie Smith Administrative Assistant Helene Polley Advertising Manager David Vogt
Deficit busting through reform
Digital dollars
Health care reform passes but will it work?
Ten thousand years ago, our ancestors would have never dreamed of paying for dinner with little pieces of paper. A hundred years ago, our great grandparents never thought about purchasing concert tickets with plastic cards. Twenty years ago, our parents couldn’t have guessed they’d be buying movies from eBay using Internet-based accounts to settle the debt with an overseas supplier. And now, I can’t believe where ecommerce has gone. PayPal now has an iPhone application, Twitter users can acquire funds from friends and co-workers through Twitpay and online banking has made handling digital money all too easy. The Internet is home to millions of vendors and companies selling anything and everything. The problem with the Internet is trust. I don’t trust a single site or user of eBay with my credit card information, which is where PayPal comes in. PayPal is “the safer, easier way to pay” as the Matt Mosher site claims, and allows Managing Editor users to pay for goods through the site keeping their banking and credit card information safe. The downfall and dangers to this site, along with all ecommerce, is the ease of use. When you have your credit card linked up to your PayPal account, its easy to get carried away, it’s easy to believe you have more money available than you actually do and its very easy to get behind on your bills. Shopping online requires only a few clicks, a password and sometimes a confirmation e-mail. It never actually feels like money is being spent. The balance from one account gets lower, another account gets larger and a few days later a new video game arrives in the mail. Without the feel of money, the handling of cash, I think it’s much easier to get into to debt. Whenever I have cash, I’m much more careful with how I spend it, I can watch as a 10 or 20-dollar bill leaves my pocket, and how much change comes back. With a credit card, it doesn’t matter the cost of something, just swipe – or enter the numbers – and it’s yours. see MOSHER page 4
For the first time since the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the United States Congress has passed progressive legislation. After a year of strenuous debate, the House of Representatives passed the Senate’s health reform into law. Everyone agrees that health care costs are rising and actions must be taken to keep costs from spiraling out of control. Americans want results. Many in America are displeased with such action. Millions of Americans don’t want to provide health care to people who can’t afford it. The United States government is mandating every citizen to have health insurance regardless of whether or not Americans want it. Other arguments against the bill include moving resources from the private sector that tends to be more efficient to the public that is less efficient. But the biggest argument against the bill is the cost. Many Americans are familiar with how to purchase insurance rather then reforming the complex way health care is administered in this country. But the bill isn’t all that bad either. It does some very good things as well. For example, it allows young Americans to stay on their parent’s health insurance plans until the age of 26. Young Americans from the age range of 19 to 29 make up nearly one third of the uninsured population and have the highest uninsured rate of any other age group according to a study done by the Center for Disease Control in 2008. The major part of the country’s most controversial law is exactly how it will keep costs in check. The Congressional Budget Office, the official scorekeeper projects that the new law will save one trillion dollars over 20 years. Here is how the new law proposes to do it. I. Create a competitive insurance market There is little competition in the insurance market. For most part insurance companies avoid the sick and only insure the healthiest of potential customers. Offering the best plans isn’t a real priority, since many Americans don’t know which coverage is best. Insurers can no longer discriminate against preexisting conditions. Companies will have to answer to regulators if they increase premiums, in addition to allow customers to rate their insurance company for other consumers to see.
Advertising Designer Christopher Lonzi
L E T T E R
Web Editor Andrew Muraco
Sloppy rip-off
Creative Directors Christopher Caporlingua Adam Cole, asst. Daniel Tcharnyi, asst.
The views expressed — both written and graphic — in the Feedback, Opinion, and Perspectives sections of The Spectrum do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial board. Submit contributions for these pages to The Spectrum office at Suite 132 Student Union or spectrum-editorial@buffalo.edu. The Spectrum reserves the right to edit these pieces for style or length. If a letter is not meant for publication, please mark it clearly as such. All submissions must include the author’s name, daytime phone number and e-mail address.
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MARCH 24, 2010 VOLUME 59 NUMBER 65 CIRCULATION: 10,000 The Spectrum is represented for national advertising by 360 Youth. The Spectrum offices are located in 132 Student Union, UB North Campus, Buffalo, NY 14260-2100. Telephone: (716) 645-2468. Fax: (716) 645-2766. Copyright 2010 Buffalo, N.Y. The Spectrum is printed by Buffalo Newspress PO Box 648, Buffalo, NY 14240-0648.
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As any advocate of the “magic” of the free market these steps should drive costs down and quality up. In addition the law stipulates that even government officials must partake in this. II. Taxing “Cadillac” plans This is definitely the least popular part of the new law. The average employer pays for about 70 percent of a workers premium, which happens to be tax-free. Many workers who receive employer provided coverage have no idea how much their plans cost. Imagine how workers would feel if they actually saw the amount come out of their pocket rather than their paychecks. So what the law calls for is by 2018 a tax is put on such plans which costs are above $27,500 annually. So if an American’s current plan is worth $27,600 that last $100 would be taxed. But the thought process behind this part isn’t for people to actually pay that tax. The goal is to make employers choose plans under that threshold to hold down costs more aggressively. In turn, it allows insurance companies who adhere to this policy, a competitive advantage over those who don’t. III. Bundling programs The single biggest problem within the health care system is American’s pay doctors like they pay car salesman. The more product sold the more they get paid. And lets be honest America, Americans will disagree with car salesmen but not their doctors. Instead of getting paid for everything doctors do to treat a cancer patient, the hospitals would be paid once for treating that patient’s cancer and all related conditions over an extended period of time. If this leads to lower costs and doesn’t harm the treatment patients receive the program will be expanded. This would usher in a new era of quality health care versus quantity health care. The simple truth hasn’t changed when it comes to health care reform. America needs results. The law is passed. And regardless of political ideology, every American should hope this reform allows for a healthier, richer, more solvent United States.
E D I TO R
Student journalists must respect the basic tenets of journalism To the editor, I would like to commend Jameson Butler for his complete inability to fact check and his flimsy grasp on the English language as demonstrated in his opinion column (A lost Generation, March 22). The article was riddled with errors. The idea that shuttering Generation would free up more money for Spring Fest is a fallacy, and a poor one at that. SubBoard I, Inc. provides Generation with its funding. A portion of Sub-Board’s funding does come from SA, but Sub-Board’s board of directors ultimately holds the authority to decide where that money is spent. Since Butler is still trying to figure out how often Generation is printed, let me point it out for him. It’s every two weeks. I feel obliged to tell him that two weeks equals 14 days, because after reading poorly-written phrases like “nothing I love more than taken some bills” and “what ultimately led for” in his column I should probably doubt his ability to count, as well. Furthermore, I’m going to assume Butler was referring to me when he said a “pretentious Canadian and his girlfriend” write “He Says, She Says.” Dino Husejnovic and Alexandra Pivovarova have actually been collaborating on that feature since issue No. 2. Butler is either breaking his own rule against using inside jokes or he’s confused and thinks Husejnovic is a Canadian last name. Butler gets bonus points for his blatant sexism, as well. By referring to Keeley Sheehan as simply my “girlfriend,” he managed to spurn all of her credentials, which are substantially more impressive than his own.
The article was a sloppy rip-off of everything former Editor in Chief Andrew Blake told The Spectrum in an interview earlier this semester. Butler should make sure he’s being original before he blasts Generation for the opposite. I would look past the ugly flaws and simply ignore Butler’s dumb criticisms. In fact, I’d be flattered that he chose to spurn writing about high-profile issues like health care reform or the SA elections and instead chose to write about something that happened at the beginning of the semester. But one part of the article is just too insulting to disregard. Inferring that my staff and me do not care about Generation Magazine is an affront to all of the hard work we do upstairs in 315 Student Union. As Butler’s former editor at The Spectrum, I know for a fact that I put more time and care into a single story than Butler spends on his entire weekly Spectrum workload, and I know that my staff does as well. Student journalists at The Spectrum are free to write whatever they want about any topic in the world and then have that message sent to 10,000 students across the University at Buffalo’s three campuses. But that power comes with a caveat—that student journalists must respect the basic tenets of journalism. By printing erroneous information and disregarding middle school grammar rules, Butler failed to follow his duties as a journalist. He should apologize to me, my staff, and the institution of journalism as a whole. Sincerely, Ren M. LaForme
Editor in Chief Generation Magazine rlaforme@buffalo.edu
What a relief Last Saturday, Washington D.C. rapper Wale performed at Alumni Arena in what was deemed a “Disaster Relief Concert.” Students were notified about the event, which was hosted by the Student Association and free to UB undergraduates, in an email sent out the previous Monday. The email was signed by three SA officers: President Ernesto Alvarado, Vice President Greg Robbins, and Treasurer Jordan Fried. When I first found out about the concert, I didn’t know what to expect. The email didn’t even mention which disaster the SA was raising money for. Haiti? Chile? The New York Knicks? My roommate’s love life? I’m not much of a fan of Wale’s music (save for “W.A.L.E.D.A.N.C.E.”), but I decided to attend the show anyway since I had nothing to do that night, it was free, and it was for a good cause. Knowing from prior experience that rappers never take the stage on time, I arrived on North Campus around Luke Hammil 8:30 p.m., 30 minutes Asst. Sports Editor after Wale was scheduled to appear. When I got into the arena, the crowd was still waiting for the show to start while DJ Omega played music and asked everyone if they had gotten their pregame on. I learned later that Alvarado had taken the stage and addressed the crowd before I had gotten there. When Wale finally did arrive on stage with his band, he was wearing a jacket with the Red Cross symbol on the back. I mention this because the expensive-looking jacket was the only indication I got during my entire time at Alumni Arena that night that I was indeed at a “Disaster Relief Concert.” On the way into the arena, I wasn’t especially looking for any stations where I could donate money, but I definitely didn’t notice any. You’d think that at a “Disaster Relief Concert,” these stations would be eye-grabbing and in many places. Even worse, Wale did not make any mention whatsoever of disaster relief. Instead, he rapped hits like “Nike Boots,” “Pretty Girls,” and “Chillin” to fans that could not hear him because his band’s see HAMMILL page 4