Grand Rapids, MI -- (SBWire) --06/10/2011 --Michigan-based financial advisor Dennis Tubbergen spends a lot of time with his own clients, serving as a financial advisor to other financial advisors, and hosting his talk show The Everything Financial Radio Show. But in the past few months you were also likely to catch him finishing his latest book.
“I’ve been working on a book about where we are economically and what possible courses of action folks should consider taking with their finances,” explains Tubbergen. The book is titled Economic Consequences: Can You Survive Even Prosper From 100 Years of Bad Money Decisions? Tubbergen has recently been sharing excerpts from it.
As Tubbergen has noted in the past, there are many examples of regulations and government interference where the outcome is the opposite of the desired result.
“Some studies have shown that the longer unemployment benefits are extended, the more chronic unemployment becomes,” continues Tubbergen. “One study conducted in 2010 concluded that the unemployment rate was 1.5 percent higher than it otherwise would be due to the emergency employment benefits implemented by Congress.”
According to Tubbergen, before the Great Depression when the U.S. government began to offer unemployment benefits, long-term unemployment was virtually zero.
“More unintended consequences?” asks Tubbergen. “While you may disagree with that example, what about this one?”
Tubbergen explains a top-rated orthopedic surgeon practicing in Los Angeles received a call from a prospective patient who had a knee that was giving her trouble. The patient thought she might need surgery so she contacted the physician’s office and through a relay system explained her knee problem. She was using the relay system because she was deaf and could not talk over the phone.
“She asked the physician’s office if the fact that she was deaf was a problem, to which the physician replied, “No.” He could easily explain her problem and potential treatment using written notes and artificial knee models.
“A few days later the woman called back and stated she would rather have an interpreter than to deal with written notes,” cites Tubbergen. “She also pointed out that the Americans with Disabilities Act required the physician to provide one, at the expense of the physician.”
Shocked, the physician researched the laws and found that the woman was right; he was indeed required to provide an interpreter. Checking into the cost of the interpreter, the physician found an interpreter would cost him $120 per hour and there was a two-hour minimum. Doing some simple math, the physician calculated that after being reimbursed $60 by insurance for the office call, he would lose $180 by seeing the woman.
“Not wanting to get involved in a lawsuit he would likely lose, the physician treated the woman,” notes Tubbergen. “After sharing the story with other physicians, the consensus was that they simply wouldn’t treat anyone with that condition; instead, they would pass her on to someone else.”
The treating physician remarked that the Americans with Disabilities Act may have a dark side with some disabled patients getting the runaround, getting passed from one medical provider to the next, and wondering why they are not getting good care.
Tubbergen points out that economists Daron Acemoglu and Joshua Angrist researched the effect that the ADA law had on employment among the disabled. Their conclusion was that after the ADA law was enacted in 1992, it led to a sharp drop in employment among disabled workers.
“They concluded that employers who were concerned about meeting the requirements of the law and being able to discipline or fire workers who were incompetent simply avoided hiring the disabled to begin with,” states Tubbergen. “Another unintended consequence.”
Dennis Tubbergen has been in the financial industry for over 25 years and has his corporate offices in the USA Wealth Management Building in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan. Tubbergen is CEO of USA Wealth Management, LLC and has an online blog that can be viewed at http://www.dennistubbergen.com. His weekly talk show The Everything Financial Radio Show is simulcast on two Michigan metro stations and also airs to over 600,000 financial advisors, with recent podcasts available at http://www.everythingfinancialradio.com.
The opinions expressed herein are those of the writer and not necessarily those of USA Wealth Management, LLC. This update may contain forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements as to future events that involve various risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual events or results to differ materially from those that were forecasted. Therefore, no forecast should be construed as a guarantee. Prior to making any investment decision, individuals should consult a professional to determine the risks, costs, benefits and fees associated with a particular investment. Information obtained from third party resources is believed to be reliable but the accuracy cannot be guaranteed.
Dennis Tubbergen Shows Us More Government Unintended Consequences
Financial advisor takes some excerpts from his new book to show us how the results of Government intervention do not always give the results that were anticipated.