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Robert Samuelson, in a recent Newsweek article, complains that Obama’s “stimulus” is “stunted”. He makes several points: according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) much of the spending will not come until 2010 or later; again, according to CBO, for some projects, like the electronic health records, the progress will be slow, hence of very little help as stimulus; third, it is too little help for state governments, according to Center on Budget and Business Priorities (CBBP); and finally, he says that the bill Obama signed was very political. My first problem are his sources. The CBO is an analyst group who take numbers and make estimates. The are neither prominent economists nor political experts. They make estimates based upon assumptions, and they assume that the proposed actions will take a long time. Their assumption is unwarranted. CBBP is no different, they are analysts, not project experts, and their judgments are based upon the information provided them, and that information does not come from the project’s planners.

Let us take the electronic health records plan. It will take as long as Obama’s people decide it will take. There is a current program already working extremely well in the Veterans Administration. The VA system has computerized health records, inventory, and instant connection to orders for medical tests and prescriptions. After a brief review by computer experts, the entire country could have electronic health records in less that a year. All we must do is copy what works.

Samuelson has sufficient training to realize that the key element in any economic stimulus is confidence. Credit is not flowing well enough because wealthy investors are afraid of losing more money. When they are confident they are willing to take risks on loans. Samuelson, despite any “good intentions” is, of course, helping to undermine any confidence that could be gained from Obama’s effort.