Tonight I'm Proud To Be An American

[georgie_boy]

Danno
 
The Esquire class??
 
That's a one p/up Tele isn't it???      LOL

[dannobasso]

Those Esquires can be butterscotch, these Esquires drink scotch. (Usually the highly aged single malt variety.)

[davr35]

That would be ?0.017 for you Georgie Boy

[georgie_boy]

Danno
Nothing better than a 30 year old Lagavulin, or Laphroaig!!!
Sheer bliss!!!
 
David
 
have we been devalued yet again??
Nothing would surprise me in this God forsaken country
 
George

[lbpesq]

George:
 
You wrote: What is happening in America is about to happen here in the UK.  What gives?  Is Obama about to be crowned the new Queen of England?  Boy, I new he was charismatic, but WOW!!!  lol
 
Danno:  
 
Redistribution scheme?  Personally, and I've been saying this for over a year now: the pessimist in me expects Obama to prove that a black man can be every bit as much a crappy president as a white man can be.  For everyone's sake, I sure hope I'm wrong.  If I were King?  At a minimum, I'd take steps to restore the foundation of the middle class.  This class (or what's left of it) has taken the biggest hit over the last eight years.  I don't believe in giving all the breaks to the rich and expecting it to trickle down.  We need a lot more than redistribution of wealth, we need a redistribution of priorities.  We need to recognize the true value of traditionally low paying jobs and services, such as teaching, social services, etc., and provide more of a reward to attract more and better people to the these endeavors.  It makes no sense at all that Barry Zito can earn $5000 for each pitch he throws, Kobe Bryant can earn well over $100,000 for each game he plays while people doing truly beneficial work for society make dog poop.
 
The really radical change I would make was mentioned by Charles, above.  I first heard this idea from Rep. Tom Campbell when he ran against Diane Feinswine in the California senate primary a few years back.  Abolish income tax, shut down the IRS, flush the whole bureaucracy down the toilet.  Put a 20% sales tax on everything.  Only exempt food, medicine, and the cost of housing up to a specified average.  How much each person contributes depends on how much they spend.  You want to get more stuff from this society?  Then pay more of a share.  No paperwork, no collection hassles, no audits, no cheating.  Simple:  You spend, you pay.  Period.  
 
In addition I'd institute national health care at affordable rates.  Practically every other developed country has it.  The difference?  Their doctors don't own as many boats as ours do (see post above about capitalism maturing into a cancer).  BUT THIS IS SOCIALISM!!! some will cry out!  Guess what, we have already socialized lots of things in this country.  Roads and highways, infrastructure, education, garbage collection, mass transit, etc.  And it still hasn't caused my 13 year old to grow a Stalin mustache!
 
And oh yes, Glenlivet straight up with a water back.  I also enjoy Saffire Gibsons (though only one drink at a sitting, and even then only once or twice a month, if that.  I more commonly enjoy far healthier substances - and don't even get me started on that issue!)
 
This has really turned into the Truckin' Thread, as in What a long strange trip its been.  Love you all.
 
Bill, tgo
 
(Message edited by lbpesq on November 09, 2008)

[davr35]

Sorry per todays exchange rates that would be ?0.012667 for you Georgie

[3rd_ray]

People talk about ?this administration? and the last 8 years as if we lived in a utopia before Bush got elected. The fact is that things haven?t been all that different from the way they were before. What is unprecedented is the outright and irrational hatred that so many people have for anything associated with Bush and the complete lack of objectivity that most of the press has shown over the last 8 years, and especially over the last 8 months. Now Obama is going to come in and solve the world?s problems? Whatever happened to ?We won?t get fooled again?? We did.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P36x8rTb3jI
 
And yes our path towards socialism started a long time ago, but that doesn?t mean that we should embrace it.  
 
Mike

[3rd_ray]

[keavin]

I dont know how many african-american guys are in this club but i'm one & proud of my african heritage and if you dont like the fact that there's Black Power Running the white house then you should post your Racist cartoons on some Hitler web site and lets keep this club music friendly!!!  

[precarius]

I don't understand. How is the cartoon racist?

[3rd_ray]

If Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Michael Steele, or Thomas Sowell was just elected president, I would be proud too. This has nothing to do with race.
 
I'll even congratulate Obama for being the first black president. It's about time we had someone other than an old white man as president. I just think Obama's the wrong guy for the job, by far.  
 
Mike

[keavin]

well then why didn't you run for president as the next best white man!!!

[jalevinemd]

Bill,
 
I've never gotten emotional on this board but this is a very personal topic. I don't care about the medical practices in other countries...I live here. With all due respect, I don't have a boat. What I do have is the rest of my $150,000 medical school loans and a nearly $70,000 malpractice insurance premium each year because of the completely ridiculous medical-legal environment in this country. I saw our neurosurgeon leave because he could lower his nearly $150,000/year premium by limiting his practice to one hospital. I've seen Ob/gyns and other specialists move to Wisconsin and Indiana where the premiums are lower.
 
Let me put something in perspective. People expect doctors to be perfect and procedures to be flawless. Say what you will...that's the bottom line. It's one of the few things where there's no tolerance for bad outcomes. I've seen and heard of the most ridiculous malpractice suits over the years. One day I'll have to deal with it personally. Taking out the wrong kidney is malpractice. Missing a vague 3mm cancer on a mammogram that some expert witness can point out to a jury in retrospect is not. I've seen true malpractice. I'm not saying it doesn't exist.
 
In addition to the procedures I perform, I read close to 10,000 studies a year. If I had 3 blatant misses that resulted in lawsuits, I'd still be practicing with 99.97% accuracy. Yet, I'd most likely lose my insurance coverage and not be able to practice medicine anymore. A baseball player who has a lifetime batting average of 400 would be in the hall of fame. With those stats, I'd be in prison.  
 
I work long days, nights and weekends. I'm on call 24/7 every third week, up all night one day a week, not including emergency calls the other 6. I have the stress of people lives and health in my hands everyday and the looming fear of lawsuits when and if bad things happen. For this I expect to be compensated appropriately and so do most people I know.  
 
Medical expenses in this country can be controlled and care provided to the under-served by ways other than simply cutting Medicare reimbursements (yet again) and slashing doctors salaries. I hope President Obama believes this as well.
 
(Message edited by jalevinemd on November 09, 2008)

[lbpesq]

Jonathan:
 
Sorry if you took my post personally.  I have no problem with people being compensated more if their work required more training and experience, or if they have more responsibility on their shoulders.  And I certainly agree that the civil legal system is out of control and causes immeasurable problems that radiate though every walk of life where people fear being sued.  But please explain to me how it is reasonable that the 10 minute MRI performed on my back cost $2500?  Is it reasonable the the xrays cost an uninsured person $650, yet only cost me $82 because I have insurance - bear in mind, the $82 wasn't my co-pay - I had yet to reach my deductable, but the place charges incredibly different prices to those with and without insurance.  Or how my late brother's 6 hour brain surgery should cost $750,000? Obviously, the amounts charged bear no relation to the services provided, but rather to the how much can we get mentality, or thats how it seems to me.
 
Bill, tgo

[jalevinemd]

Bill,
 
I was just venting. I am scared about where this money is going to come from. We very narrowly dodged another Medicare reimbursement cut only a few months ago. My salary would have gone down 15% overnight.  The gov't realizes that Medicare will be broke in a few years at this rate, so the easiest solution is simply to cut doctors payments.
 
Regarding the MRI, most of the charge is the technical component which goes to the hospital or imaging center. Most radiologists, unless they own the equipment, don't see a dime of that. We'll probably get between $125 and $175 for the interpretation (and all of the risk!)  As for the overly inflated medical charges, here's one reason for them. We can charge  whatever we want. Insurance (particularly Medicare) will only pay so much. As ridiculous as it sounds, we need to inflate the charges in hopes that some self-payers (who actually pay) and certain insurance companies will pay those charges in full to offset what we lose in Medicare, Medicaid and the uninsured who pay nothing. That's only one explanation. So, in those respects, the haves are paying more to cover the have nots. Granted that should disappear if everyone becomes a have. The question becomes...where does the money come from to make sure everyones got adequate health coverage.