Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Why China Will Soon Own The United States

I had lunch today with an old acquaintance. She has worked as an R.N. for 22 years in a private hospital locally. In those 22 years she has supported her family nicely , had plenty of vacation time, and built a nice home in the country.

She told me today that she was going to work as a nurse in a federal facility. The job will almost exactly mirror her present position and responsibilities--actually it appeared to her to be a much easier position. Then lowering her voice, she admitted, "They're going to be paying me over $10,000 more for the same position, and about double the benefits!"

I'm fairly certain she didn't see the irony in all of this. But I did. Something is terribly wrong with the direction of the country when an equivalent publicly funded job pays that much more than the same position in the private sector. If it isn't unsustainable, it at the very least is unbalanced greed.


7 comments:

Robin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Bruce, If your R.N. friend expects that her duties will be the same in a Federal hospital as in a private one, she goes to her new work under a false impression. If you will consider who is in the population of patients eligible to seek care at a Federal hospital, the illnesses and injuries will be far worse than in the general population. Also, there is a shortage of nursing staff so competition is keen to acquire staff, though that keeness dulls in retention practice. The excess is not waste in expenditures for care but in the defense budgets and the recklessness of politicians who have taken this country to war; it is in the greed of bankers and financiers who profited while this country sank in economic chaos. The greed is not in your friend, or your wife, the nurse [though I am sure you did not intend to imply they are] it is in the peculiarly successful control exercised by individuals who would not have lunch with a carpenter or with the carpenter's Son. You are correct that it's greed but it is not the worker who is wrecking this country. Perhaps you might do well to learn a bit of Mandarin? I'm sure you have a scholar in your fold who can assist. Best wishes!

Anonymous said...

To speak Chinese is not a new suggestion; in the 1960s Tom Lehrer suggested in in a song on Werner v Braun:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_849563&v=TjDEsGZLbio&feature=iv

A few other songs may amuse you and sound just a bit like de ja vu - all over again:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRLON3ddZIw&feature=related

Enjoy - I hope!

Anonymous said...

NPR offers a morning news program Morning Edition; you may be listening as I type but if it is not a morning ritual, you might consider it. It keeps me well informed. Two features this morning that touch on your fiscal concerns:

http://www.npr.org/2011/02/18/133809150/2012-the-year-of-the-billion-dollar-campaigns

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=133027242

Partial story : Action on Friday includes votes on a proposal to block federal aid to Planned Parenthood, bar the Pentagon from spending taxpayer money to sponsor NASCAR race teams, and reverse a proposed Obama administration rule that seeks to crack down of for-profit colleges and vocational schools.

Best wishes!

Bruce Gee said...

Amazing how many people named Anonymous are showing up here. I have no idea where to begin.

First, if you are going to sign in Anonymously, I find it creepy that you refer to my family members. Please just stop.

I guess I am being presumptuous by thinking that my friend, who has 30 years in as an R.N. in a variety of capacities, can evaluate her new job position better than you can, Ms. Anonymous (Mr.? Missus?). My apologies.

It isn't the greed of the individual worker I object to--I am personally happy that my friend is getting a plum job (Oops. She ignorantly THINKS she's getting a plum job, sorry!). It is a system that has become unbalanced toward public sector jobs--which do not in fact derive from the creating of wealth but only suck up what wealth is created by others--over those of the private sector. How do we address this problem? Easy, just force the private sector to compete with the plum jobs (Ooos. There I go again) in the public sector.

I'll assume that isn't your solution.

I agree that military spending is just like all public sector spending--subject to corruption primarily because there are no market forces truly in play. I won't agree that the wars we are in, expensive as they may be, are what is the root cause of our fiscal problems. Don't buy it. The military is one of the few areas the federal government actually has real responsibility for. Green jobs, buying car companies, stimulating the economy? Not so much. I have a feeling we'll just have to disagree on that point.

One more Anonymous comment about my family and you get banished, pal.

I listen to NPR now and then, but prefer a local talk show, Outside The Box, with Mitch Henck. He's the New Radical: a Moderate.

Anonymous said...

Point of information: You wrote...'if you are going to sign in Anonymously, I find it creepy that you refer to my family members. Please just stop.' No family member is mentioned - or if referred to, you identify them in your blog. You are welcome to ignore my comments, no matter how gently intentioned I may mean them. All of the links, for the most part, are meant to amuse you. And there are more than one 'anonymi' responding to your comments. Via con Dios!

Anonymous said...

And if it needs to be written, I admire and respect your family...the ones who walk on two legs.