Can you imagine what cries of indecency we would hear if Wal-Baum's had to go through a third party payer to get their payments? Or, what if the gas stations had to wait on average 2-6 weeks before they got paid for the gas someone bought. And, had to bill the buyer on top of that? We, as physicians and as a society in total, have ALLOWED this to happen. We have cut the throats of our neighbors and friends by trying to save a buck or two shopping at humongous discount stores and foreign auto dealerships who basically support only foreign workers. We have desecrated the true Middle Class by electing politicians whose understanding of global/U.S. economics rivals their understanding of neurosurgery. We have literally taken the remains of the disposable income out of the pockets of Americans and put it in the pockets of the Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, etc. with our wide-open door trade policy. We may as well go ahead and concrete all of our farmland because the American Farmer can no longer compete with Brazil and Mexico and China...all because we, the Middle Class, have been squeezed so tightly we cannot help but try to save a nickle here and a dime there. It is a vicious circle in which our leaders have put us. Soon medicine too will be a job Americans will not do. It is already happening. One cannot defer an income for 12-16 years and then hope to make it up and support a family in today's medical environment.
Leslie, who promises to get off this soapbox
