Let's talk about your job...

[surfpup]

Then again, maybe I'm just a grumpy old man who got an excellent education from both the public and private schools

 

Well, yeah.

 

My own education (a mix of public and university "laboratory" type schooling) was somewhat less than stellar at times. Fortunately I had a lot of good books at home and parents who were interested in making me think. I try to do the same for my students.

 

However, being in this for as long as I have I can assure you that while there may have been rumblings beforehand, NCLB resulted in a nightmare of assessment and accountability that hobbles my teaching rather than improves it. I spend way too much of my time "assessing" and too little time teaching. And by mentioning NCLB, I am not pegging it politically to any single administration or party. All are complicit! However, I am always amazed that some of the same folks who complain about big government and excessive regulation often support legislation that hobbles public education.

[milod]

Surf...

 

In a lotta places I think you're 110 percent on it.

 

OTOH, I've seen horrid so-called schools that couldn't teach a dog how to heel.

 

Then politics gets involved, and the response is to set up bureaucracies. I guess that's better than revolution, but my figuring is that "we" have so many conflicting messages and priorities from our current political leaders that what you and I'd prefer isn't likely.

 

m

[surfpup]

Surf...

 

In a lotta places I think you're 110 percent on it.

 

OTOH, I've seen horrid so-called schools that couldn't teach a dog how to heel.

 

Couldn't agree more. Don't even get me started on the quality of teachers in today's schools!

 

But we let the bad apples ruin the barrel. I hate when that happens. Gotta be another way. Top loading it with a bunch of administrivia is not the answer.

[FennRx]

I was placed at a locale 45 miles from home and was told I'd be transferred within 6 months. Instead I spent almost 6.5 years there. And while I loved my co-workers, the client base was nothing but FSA and they killed my faith in humanity. My 401k went from $3.25:1 down to 1:1. My insurance went from a $400 family deductible to a $1500 per person deductible. And thanks to a certain law, my wife is no longer on my insurance, so she lost her doctors. And our premiums took a big hike to boot.

 

My favorite part though was when I was robbed. That rocked.

 

All in all though, I'm doing pretty well.

[Bender 4 Life]

my job is good.....pay is good for this area....good benefits.....only complaint is the never ending extreme physical labor, heavy lifting, and spending half my shift with either a sledgehammer, or a mini-sledge in my hand.....i'm 50 and it's kept me in shape, but I can't do it forever.

still beats the furnace operator job I left for it 7.5 yrs ago(same company).

been w/my employer 29 yrs this past Feb. so I can basically walk around naked as long as my job gets done........come & go as I please....set my own hrs. etc.

[DanvillRob]

Dang, I am impressed..,15% is relative, 6 figures or less?....if you don't mind me asking.

 

 

Riff, it isn't about my salary, it was posted just to show that there still are GREAT jobs in America.

 

I'd like to say I was very smart to have gone into my line of work and with this company...but the truth is,

I was just lucky. I hired on at Peterbilt back in the 60's as an 'assembler'. worked my way up to a General

Foreman....spent 11 years there, (minus the 2 years when I got drafted), then went to MACK trucks as a Foreman

(HUGE money, but the hours were long). MACK closed their West Coast factory, so I called a friend who worked

here.... he got me on here in 1981.... hired on as a Supervisor, then became Superintendent, then QA Manager, then Field Service Manager,

now Executive Director..... and we were sold back in 2007. The original family was fantastic to work for, but the new family.....

well, what can I say? I look forward to each morning sitting right here in my office.

[badbluesplayer]

I just retired and I was going to say something, but by the time I got through rolling my eyes at the same ol' whining, I decided to hammer y'all who are being babies instead. Blaming others for life's ups and downs is one key to a lifetime of misery. That has nothing to do with my job, but blaming others for your misery has nothing to do with y'alls' jobs either.

 

You guys with the BS about changes in health insurance and the changes in premiums - y'all don't know what you're talking about any more than you ever do. I shopped my policy this year just like I have for twenty years and the premiums went down 40 percent this year for slightly better coverage. Being full of it is easier than having shopped commercial health insurance policies for 20 years and actually knowing what you're talking about. But y'all don't hold yourselves to a very high standard of honesty, do you?

 

I just retired from my 35 year pro career but I'm too proud to throw in with the misery patrol.

[Aster1]

Glad you could retire Blues and that your Health Ins. policy went down. No one that I've been able to visit with here in Iowa has had anything but steady rising H.I. costs and many tried the Gov. health care to be shocked. My wife & I checked into getting out (she retire me selling off the businesses) and found the Obama care prices to be up close to 45% more than present with crappy deductible & coverage. We have to own something till 65 for Medicare and that will be a fair increase. From all the surveys this is what the majority is seeing as well. Some do better, most do worse.

 

I agree you get mostly what you make and I've never complained about "The Man" even when I wasn't "The Man." All my staff know I'm the first in and by far the last out the door, clean up anything they don't get done or screw up, and have my whole financial future on the line every day. Also, in lean times, the last to draw a paycheck if needed for others to get theirs. Unfortunately, not all that work in and own businesses work that way and I have less respect for them. All owners deserve to hold onto the lions share of the cash as they hold all the risk. However, you don't have to be a _ick as a boss or owner or mistreat people along the way. Some complaints here are crying, but many don't need to be happening at work. For me work is too damn busy & fast paced to have time to play games, esp. nasty ones as a boss, owner or employee/worker. What a waste of time & resources that represents IMHO.

 

Aster

[fortyearspickn]

A topic near and dear to my heart. Just retired 2 years ago. Jumped straight over to Medicare, which some of you may not realize is a few hundred $ deducted straight from you monthly Social Security payment. As she fell off my work policy, my wife had to get coverage -Blue Cross was "best" but outrageously expensive. And, in 2 years, it has gone up nearly 35%. Not that their costs have gone up. They just know they can get away with it. I worked in health care finance nearly 40 years and have seen first hand how the government has screwed up the nation's health care system. Prior to ACA, they owned 40% of the market. For the first 20 years, Medicare and Medicaid paid based on cost. In other words, the more the provider spent, the more they would be reimbursed. A direct incentive to spend more. Then they changed how they paid -the Prospective Payment System fixed a payment for a hospital stay based on 500 different types of cases. The intent was to get hospitals to discharge patients sooner. Problem is -the hospital cannot discharge the patient, only the doctor can. But, doctors were paid more, the longer the patient stayed in the hospital. This pitted the hospital against the doctor. Completely screwed up team work model and made nurses jobs much more difficult. And, this "model" opened up the door for all commercial insurers to pay under a fixed prospective payment system. But, each invented their own methodology, creating an impossible billing scenario for all providers. And, if you billed incorrectly - you could be accused of Fraud. Final note. Being in a career viewed by hospital administration as less critical than caregivers, finance is often at the top of the list when there are lay offs. On one occasion, I had my department of 20 cut in half. I was laid off 4 times. This was all before the impact of ObamaCare will trickle down to patient care. Soon, Canada will have a better healthcare system and we'll be going there.

[Searcy]

 

You guys with the BS about changes in health insurance and the changes in premiums - y'all don't know what you're talking about any more than you ever do. I shopped my policy this year just like I have for twenty years and the premiums went down 40 percent this year for slightly better coverage. Being full of it is easier than having shopped commercial health insurance policies for 20 years and actually knowing what you're talking about. But y'all don't hold yourselves to a very high standard of honesty, do you?

 

 

I knew that was coming. Love hearing day in and day out how much better off I am under ObamaCare than I was without it from folks who have no idea what my premiums are now or what they were before. They have no understanding of how high the new deductibles are or how heavy the new restrictions on FSA'a are. They aren't concerned that the new ObamaCare compliant plan doesn't cover ER visits or specialist coverage until a $6000 deductible is met.

 

I do know two people who have seen improvements in their privet COBRA plans and rates and I'm glad for them. But to assume that means everyone who has a problem with ObamaCare is being dishonest is just mindless, democrat flag waving.

 

I was not able to keep my plan. My wife has not been able to keep her Dr. My premiums have not gone down. They have gone up by 130%. My deductibles have not gone down. They have gone up by 100%. My overall household medical out of pocket has not gone down by $2500 a year.

 

But hey, ObamaCare is great. That's why Obama himself keep delaying it's implementation.

 

Hope'nChange baby...

[milod]

40...

 

I think you hit well on a number of issues, not the least of which was unspoken, that is, "health insurance" hasn't been part of the American economy for ages. Instead, "we" have been buying into, especially through our employers, "health care payment groups." E.g., the individual whose health requires far more ongoing expenses has much of that paid for by other members of the "group."

 

Yes, "insurance" always has been a group risk endeavor, but not for "pre-existing condititions." For example, a shipping company or an automobile driver with a high accident rate will pay a higher insurance rate for accident insurance. In "health care," it's the reverse. It ain't truly insurance.

 

I'm not per se dissing any political perspective on health care, in the U.S. or elsewhere, but I'm utterly convinced that among those of us with jobs of any sort, "we" have a lot of our lives regulated by faceless bureaucracies, public and private, that redefine reality to fit the ongoing health of the bureaucracy.

 

It's not so much Orwell's "1984, but rather his "animal farm" where some animals are more equal than others - and they're usually bureaucrats who manage and add regulation for others to justify their positions rather than create value. In fact, it appears to me that in many cases their function is to alleviate risk to the bureaucracies themselves - hence more bureaucrats and fewer people creating value.

 

As a result, those who create value, usually with increasing rules and frustrations of powerlessness, ain't comfortable.

 

m

[Tman]

I'd like to weight in on 2 subjects with intimate knowledge and of course an opinion.

 

To all of you teachers: My eternal gratitude. I am the product of public education in Arkansas in the 1960's and 70's. After failing to make it big as a rock star, teachers instilled in me the confidence to chase my dreams and shoot big. Teachers also gave me the strategy to get it done once I was inspired to do so. Of course not every teacher was great but those that really got a charge out of influencing a young mind were fabulous. (Also Ronald Reagan's announcement that he was running for President. I thought - Heck if an actor can be president, surely I can get through college.)

 

 

Healthcare in America. I can actually see both sides of the debate. As a provider I get calls every single day asking to circumvent "Obama care" and either do a study for free or a sizable discount. Seems that during the development of the exchanges etc, many private docs were excluded from the plans. While I am on a lot of plans, many patients can't come here. One patient was required to go to Orange county! (far away and with LA traffic, even farther). All of this on top of drastic cuts in payments to providers. Seems insurance companies have pretty powerful lobbies and take a sizable chunk of the pie.

 

On the other hand I was not able to cover my daughter on my insurance plans because of a pre existing condition before. Now she's covered. That's a good thing. I was completely out of pocket before.

[milod]

tman...

 

I know your line of work... but note that my concern is more than "insurance" is a misnomer, another example of the English language being modified to fit conditions. There is no such thing as "health insurance" that I know of in today's U.S. marketplace, at least.

 

There are "health care payment plans" that have operated under various statute controls, but it ain't "insurance" in the sense of your auto insurance. "Obamacare" increases the overall costs of various "healthcare payment plans" in general - including corporate and governmental plans - but then that offsets the expense of ongoing costs for a segment of the population "covered" under the federal law.

 

My theory - and I'm convinced it will prove true - is that "Obamacare" is simply a major effort to so stack things that a single-payer system will be inevitable. Whether that's good or bad I'll leave to others. I'll either be dead or soon will be when it occurs, and for that I'm thankful.

 

But I also think that the single-payer system will greatly affect two things, quality of care and who actually runs the systems of providers. My hunch is that for another generation the overall increasing consolidation of providers (as in any profitable corporate endeavor) will be the case, and that there will be increasing pressure through the single-payer system toward federal ownership of the whole game. It'll be one big Medicaid system with increasing taxes on "the rich" and cuts in care for everyone compared to current.

 

That latter, again, may be up to conjecture in terms of "good" or "bad," but I'd point to the VA and Indian Health Service as examples.

 

After watching the IHS in my part of the country, I'm glad I'll be dead when that's the care everyone receives.

 

m

[heymisterk]

I'd like to weight in on 2 subjects with intimate knowledge and of course an opinion.

 

To all of you teachers: My eternal gratitude. I am the product of public education in Arkansas in the 1960's and 70's. After failing to make it big as a rock star, teachers instilled in me the confidence to chase my dreams and shoot big. Teachers also gave me the strategy to get it done once I was inspired to do so. Of course not every teacher was great but those that really got a charge out of influencing a young mind were fabulous.

 

Thank you for saying that, Tman: That's nice to hear! Most teachers really do try to do their best. There are some bad ones out there for sure, but that's not the majority of us.

 

The Affordable Care Act: I don't understand why this thread took that turn, but hey, this is the Gibson Lounge.

 

I had a nurse girlfriend who hated the ACA.

I know a patient who credits the ACA for saving him from going bankrupt.

So like most things of this nature, your opinion is based largely on how it affects you.

[Tman]

tman...

 

I know your line of work... but note that my concern is more than "insurance" is a misnomer, another example of the English language being modified to fit conditions. There is no such thing as "health insurance" that I know of in today's U.S. marketplace, at least.

 

There are "health care payment plans" that have operated under various statute controls, but it ain't "insurance" in the sense of your auto insurance. "Obamacare" increases the overall costs of various "healthcare payment plans" in general - including corporate and governmental plans - but then that offsets the expense of ongoing costs for a segment of the population "covered" under the federal law.

 

My theory - and I'm convinced it will prove true - is that "Obamacare" is simply a major effort to so stack things that a single-payer system will be inevitable. Whether that's good or bad I'll leave to others. I'll either be dead or soon will be when it occurs, and for that I'm thankful.

 

But I also think that the single-payer system will greatly affect two things, quality of care and who actually runs the systems of providers. My hunch is that for another generation the overall increasing consolidation of providers (as in any profitable corporate endeavor) will be the case, and that there will be increasing pressure through the single-payer system toward federal ownership of the whole game. It'll be one big Medicaid system with increasing taxes on "the rich" and cuts in care for everyone compared to current.

 

That latter, again, may be up to conjecture in terms of "good" or "bad," but I'd point to the VA and Indian Health Service as examples.

 

After watching the IHS in my part of the country, I'm glad I'll be dead when that's the care everyone receives.

 

m

 

Agree Milod. I would expand on that but you, as usual, said it so well that no modification (at least by me) is necessary.

 

 

Misterk, I'll start talking about guitars again, I just can't get enough of that stuff

[Riffster]

 

You guys with the BS about changes in health insurance and the changes in premiums - y'all don't know what you're talking about any more than you ever do. I shopped my policy this year just like I have for twenty years and the premiums went down 40 percent this year for slightly better coverage. Being full of it is easier than having shopped commercial health insurance policies for 20 years and actually knowing what you're talking about. But y'all don't hold yourselves to a very high standard of honesty, do you?

 

I just retired from my 35 year pro career but I'm too proud to throw in with the misery patrol.

 

I am a Group Health Underwriter with 17 years of experience on the field. Wanna give it a try?

 

I wish you were the norm rather than the exception, but it is the other way around. I was NOT against Healthcare Reform until I saw the taxes on if and the impact of it as well.

 

My largest group is 21,000 employees and my smallest is 300 employes, I can tell you all about what's going on including the disgusting amount of taxes that are being forced on business.

 

Obama is simply trying to do too much too fast, changes were needed but not on a weak economy with a President that does not understand business and is simply trying to leave a legacy.

 

I do however have no experience with single policies but I am glad you are benefitted from it, at least somebody is.

[FennRx]

i'm only a healthcare professional.

 

What do I know about healthcare?

[milod]

I think the "let's talk about your job..." thread inevitably would get into the "health care" thing as long as it's mostly U.S. citizens involved. Why? Because most Americans get their "health insurance" - rather group health care payer system - through their employer.

 

One reason folks are not terribly satisfied with their jobs, regardless of employer, is when they feel they are not valued and are simply cogs in a machine and had best learn to live that way or... leave. The increases in health care costs to those folks in the US tend to cut their take-home fairly significantly if they're traditional "middle class" folks. Add the belt-tightening among corporates, increased government regulations that tend to add "nonproductive time" to already-squeezed employees, and you've a guarantee for dissatisfaction.

 

Management studies show that without doubt, for most people whether bricklayers or financiers, it's the work itself that is satisfying. Feelings of micromanagement and little respect from "bosses" (broadly speaking) are the most significant dissatisfiers. In a "ditch digger" example, consider a boss saying, "I expect this ditch (with specifications) completed by quitting time today," then leaving... with a boss who sits in a chair and proceeds to tell you when to swing the pick, how much to shovel, and when to take a deep breath or drink of water. The latter is not the way to increase productivity and the boss should be fired - and if the employees are so bad they can't do what their job really is without a babysitter, they should be fired.

 

The current US economy with new tax and regulation (including "obamacare") concerns added, simply tend inevitably to a concern that individuals are less important than groups - and that itself is not a "satisfier" in general. Few of us are happy feeling we're on our way to being simply a cyborg following the rules as the "borgs" in the Star Trek series.

 

Again, one might argue for or against this or that regulation, etc., but the point is that in no time in history in Anglophone nations in general have there been more laws and regulations, including private corporate regulations whether forced by government or not. At a certain point that tends to make a given calling decreasingly involved with "the work itself" and increasingly involved in following rules that inevitably cut productivity and job satisfaction.

 

m

[Tman]

in no time in history in Anglophone nations in general have there been more laws and regulations, including private corporate regulations whether forced by government or not. At a certain point that tends to make a given calling decreasingly involved with "the work itself" and increasingly involved in following rules that inevitably cut productivity and job satisfaction.

 

m

 

You nailed it.

[Izzy]

 

 

Again, one might argue for or against this or that regulation, etc., but the point is that in no time in history in Anglophone nations in general have there been more laws and regulations, including private corporate regulations whether forced by government or not. At a certain point that tends to make a given calling decreasingly involved with "the work itself" and increasingly involved in following rules that inevitably cut productivity and job satisfaction.

 

m

 

This is SO to the point.

There was a time nurses did their jobs. I am a nurse of modern times. My manager may not say this but it is clear to me that she/my hospital would rather I document things that never occured than for me to do things for my patients and not document.

 

I have SO MUCH charting to do at work that at times I think, "damn it, if I didn't have to chart every little thing from weather I offered the paraplegic water each time I went in to check on him, to weather my patient was asleep when I went to see her etc...I could give an extra bath, I could look over the lab values from the previous days and see if theres a concerning trend, etc..." Here I am sitting on my arse charting like an idiot. Sure, I am happy to do an assesment and document when I told a doctor about a patient concern, but shouldn't it go without saying that I made sure my patient's diaper was changed?

 

I bring this up because it parallels the healthcare system. I imagine three people trying to figure out if someone needs a medication BESIDES the MD and the Pharmacist and I wonder, "who are you to decide?" Delay in care and red tape. Here I am at work, typing most of the night...are you kidding? I can go to court and as long as I typed away how great a nurse I was it won't mater if I never changed a diaper or turned a patient; I am safe and the hospital is happy. That is SO sad.

 

If I could have it my way each state would decide how to do things and better yet...my state would privatize medicine and we would all save money for a rainy day. Maybe then diabetics would think twice about eating pie and an exray would cost what it should logically cost instead of costing some inflated amount that covers the cost of paying burocrats and CEOs and whoever else makes a profit off our misery without actually assisting in curing us.

[milod]

Right on sister...

 

Of course, if you weren't worth the title, you'd love the rules because they protect incompetence.

 

m