Litigating Litigation

Good Evening Everyone,

Well it is no great secret that we professionals in the field of medicine are no great fans of attorneys. If one has been in medicine for any length of time he or she has had the nightmare of having been deposed or ordered to testify in a medical case brought about by an attorney whose only interest is putting money in his or her pocket.In the State of Illinois we are in serious need of Tort Reform. We are having an extremely difficult time keeping specialty physicians in our state. Ob/Gyn, Neurosurgeons, and anesthesiologist are fleeing our state in large numbers. Why? Because they simply cannot afford the malpractice insurance required to continue practicing.

Our legal system has allowed justice to take a back seat to profit. Lawyers are not out to seek the truth, but to obtain as much compensation for their client and for themselves as possible. Attorneys have caused a trend in our society that absolves individuals of their responsibilities. If a person drives off the road because he fell a sleep at the wheel, he will try to sue the drug company that produced the cold medicine that he took that made him drowsy. A pregnant woman who drinks, smokes, and takes drugs has a baby with a birth defect or the pregnancy is terminated as a result of her lifestyle, she will blame the doctors caring for her. These cases are real and are just a small taste of the ridiculous litigations that are clogging up our court system. I know that I don’t have to go into great detail about all that is wrong with our legal system as you are already aware of the disgusting levels in which some attorneys will sink.

I have often thought about how we could change this system of injustice. I firmly believe that attorneys should not be allowed to receive a percentage of the monies that are awarded ‘victims’. Often times, when a client wins a case the attorney receives more of the compensation than the client. This is especially true in Class Action Lawsuits. If we could make it so that attorneys charge a client by the amount of work that they had to put into a case, then I think you would see a great reduction in the number of cases that are filed. In addition, attorneys and clients who brings suit and lose their case should be responsible for paying the legal fees and time lost of the defendant whom they are suing.

I also believe that an attorney and the client who knowingly brings forth a frivolous or erroneous lawsuit should be prosecuted for abusing the legal system. These lawsuits should be considered criminal and contemptuous of the court.The unfortunate truth in the business world especially in the business of medicine, is that our cost for product or care is markedly elevated to cover the cost of lawsuits. You and I pay the price for these attorneys who are out to make a quick dollar. These bottom feeding attornys are making a mockery of our judicial system.

I have been blessed in that I have only had to testify in court twice and neither case involved a patient that I was treating. They were procedural matters that involved appropriate management of a patient by another provider.

Even so, testifying in court is difficult and one walks away feeling harassed and accused. It is an embarrassment for our legal system to allow this type of fleecing to go on. In England, they have underwent significant tort reform. Even if a client does win his or her case, the law imposes a ceiling on the amount of monies that can be collected. This has helped to reduce the number of cases brought before the courts.I believe that we need a serious overhaul of our system of justice. If we continue down this path of attorney unaccountability then we will eventually drive researchers, physicians, and many businesses out of their trade.The courts should be institutions that protect us, not to punish honest, law abiding citizens who are doing nothing more than earning an honest wage and delivering a quality product.

I hope you are all well.

God Bless,

Jeff

Education: Who's Leaving Our Children Behind?

Public Education:

It is no secret that our public system of education has a tarnished reputation. There are no shortages of reasons as to why this perception exists. Our high school graduation rates are at an all time low, our children’s academic scores are tanking, and young people are entering the work world lacking the necessary educational tools needed to succeed.

Early in the Bush administration our educational system was given the ‘No Child Left Behind’ directive. This was an unfunded mandate that required our schools to put our children through a series of test. The goal was not to necessarily evaluate our children but to assess the quality of education that our children are receiving. The idea is that if students score well than the schools must be doing a good job. If children tested poorly than something must be wrong with the school.

Now, this type of program seems, on the surface, to make sense, but in reality the ‘No Child Left Behind’ is a monumental failure. Here is why:

Our public school systems may not be a model of productivity or efficiency; however, they are by and large doing a great job of providing the quality education that our children need. The ugly and politically incorrect truth, which no one wants to address, is that our children are doing poorly in school not because of ineffective teachers or because of an inadequate academic curriculum. No, the real truth is that our children are failing because we as parents are failing. We are failing to be partners with our children’s teachers and as a result our children are paying the price.

When children do poorly in school we tend to blame someone and all too often we blame the school system or the teachers. Well, this is misplaced blame. Our teachers are there everyday providing a quality education and working diligently to develop young minds. The problem is that our children come home to disinterested parents. There is an old saying that says, ‘Teaching is performed at school, learning is done at home.’ If a child goes home and he or she does not have a parent to supervise their homework studies or to provide educational guidance than that child will not consider education to be a priority in their lives. As a result, his or her school work goes undone and test scores drop.

I feel very comfortable in saying that children who fail in school have parents who are failing their children. It is not the schools sole responsibility to impress upon our children a good work ethic. Creating and developing academic skills is first, the responsibility of the parents. If you have a child that comes home and you have no idea of weather or not your child has homework or if you have a child in school and you are not on a first name basis with his or her teacher, than you are failing your child.

My wife taught high school and one of her biggest frustrations were that the only parents who would come to parent teacher conferences were the parents of the children who were doing well in school. The children who were failing and whose parents needed to be at the parent teacher conferences the most, would consistently fail to show.

Our school systems are doing a great job of supplying our children with a quality education. But if you think that the entire job of educating your child falls on the shoulders of the teachers than you are wrong and you are a failing your child.

It simply does not make sense that in any one class room the majority of children do well and achieve passing grades, while a smaller percentage fail. If we have the majority of children passing then why are the others in the same classroom failing? The answer is this: Failing students are not living up to their responsibilities of paying attention in class and doing their homework. Parents of these failing students are not ensuring that their children are completing their work and are not around for their child when he or she needs help. In fact, often times these parents have absolutely no idea of what is going on in their child’s academic life. They never come to school to talk to the teacher. They never volunteer to participate in school programs and they simply fail to understand that it is their parental duty to help educate their own child.

Being a parent of a school age child is an awesome responsibility. We as parents need to be incredibly proactive in our children’s school system. We need to know the specifics about our child’s school day. We need to devote time, everyday, to helping and ensuring that our children’s homework is completed. And we need to stop complaining about the quality of our schools and start being a supporter of the institutions that are working so hard to educate our children.

As always, our government response to declining graduation rates and poor academic performance is to start a new program to ‘fix’ the problem. It is politically incorrect to tell the truth, which is that parents basically are not engaged in the education of their child.

Jeff

Taxing our Patience...

Good Evening Everyone,

Tonight I would like to address the topic of taxes. When you earn a paycheck the government takes a portion of it via taxes. Then when you spend you paycheck the government again taxes your purchases via sales tax. Then when you decide to save and invest your money, the government will take more money from your interest through taxes. When you purchase your house you will continue to pay taxes on your property even if you own your house outright. If you desire to hand down your property and assets to your children, the government taxes this inheritance. The truth is that we are being taxed to our limit. The government has decided that they are better able to spend your money than you.

I researched the cost that it takes to run the IRS and it is apprx. 12-15 billion dollars a year. Billions of dollars to simply collect your money. It is unbelievable.

So, I started doing some calculations as it pertains to taxing the citizens of the United States. We have over 300 million people in the U.S. Let's say that 200 million of our citizens are working. The average salary in our country is appx. $35,000. Some stats say it is higher while others say it is a little lower, so, let us split the middle and use $35,000 dollars as our calculation starting point.

If our government would abolish the IRS and implement a 23% across the board flat tax with no loop holes and no deductions. Every person and business pays 23% then we would have a family tax burden of $8,050 a year. When you multiply this collected tax times 200 million our government would collect 1.61 trillion dollars simply on the flat tax. Now this doesn't really consider large businesses and coorporations who use tax loop holes to get out of paying their fair share.

This year our federal budget is around 3 Trillion dollars. But if you look at where our tax dollars are going and if you calculate the taxes that people and businesses shield from the tax man, we would be able to collect over 2 trillion dollars.

The government's responsibility is to come up with a budget that operates within the taxes collected. There are numerous programs that you as taxpayers are funding that have absolutely no benifit to the operation and functioning of our government. Our legislative and executive branches need to learn how to live within a stream lined budget.

It seems that our government has the approach that we all work for them. That is backward thinking. The government is suppose to work for us. Our government is to keep us safe from all enemies foreign and domestic and provide for certain interior structures like the interstate system, police, and fire departments. Most programs outside of these two mandates can be eliminated thus, cutting cost.

I would like to say that enough is enough. We are tired of our hard work and income being stolen from us so that the government can spend recklessly. I believe a flat tax with no exemptions for anyone or any business should be implemented and government spending needs to be drastically reduced. I have faith that the American people can spend their money much more efficiently than the goverment.

I pray that you are well,

God Bless,

Jeff

Social Responsibility...

Good Evening Everyone,
Like you, I have been watching my mutual funds, stocks, and retirement portfolio tank. It seems that big business has been unable to manage their affairs appropriately and now our government has to step in and stop the bleeding.

Now, I am not in favor of governmental intervention into private business. I believe in the Capitalist Economic Model of allowing the market place determine the success or failure of a business. I believe that we should allow these struggling companies to fail. This would allow another company to step up and do the job with more efficiency. Never should we allow our government to own or have a majority share in any business venture. It is not our governments job to compete in the market place. It is also inappropriate for our government to decide which business receives government funding and which will not. It stinks of socialism and is a dangerous path that ends in an all powerful govenrment and a weak economic structure.

With all of this said, I believe that we as Americans have to take a large part of the responsibility for the economic crisis that faces us. Ever since the end of W.W.II, American's have prided themselves on living well. Suburbs were built in record numbers; job opportunities were plentiful, and people started making a good living. With this prosperity, we grew and flourished as a society. With profitable economic fortunes we started to believe that we were entitled to a certain standard of living. We believed that everyone should have a house and a car and a stable income.

During the three decades after W.W.II, Americans were, for the most part, able to live comfortably with a one income family. However, as the 1970's and 80's rolled around, Americans started develop a taste for luxuries that one income could no longer afford. We believed that each family should have a nice house, two cars, nice furniture, top of the line electronic equipment, etc... During this period, companies started targeting children to buy products that they really didn't need. But with prosperity, our parents purchased these things for us and as a result we started to believe that we were entitled to this increasingly luxurious lifestyle.

As the 1980's came to an end, credit card companies started to mass market their product. Large financial institutions like Bank of America started issuing Visa's and Mastercards to almost anyone who would apply. This extension of credit was the start of our decline. With this newly acquired credit, American's started purchasing things that they simply could not afford. Families were going into huge debt. Families could no longer afford to live on one income and they were increasingly finding it difficult to live on two incomes.

As we went through the 90's, lending institutions started to extend mortgages to families who really weren't qualified to incur such a debt. Families purchased homes that were way out of their price range. Both parents were forced to go to work, which left children to be raised in daycares and after school programs flourished. Many of these families soon realized that they were in over their heads and the financial strain became more than they could bear.
As a result, mortgages went into default, families filed for bankruptcy which meant that credit card companies were left with these individuals unpaid debts, and our economic structure broke down. Individuals could no longer afford the luxuries that they had become so accustomed. Businesses shut down because families lost their purchasing power and as a result, jobs were lost.

Now, we find ourselves sratching our heads and wondering what happened. What happened was that we as individuals have been irresponsible and have made poor economic choices. We can blame banks for giving us credit, we can blame mortgage companies for giving us our overpriced homes, and we can blame our employer because we lost your jobs. But the truth is that, we are too blame for our economic collapse.

It is time that we understand that we need to have a realistic expectation when it comes to our standard of living. I have been to Mexico, Central America, South America, all over Europe, Canada, and to the Polynesian Islands and I found one thing to be consistant in every place I visited. The people of each of these countries lived within their means much more effectively than we Americans. In fact, many of these countries have a healthy disdain for us because they perceive Americans as spoiled rich kids who expect the world on a silver platter. Looking at the amount of resources that we use it is hard to argue with their perception.

Politically we complain that our government is spending too much and we are acquiring too much national debt. But the truth is that we are doing the same thing. Young adults today are wanting to start their married life having everything it took their parents a lifetime to accumulate. This is an expectation that cannot endure. We are responsible for our countries economic woes and we need to face the hard truth that we need to cut back on our standard of living.

Why should it be an exception that a familiy lives within it's financial means and doesn't carry debt? Why is it so difficult for families to wait until they have the money before they purchase something? Why do we insist on immediate gratification?

I believe that if we continue to live with the expectation that we can live above and beyond our means, then the stability of our nations economic structure will be permanently damaged. You need to understand that their are countries who are doing very well at managing their affairs and are accumulating a great deal of wealth. In fact, China is the largest purchaser of our national debt. At anytime they could cash in their bonds and crash our economy. We have given our economic leverage away to another country and we did it willingly with our eyes open.

Financial responsiblity starts with you and me. We are going to have to learn to live within our financial abilities and work to eliminate our debt.

I have faith in the American Spirit and I believe when our backs are to the wall, then we will respond. Why should we have to wait for our backs to be against a wall for us to do the right thing? Let us step up now and control our personal finances. It just makes sense.

I pray that you are all well and thank you for checking in.

Jeff