Physician ego, insecurity or what?

With the aging population in Florida many of us frequent physicians more then we like. I note something about many of them. Many appear to be insecure. A recent example: I questioned a local urologist about the value of doing a PSA (prostatic specific antigen) test which is used as an indicator for prostate malignancy. My question was posed because of what I read while conducting research on the subject. The physician responded "I went to medical school for eight years and should know what I am doing". I think a better response would have been to explain why it is justified and not take a defensive position. This attitude appears to be consistent with quite a few physicians. I'm not sure whether they feel a sense of superiority, that they think the patient is incapable of understanding, or that their time is too valuable to "waste" answering a question.

Physicians would improve their relationships with patients and go a long way toward reducing their liability exposure by being more communicative and showing more patient concern and understanding.

Inflation, recession or both?

It is interesting to see that our Fed has changed its policy of the last two years and decided that inflation is no longer its primary concern. It has just lowered the discount rate and most likely will lower the fed funds rate as the mortgage and financial markets worsen. Apparently it has decided that a recession or worse was much more likely in view of the sub-mortgage markets failure, its impact on the economy and the loss in liquidity in our financial markets.

China has recognized the potential problem of inflation and has just said it will raise its benchmark deposit and lending rates as part of its efforts to stabilize inflation expectations and control credit. The one-year Yuan lending rate will rise 0.18 percentage points to 7.02% and the one-year Yuan deposit rate will increase 0.27 percentage points to 3.60%. The increases recently took effect.

The Chinese government appears to be more responsible in management of its financial assets and control of its economy then here at hme. The massive deficit spending and budget deficits we incurred in the past and are incurring are difficult to recover from without having significant problems in the future . A severe recession, or worse, is in the cards. It is jsut a matter of time.

A prospective on paranoia..

Many are talking about terrorists and the terrorist threat and a general paranoia is setting in. The threat is real but we should differentiate between threats to our national security and threats to individual citizens. The threat of terrorism to individuals is significantly less then compared to the risks we encounter every day. Every year the average American has about one chance in 7,000 of being killed in a motor vehicle accident, and a one chance in 18,000 of being murdered. Compare that to approximately one chance in 600,000 of dying at the hands of terrorists. We need to be more concerned about getting safer cars and driving more safely then the terrorist threat.

Iraq... When will reason prevail?

We continue to lose more of our military every day. We are forcing our troops into dangerous positions in the middle of a sectarian and civil war.

We have trained Iraqi military but their forces still aren't assisting with the security that is so desperately needed. We are continuously training and arming the Sunni military but the Sunni insurgents we have trained are fighting us now. We are also arming and training regional sects and tribal groups throughout Iraq with the hope that they will fight the terrorists. These are the same groups that we once fought and will most likely fight again.

The two most famous turncoats we supported in the past were Saddam Hussein and bin Laden. The Shiites don't like us arming the Sunnis; but why should they have? The Iraqi government is no closer to agreeing to any political reconciliation and is in fact further apart.

The longer we stay in Iraq the more troops we will lose. There is no resolution that can be inforcedd by our occupation. The sooner we withdraw from Iraq the better and the fewer troops we will lose....

A sad day for America

Any dictatorship must control the news media. A giant step toward that objective has recently occurred. The Murdoch News media complex has taken action to gain control of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). The Journal will end up as the same biased, sensationalistic news as the Fox network. Control of the Washington Post, the WSJ and many other news media around the world will make it much easier for government to bias and control the masses. I have empathy for the staff of the Journal and for the loss of integrity and independence they have demonstrated for the last 100 years. Money has once again proven to be the controlling factor in decision making. I, and many others, have stated that this action will result in the the cancellation of subscriptions.

Just compensation and the economy...

Monetary compensation at a level commensurate with hard work and productivity is justified but excessive compensation such as many CEOs and corporate management personnel are receiving when their companies are either losing money or fail to pay dividends is not justified. The level of compensation should be based on performance and not solely position. A more equitable distribution of profits (a corporate or nation's wealth) should be based on performance for all who produce effectively and efficiently. A fair and equitable distribution is a prerequisite to maintaining a healthy economy, a content electorate, and our nations's stability. None of these prerequisites are being satisfied now.