Don’t stand too close to me. My blood is boiling after watching a video on You Tube just now, and the heat is liable to burn you. The video is of a representative from Martin Memorial Medical Center in Martin County, FL, testifying before the members of the Florida legislature in April of 2009. The representative, Carol Plato, is sharing her frustration over the costs of healthcare for illegal immigrants – costs that her hospital has been forced to absorb over the years.
For example, one patient, an illegal from Guatemala, was in the hospital from 2001 until 2003, racking up medical bills of over 1.5 million dollars. The hospital eventually spent $30,000 to return the patient, against his will, to his home country. Then the patient’s family sued Martin Memorial, claiming that forcibly returning the patient was “inappropriate.” The hospital spent over a quarter million dollars in legal fees over the next several years before a jury finally ruled in its favor.
The hospital had also been treating another patient from Mexico for over two years. His bills topped 1.5 million as well. Administrators had contacted the Mexican Consulate and US immigration officials repeatedly but had received no help. Federal authorities told them they can do nothing unless a crime has been committed. Apparently, the crime of coming into the country illegally doesn’t count.
The law forces hospitals to treat anyone who comes to their emergency rooms. At the time of Plato’s testimony, Martin Memorial was treating six illegal immigrants who came to the hospital every three days for renal dialysis. It was unlikely the hospital would receive any compensation for its costs in doing so.
These are the stories of just one hospital. I’m sure such stories are being repeated all over the country, particularly in states where illegal immigrants are more numerous. For example, Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, Texas reported that 70% of the women who gave birth in the first three months of 2006 were illegal. Not only do these women seldom pay for their medical bills, but the children born to them are automatically made US citizens as a result of being born on United States soil. As a nation, we are legally obligated to provide education and other services for them for the rest of their lives.
Hospitals and other facilities are sometimes forced to shut down because they cannot continue absorbing the costs of treating people with no insurance and no means of paying for their care. And, of course, much of the cost is passed on to patients who do have insurance, forcing the cost of insurance and health care to go ever higher for the rest of us.
I would not advocate turning away people who are in need of medical care. The answer is to secure our borders. I know that is a huge challenge, but if we don’t do something, we are going to see health care and education costs continue to rise, and we just cannot afford it with our current deficits.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Book Review: Everyone Communicates; Few Connect by John C. Maxwell
Everyone Communicates Few Connect is the title of prolific writer John C. Maxwell’s latest book. Maxwell is an expert on leadership and has trained over 5 million leaders in 126 countries through his organization known as EQUIP. This book deals with relating to the people you want to influence, whether it be one on one, with a small group, or before a large audience. I found the book enjoyable to read, especially since there were many personal anecdotes. Maxwell published part of the book on his blog before it was released so his potential readers could comment on his writing. Many of the reader comments were included in the final book, making it somewhat interactive. I found that interesting.
Maxwell is definitely a people person; he believes in people and wishes to empower them. The message that comes through loud and clear in this book is that communication has to be focused on the other person and not on self. There are many thought-provoking gems throughout the book. I would highly recommend it for teachers, preachers, and anyone who does public speaking. I give this book four out of five stars. The only reason I did not give it five is because it seemed a bit redundant after a while. The book could have been shorter and still had just as much impact.
A copy of this book was supplied to me by Thomas Nelson Publishers for the purpose of review.
Maxwell is definitely a people person; he believes in people and wishes to empower them. The message that comes through loud and clear in this book is that communication has to be focused on the other person and not on self. There are many thought-provoking gems throughout the book. I would highly recommend it for teachers, preachers, and anyone who does public speaking. I give this book four out of five stars. The only reason I did not give it five is because it seemed a bit redundant after a while. The book could have been shorter and still had just as much impact.
A copy of this book was supplied to me by Thomas Nelson Publishers for the purpose of review.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Lies and the Internet
In last week’s column, I urged both Democrats and Republicans to tone down the rhetoric, stick to the facts, and have civil debates about the serious challenges we face as a nation. I also mentioned that people should stop the spread of false and malicious emails. Well, it so happened I was on the receiving end of two such emails this week. I seem to get a lot of those in my inbox, and since most, though by no means all of my friends and family are quite conservative, the vast majority of what I receive is aimed at Obama and the Democrats in Congress.
The first email suggested that Barack Obama never actually attended Columbia University where he claims to have graduated in 1983 before attending Harvard Law School. It said that NO ONE has ever come forward who actually remembers being there with him. Mysteriously, Obama has refused to release his transcript from the school or any of the papers he wrote while in attendance. This dearth of information has led to wild speculation on the part of ultraconservatives. Did he lie about his education? It took me less than three minutes to type “Obama Columbia University” into Google, and right away, I was directed to a web site that debunks urban legends and other falsehoods. It turns out it is true that Obama has never released any papers from his time at Columbia, making it appear that he has something to hide. However, it is NOT true that no one remembers him from his time at the school. Columbia claims him as one of their graduates. A former professor remembers that he easily aced the class he taught in foreign affairs. A school publication contained an article written by Obama. A former roommate has also come forward with information about their time there. And finally, there is no way Obama would have been admitted to Harvard Law School without having graduated from somewhere!
The second email claimed that Obama had cancelled the 2009 National Day of Prayer, held each year by Christians throughout the country, and then sanctioned a National Day of Prayer for Muslims on Capitol Hill. This time I went to www.snopes.com and checked it out. The National Day of Prayer was not cancelled. Obama did decide not to have the public White House ceremony which was held annually during the eight years of the Bush administration. Instead, he signed a proclamation announcing the day of prayer and urged Americans everywhere to pray for their country and leaders. There was never a publicly-sanctioned National Day of Prayer for Muslims. There was a privately organized event for Muslims to pray for America that took place in the nation’s capital in September of 2009. A little something called freedom of speech allows them to do that, just as it allows Christians to gather around the flagpoles in communities all over America on the National Day of Prayer. We Christians had better not try to take that right away from others, because if we do, it will soon be taken away from us.
Frankly, what we know about Obama is enough to worry me – I don’t need people going around making stuff up! I don’t buy all these conspiracy theories and outlandish accusations. There are well-respected conservative journalists like George Will and William Kristol who would be all over these stories if there were anything to them. Occasionally, bloggers do uncover stories that turn out to be true and eventually get picked up by the mainstream media (like the ACORN scandal). Until that happens, it seems to me we should ignore rumors and speculation.
Such falsehoods are spread by members of both political parties. Another email that made the rounds a few years ago claimed that President George W. Bush had the lowest IQ of any president from the past fifty years. This information supposedly came from a study by an organization that does not even exist. It listed the twelve presidents that have served in the past 50 years in their order of IQ. Interestingly, all those with top IQ’s were Democrats, with Bill Clinton having the highest one of all!
I used to just delete these emails, but I am now engaged in a campaign to stamp out ignorance. As soon as I get one, I check it out on sites such as Snopes or www.factcheck.org. Then I send the link to the person who forwarded me the email and suggest that they check out future emails for themselves.
The Internet provides a wealth of valuable information. Unfortunately, it is also the source of rumors and outright lies. We all need to make it our personal responsibility to verify information before we pass it on to others.
The first email suggested that Barack Obama never actually attended Columbia University where he claims to have graduated in 1983 before attending Harvard Law School. It said that NO ONE has ever come forward who actually remembers being there with him. Mysteriously, Obama has refused to release his transcript from the school or any of the papers he wrote while in attendance. This dearth of information has led to wild speculation on the part of ultraconservatives. Did he lie about his education? It took me less than three minutes to type “Obama Columbia University” into Google, and right away, I was directed to a web site that debunks urban legends and other falsehoods. It turns out it is true that Obama has never released any papers from his time at Columbia, making it appear that he has something to hide. However, it is NOT true that no one remembers him from his time at the school. Columbia claims him as one of their graduates. A former professor remembers that he easily aced the class he taught in foreign affairs. A school publication contained an article written by Obama. A former roommate has also come forward with information about their time there. And finally, there is no way Obama would have been admitted to Harvard Law School without having graduated from somewhere!
The second email claimed that Obama had cancelled the 2009 National Day of Prayer, held each year by Christians throughout the country, and then sanctioned a National Day of Prayer for Muslims on Capitol Hill. This time I went to www.snopes.com and checked it out. The National Day of Prayer was not cancelled. Obama did decide not to have the public White House ceremony which was held annually during the eight years of the Bush administration. Instead, he signed a proclamation announcing the day of prayer and urged Americans everywhere to pray for their country and leaders. There was never a publicly-sanctioned National Day of Prayer for Muslims. There was a privately organized event for Muslims to pray for America that took place in the nation’s capital in September of 2009. A little something called freedom of speech allows them to do that, just as it allows Christians to gather around the flagpoles in communities all over America on the National Day of Prayer. We Christians had better not try to take that right away from others, because if we do, it will soon be taken away from us.
Frankly, what we know about Obama is enough to worry me – I don’t need people going around making stuff up! I don’t buy all these conspiracy theories and outlandish accusations. There are well-respected conservative journalists like George Will and William Kristol who would be all over these stories if there were anything to them. Occasionally, bloggers do uncover stories that turn out to be true and eventually get picked up by the mainstream media (like the ACORN scandal). Until that happens, it seems to me we should ignore rumors and speculation.
Such falsehoods are spread by members of both political parties. Another email that made the rounds a few years ago claimed that President George W. Bush had the lowest IQ of any president from the past fifty years. This information supposedly came from a study by an organization that does not even exist. It listed the twelve presidents that have served in the past 50 years in their order of IQ. Interestingly, all those with top IQ’s were Democrats, with Bill Clinton having the highest one of all!
I used to just delete these emails, but I am now engaged in a campaign to stamp out ignorance. As soon as I get one, I check it out on sites such as Snopes or www.factcheck.org. Then I send the link to the person who forwarded me the email and suggest that they check out future emails for themselves.
The Internet provides a wealth of valuable information. Unfortunately, it is also the source of rumors and outright lies. We all need to make it our personal responsibility to verify information before we pass it on to others.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Our Debt - How bad is it?
As a teacher, the class I enjoyed most was senior economics. I took it very seriously, since I knew I had one semester to convey as much information as possible about the very important topic of money. Think about that – five months out of twelve years of school devoted to economics. I always felt it was a travesty that we do so little to educate young people about something that will have such a profound effect on their lives. I spent about half the semester talking to my students about managing their own money, but I also introduced them to economics in general. In a democratic-republic, it is important that people understand how our economy works so we can elect people who will make wise decisions concerning jobs, taxes, and spending. After all, we cannot continue to be a strong country unless we maintain a strong economy.
One of the topics I spent a great deal of time on was debt – both personal debt and public. Young people are known for getting themselves in trouble with that first credit card, and I hoped I could prevent that from happening to my students. But I also warned them about our national debt and tried to help them see that THEY were the ones who would have to deal with it. First I informed them of the size of our country’s indebtedness, which is currently over 12,729,000,000 dollars! That’s TRILLIONS. That is a very big number, and most of us really cannot conceive of it.
A trillion is a million million. Now if I had a million dollars, I would feel very rich. Imagine if I had a million million! Not even Bill Gates can conceive of having so much money!
One trillion seconds is 31,688 years. Western civilization has not even existed for a trillion seconds!
A stack of $1000 bills equal to a trillion dollars would be 67.9 miles high! (Yes, there used to be $1000 bills, with President Grover Cleveland’s picture on them. The highest denomination printed today is the $100 bill.) A stack of one dollar bills equal to a trillion would reach a quarter of the way to the moon!
A trillion barrels of oil would be enough to run the entire world for about 33 years if our level of consumption remained constant.
So you get the idea. A trillion dollars is a whole lot of money! And our country owes over 12 trillion. And it’s even worse than that – much worse. Besides the money we’ve already borrowed, we’ve made promises to pay a lot more money in the future, money we don’t have. We’ve promised to pay social security benefits, Medicare, and federal retiree pensions. The US Treasury Department recently reported that our nation has a staggering $62 trillion in these “unfunded obligations.”
Invariably, when I told my students about our nation’s debt, one of them would say, “But don’t we just owe the money to ourselves? What’s the big deal?” I imagine some adults have a similar misconception. I taught my students that our government owes real money to real people just like them! I explained to them that when the government needs money, it sells treasury bills, notes, or bonds to individuals, corporations, local governments, and foreign investors. These securities are basically IOU’s from the federal government. They must be repaid with interest. As with any other debt, the government will, at some point, have to pay back more than it has borrowed.
Now we all know that there is such a thing as too much debt in our personal finances. But as individuals, we have fewer options for paying debt than the government has. It’s also more difficult for us to continue borrowing. Government securities are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States. As long as our government is stable, treasury bonds should be a very safe investment, so people will continue buying them, thus loaning the government additional money. You and I are only backed by the total value of our assets. Once you’ve run through your bank accounts and sold everything you own to pay your debt, there is nothing left. Unlike the government, you can’t raise taxes or print more money. You’ve reached the limit of your credit-worthiness, and no one reputable is going to loan you money. Your last resort is to declare bankruptcy.
The government does have the ability to raise taxes and print money, so there seems to be no limit to the amount of debt it can accumulate. Of course, there are real problems with both those options, but I’ll save that for a later column.
In the past, some economists have believed that our national debt really doesn’t matter. It’s not like all those treasury securities are going to come due at once. As long as we can pay the interest due on the debt, some people believe the amount of the debt itself is not that important. It’s kind of like when people go buy a car and only worry about the size of the monthly payment without giving much thought to the length of the loan or the total amount to be paid. That’s lousy money management, but people do it all the time.
These days, you will have a hard time finding any knowledgeable person who doesn’t believe our economy is headed for disaster if our debt continues to grow as it has the past few decades. So what is so bad about debt? How much debt is too much? Most importantly, how will our growing debt affect us in the years to come? In future columns, I will attempt to answer those questions in terms that people of all ages and from all walks of life can understand. Only when we understand our economic difficulties will we hold our congressmen’s feet to the fire and demand they make desperately-needed changes.
One of the topics I spent a great deal of time on was debt – both personal debt and public. Young people are known for getting themselves in trouble with that first credit card, and I hoped I could prevent that from happening to my students. But I also warned them about our national debt and tried to help them see that THEY were the ones who would have to deal with it. First I informed them of the size of our country’s indebtedness, which is currently over 12,729,000,000 dollars! That’s TRILLIONS. That is a very big number, and most of us really cannot conceive of it.
A trillion is a million million. Now if I had a million dollars, I would feel very rich. Imagine if I had a million million! Not even Bill Gates can conceive of having so much money!
One trillion seconds is 31,688 years. Western civilization has not even existed for a trillion seconds!
A stack of $1000 bills equal to a trillion dollars would be 67.9 miles high! (Yes, there used to be $1000 bills, with President Grover Cleveland’s picture on them. The highest denomination printed today is the $100 bill.) A stack of one dollar bills equal to a trillion would reach a quarter of the way to the moon!
A trillion barrels of oil would be enough to run the entire world for about 33 years if our level of consumption remained constant.
So you get the idea. A trillion dollars is a whole lot of money! And our country owes over 12 trillion. And it’s even worse than that – much worse. Besides the money we’ve already borrowed, we’ve made promises to pay a lot more money in the future, money we don’t have. We’ve promised to pay social security benefits, Medicare, and federal retiree pensions. The US Treasury Department recently reported that our nation has a staggering $62 trillion in these “unfunded obligations.”
Invariably, when I told my students about our nation’s debt, one of them would say, “But don’t we just owe the money to ourselves? What’s the big deal?” I imagine some adults have a similar misconception. I taught my students that our government owes real money to real people just like them! I explained to them that when the government needs money, it sells treasury bills, notes, or bonds to individuals, corporations, local governments, and foreign investors. These securities are basically IOU’s from the federal government. They must be repaid with interest. As with any other debt, the government will, at some point, have to pay back more than it has borrowed.
Now we all know that there is such a thing as too much debt in our personal finances. But as individuals, we have fewer options for paying debt than the government has. It’s also more difficult for us to continue borrowing. Government securities are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States. As long as our government is stable, treasury bonds should be a very safe investment, so people will continue buying them, thus loaning the government additional money. You and I are only backed by the total value of our assets. Once you’ve run through your bank accounts and sold everything you own to pay your debt, there is nothing left. Unlike the government, you can’t raise taxes or print more money. You’ve reached the limit of your credit-worthiness, and no one reputable is going to loan you money. Your last resort is to declare bankruptcy.
The government does have the ability to raise taxes and print money, so there seems to be no limit to the amount of debt it can accumulate. Of course, there are real problems with both those options, but I’ll save that for a later column.
In the past, some economists have believed that our national debt really doesn’t matter. It’s not like all those treasury securities are going to come due at once. As long as we can pay the interest due on the debt, some people believe the amount of the debt itself is not that important. It’s kind of like when people go buy a car and only worry about the size of the monthly payment without giving much thought to the length of the loan or the total amount to be paid. That’s lousy money management, but people do it all the time.
These days, you will have a hard time finding any knowledgeable person who doesn’t believe our economy is headed for disaster if our debt continues to grow as it has the past few decades. So what is so bad about debt? How much debt is too much? Most importantly, how will our growing debt affect us in the years to come? In future columns, I will attempt to answer those questions in terms that people of all ages and from all walks of life can understand. Only when we understand our economic difficulties will we hold our congressmen’s feet to the fire and demand they make desperately-needed changes.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Let's take the hate out of politics
I don’t know if the editor planned it or not, but I had to chuckle when I turned to the editorial page of last week’s paper. My column was flanked on the right by Jim Davis’ article, “Who are the hateful ones?” and on the left by Jim Fitzgerald’s piece proclaiming, “The Republicans are the hateful ones.” I didn’t laugh long. The truth is, there is plenty of hate on both sides of the aisle. The vitriolic partisanship that divides our nation is no laughing matter. We have serious issues that threaten the economic future of our country and our children, and if we don’t pull together and address those issues in an honest and forthright manner soon, we are in a world of trouble.
As a friend of mine says, politics is not a sporting event, where one team must win while the other loses. We, the people, are not mere spectators sitting in the bleachers, pulling for our favorite team to come out ahead no matter what. News anchors are not sportscasters, just reporting who is ahead in the latest poll. Government is not a game - it is deadly serious, as our leaders must confront a dangerous world and make decisions that will affect every single American for years to come.
I’m tired of politicians. Our economy is on an unsustainable path; we need statesmen who will tell us the truth about what lies ahead and what must be done to get us going in the right direction again. We need leaders who care more about this country than they do the next election.
We need a news media that does its job. Here’s a news flash for the news media – I DON’T CARE whether the Democrats will be helped or hurt by health care legislation in the next election. I DON’T CARE if the Republicans are hurt by this scandal or that. I care about how new policies and legislation are going to affect our lives. I want answers, not controversial sound bites from one politician attacking another. And enough with the spin doctors! When did government become a public relations game?
I’ve had it with the endless back and forth that goes on between Democrats and Republicans. When one party is in power, all the other party does is criticize and obstruct in every way possible. Then there is an election and power shifts from one party to the other. The parties just reverse roles, each doing the exact same things they’ve been criticizing the other for. No wonder so many people hate politics! Others are saying, “A pox on both their houses,” and threatening to “reelect nobody.” The public is losing patience with the constant bickering in Washington. It’s as though the crew of the Titanic is embroiled in a huge argument over which life boats to lower first while the ship is rapidly sinking.
We need to take the hate out of politics and start talking to one another in a civil manner. Only then can we work together to solve problems and maybe even prevent the collapse of our economy.
Republicans should stop making wild accusations about Obama, calling him everything from a communist to the Antichrist. He is a progressive liberal who seems to like the European model of government and is moving us in that direction. Conservatives can certainly attack him on those grounds, but should stop spreading rumors and emails about him being a secret Muslim or a non-citizen. People who do so destroy their own credibility, making themselves look like right-wing nut cases in the eyes of Democrats.
Democrats should stop dismissing the Tea Partiers as an angry mob or a fringe group of ignorant people who don’t think for themselves. Doing so just comes across as arrogant. Liberals need to acknowledge that many Americans have legitimate concerns about our mounting debt and the growth of big government.
It’s time to realize that we are not just Democrats or Republicans, but Americans, and we are all in this together.
As a friend of mine says, politics is not a sporting event, where one team must win while the other loses. We, the people, are not mere spectators sitting in the bleachers, pulling for our favorite team to come out ahead no matter what. News anchors are not sportscasters, just reporting who is ahead in the latest poll. Government is not a game - it is deadly serious, as our leaders must confront a dangerous world and make decisions that will affect every single American for years to come.
I’m tired of politicians. Our economy is on an unsustainable path; we need statesmen who will tell us the truth about what lies ahead and what must be done to get us going in the right direction again. We need leaders who care more about this country than they do the next election.
We need a news media that does its job. Here’s a news flash for the news media – I DON’T CARE whether the Democrats will be helped or hurt by health care legislation in the next election. I DON’T CARE if the Republicans are hurt by this scandal or that. I care about how new policies and legislation are going to affect our lives. I want answers, not controversial sound bites from one politician attacking another. And enough with the spin doctors! When did government become a public relations game?
I’ve had it with the endless back and forth that goes on between Democrats and Republicans. When one party is in power, all the other party does is criticize and obstruct in every way possible. Then there is an election and power shifts from one party to the other. The parties just reverse roles, each doing the exact same things they’ve been criticizing the other for. No wonder so many people hate politics! Others are saying, “A pox on both their houses,” and threatening to “reelect nobody.” The public is losing patience with the constant bickering in Washington. It’s as though the crew of the Titanic is embroiled in a huge argument over which life boats to lower first while the ship is rapidly sinking.
We need to take the hate out of politics and start talking to one another in a civil manner. Only then can we work together to solve problems and maybe even prevent the collapse of our economy.
Republicans should stop making wild accusations about Obama, calling him everything from a communist to the Antichrist. He is a progressive liberal who seems to like the European model of government and is moving us in that direction. Conservatives can certainly attack him on those grounds, but should stop spreading rumors and emails about him being a secret Muslim or a non-citizen. People who do so destroy their own credibility, making themselves look like right-wing nut cases in the eyes of Democrats.
Democrats should stop dismissing the Tea Partiers as an angry mob or a fringe group of ignorant people who don’t think for themselves. Doing so just comes across as arrogant. Liberals need to acknowledge that many Americans have legitimate concerns about our mounting debt and the growth of big government.
It’s time to realize that we are not just Democrats or Republicans, but Americans, and we are all in this together.
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