Microsoft laying off 5,000 workers

Yikes! I've noticed more smaller "immediate care facilities" springing up. What kind of care is offered and by whom? Is this an answer to layers and layers of receptionists, bean counters, landscaping crews, needless lawsuits, and insurance fights the bigger hospitals seem to have great difficulty supporting.

A hospital accountant told me they expect to collect 40 cents on the dollar now in the billing department. Does that mean every hospital bill is inflated 250%? He just smiled and said "sorta"

It would be so ironic if the only institution with enough clout capable of straightening out our health care system is the insurance industry--more nurses, less "fluffy" staff, Doc--you make too much. Pay how much for that drug--you nuts? Lawsuit?--get outta here!

Rx:Take a deep breath, go on a little vacation, start cooking your own food again, lose 60 pounds. Don't eat cheese or red meat! Laugh again! Don't call me when you feel better! Let our troops be advisers only-- you've had time to free your own damn country! It's causing us great stress...That oil over there? Yes, it's free! For a long, long time...We have some very sad military families that need a lotta your love compliments of their ultimate generosity.

barbar3d; I know exactly what you mean. I am a graduate from a college of nursing in 1980 but I took out 20 years to raise my kids. I happen to be their father. Well, trying to get a nursing job now has me up against the wall. I can not even get into an interview because my resume reflects time away from my profession. I try to explain it, but a man choosing to stay home and raise his kids, who has ever heard of that? Well, you can imagine the things they think, drugs, mental problems. No matter my wife is an MD and she makes 3 times what I can. It is hard to get face to face with anyone because they judge by resume only now. If I have a chance at an interview, I usually get the job because I am articulate and smart. But then the new grads take center stage because they will work for much less than I will.

Let me tell you a horror story about GN's vs experienced nurses. It happened with my wife who almost died in a hospital in Oklahoma because they had only new grads, the hospital fired all the experienced RN's in favor for cheaper GN's. Well it takes a good 5 years to make a good ICU or Recovery Room nurse. It was in the Recovery Room where they nurses didn't have the guts to call upon a doctor who was giving stupid orders because he was on call the night before, did the surgery then went home and to bed. He admitte later at deposition that he didn't know what orders he was giving because he was asleep. In that place a nurse should have had the guts to call the doc on the orders he was giving or called the surgeon. But in that hospital the anesthesiologist had responsibility for the patients until they left the recover room. Can you imagine? It wasn't until she came to the floor that I realized she was in trouble and roused the stupid nurses on the floor that accepted her then went into report for an hour. I just about left the room to go get flowers for my wife but lab came in to draw blood, and she hates needles but she didn't flinch, then I knew something was wrong. The nurses on that floor when she came back after a week in ICU hated me. I could give a s**t.

My advise to people is have someone be with you all night when in the hospital because pencil pushers run hospitals now and all they think of is the bottom line not patient safety. And you should write down everything a nurse does and charges for, because hospitals do cost shifting, if they have a non-paying patient they shift costs over to insured patients. Once I was in the hospital for nose surgery, just overnight for pain management and I found out later that I was charged for a unit of blood, around $600.00. Beware, hospitals are big business and no matter how flowery they say how they care, it is all BS because hospitals are run by money hungry pencil pushers with too damn many aids and attorneys. The administration layers are 5 to 6 deep. And it is cheaper for them to keep an army of attorneys on retainer than to hire experienced nurses that would keep litigation down by giving good care. Any unit only needs one person between the floor and the CEO.

Well, that is my soap box. I could go on forever. Am I pissed, you damn right I am. I never would have thought nursing would have gone so bad.

Kiltedandfree.

To make matters worse, I watched local news and it showed young, old, black, white at the Job Service Center. They have no computers at home so its free to go there and get help too with resumes, training for interviews, etc.

Back in the day, we had 'face to face' initial interviews. We might have been 'weeded out' but we had a shot at selling ourselves and showing our accomplishments. Now they just want to weed you out by computer.

Well, found out today, due to budget cuts, they are closing that office. Now people just want you to 'attach' your resume, 'upload' or fax it. They can just judge that paper because they have so many to choose from! EVEN in nursing where I have always written my own ticket with shift, Full time, part time...depending on the stage of life, i.e. children at home. And why do they want to hire me? I have 22 years experience but the new grad coming out of school will take whatever pay is offered.

My states proposed cuts other than the UNEMPLOYMENT offices are EDUCATION , both elementary and college level, and developmental Disability Programs that have allowed those with deficits live a somewhat normal life in a real home with their peers. Yea, cut out the kids. and the disabled and unemployed. I am so disgusted I wrote the Governor. No answer yet. What a surprise.

Just look at how the American labor force has changed since WW II.

Prior to that conflict, it was rare any married woman worked outside of the home. "Rosey the Riviter" change all that--without women working in the factories that war might have been lost...After the war, well, women enjoyed the new freedom of being part of the financial/educational/ institutional framework of our society--make way for jobs for women!

Then we had the unfortunate reality of "dual discrimination"--women were and are still exploited for doing "white man's work" for less...and minority America--mostly blacks--had great, great problems entering into the higher paying jobs in industry and education for many, many unfortunate reasons...but the biggest reason of all was the most sinister--just being black! Fortunately, great strides were made with a long way to go--make way for jobs for blacks!

Then we had the ability to transport jobs to oversea market places---make way for jobs for foreigners!

Then we had the "opportunity" to allow Mexican workers to come into our country and stay--make way for illegals!

Now we have machines replacing humans--make way for what? Geekdom?

It's amazing anybody has a job making any amount of money to be able to purchase goods made by a continuously adjusting market place of cheaper, higher educated, and more mobile labor. force...

I can't even begin to discuss regulations--some very good, some very bad--all called overhead--make room for insurance, more insurance, attorney's, lawsuits--why have employee's at all?

I don't know how to advise/comfort the young except it is all very bewildering to me as well.

Equal opportunity and fair play is the right of every human on earth--does that mean we all eventually have jobs making no money?

Bewildering, bewildering...good luck to all of you!

Well, if a company cannot pay it's employees and their service isn't wanted by as many people, they can either cut big wigs pay, which they never do or cut the lower employees which they always do. We should be used to this by now. What amazes me is that our government has taken it upon themselves to try to bail out these companies by giving windfall taxpayer's money hoping to keep jobs. Well, got news for ya, this is the most dangerous avenue to pursue, now the government owns part of Microsoft and can start calling shots. What is the most inefficient company in this world, the US government. Do we want to all become government workers? Clones to every job out there? If a company cannot work, free enterprise dictates cut things or close your doors. It happens to companies all the time, it happened to my wife and I, no bailouts there. No, we filed bankruptcy and it still hurts. That is life. Get used to it folks your government isn't the savior of all of us. They don't have a big pot of money from nowhere to give out, stop waiting for handouts. This will make us socialist so fast and from socialist to communist is a short walk. This is what the Russians have been waiting for. Please let's not give them our country. I like being free, even if it hurts sometimes, makes me grow. Please stop asking for handouts from govt, but now we have Obama who is poised to do just that with a big smile and a warm hug. Watch out for that one.