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These are professionals that we value, or should value, yet are not willing to pay them what they are worth.
The most recent examples are doctors. Yes, doctors. In page one of the Wall St. Journal today, there was a story about how dentists are now making as much money, but work fewer hours as general and family practitioners.
But what caught my eye was the average income - for 2000 which was the last year they had the data.
"On average, general dentists in 2000, the most recent year for which comparative data are available, earned $166,460 -- compared with $164,100 for general internal-medicine doctors, $145,700 for psychiatrists, $144,700 for family-practice physicians, and $137,800 for pediatricians. All indications are that dentists have at least kept pace with physicians since then."
Now, I know that most of us would be perfectly happy with an income of 130 big ones; with an income of a fifth of this amount.
But when we compare the income of these doctors, who actually see patients and tend for them, with that of the CEOs of the insurance and HMOs and other "health related" companies, this gap really boggle one's mind.
Here in Minnesota's Twin Cities, once a year the strib publishes the compensation of the local CEOs. Most newspapers do the same for their communities. And last year, the highest paid executive - $94 million - was for the CEO of UnitedHealth - "nation's largest health-services provider"
And we can go on looking at the income of many Wall Street bankers and other CEOs, all who get their obscene amount of money while the ones who really do serve the communities: teachers and nurses and lab technicians and firemen and women and police officers and, yes, even local elected officials - have to do with pennies and peanuts, and work long, stressful hours.
What kind of a society are we?
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