Uncle Sam's Definition of Value

With the impending fiscal debate that is headed our way, I thought I’d make a few comments as my chosen profession, medicine, is undergoing a substantial change currently. As you may know, the election of President Obama on Tuesday goes a long way towards making Obamacare a permanent part of American healthcare. Given what has happened to other fields that have become annexed by the government, I have an observation for how Americans place value on goods and services. In short, you want to be deemed important…but not too important.

Let’s look at some examples here. Lebron James makes millions of dollars. He’s an excellent basketball player who entertains people across the globe. Let me be clear, I have no qualms with him getting paid. He is the best in the world at what he does, and people enjoy it. Watching Lebron play is important to people, but it’s not important enough for the government to care much about it. Hence, Lebron makes money.

A more everyday example would be Facebook. More than a billion people use this. Their stock price may not be that great currently, but they have changed the landscape of how people relate to each other. Again, it would be tough to argue that Facebook isn’t important. But it’s not too important. You could live without it if you had to. Therefore, they get paid in a big way.

And then, there are some different examples. Let’s say you want to spend your life educating the future Facebook founders. What would Mark Zuckerberg be without his kindergarten teacher that taught him to tie his shoes? Can you imagine a CEO wearing Velcro sneakers? Not cool. We all recognize the importance of this. We recognize it so much that the government has decided to run the whole deal and make sure it is done right (cue laughter). Lo and behold, teachers are vastly underpaid.

The same could be said for countless other professions. Firefighters, police officers, EMT’s all do some of the most vital work to sustain our communities, and they don’t get paid enough. Physicians have been screaming for years that we are under appreciated and very important. Well, the government has turned around and said, “You know what? You’re right!” The caveat of course is that this is not said like a proud father to a son, but it’s more like a cat grinning at the mouse that is about to be lunch. We are getting taken over ladies and gents, and we know where this goes.

I want to be clear about one thing while saying all of this. No government regulations will affect my ability to care for patients. I went into medicine becauseI enjoy it, not because I thought I would get filthy rich from it. Additionally, I think that doctors still get paid good salaries minus the ridiculous amount of student loan debt we are forced to take on. This entire post is designed to question our
principles as a country. What does it say about us when we don’t pay the people that do the most important work? I don’t like looking in the mirror at that question right now, and neither should you.