Regarding poverty in America... A little survey

Do you believe that:

A:  Poverty is mostly the result of poor choices in life, either by yourself or by your parents and grandparents before you, thereby setting up the vicious cycle.  Early parenthood, out-of-wedlock births, no father in the home, recycled boyfriends in and out of a home, lack of early childhood stimulation with books/toys, lack of routine and academic expectations, etc. 

OR

B:  Poverty is societal.  Poor people have no choices in America and no real opportunity or ability to raise themselves out of poverty.  The way to end poverty is to increase social programs until people are not living in poverty anymore.  Poverty is societies fault and the government's fault and therefore theirs to fix.

• Regarding poverty in America... A little survey - SM
  • It is so much more than A and B. It can't be - fully discussed here...sm
  • A combination of both, but mostly A - sm
  • Relevant article - Sandy
  • Both. Choice A "can" put you there, but so can a major illness, accident, fire, etc. - but..... sm
    • Thank you! Be careful though, - in a minute you will be ....sm
    • THIS economy is doing well, unemployment at 4.9%. Where do you get - the doom and gloom? NM
      • economy doing well? did you ever consider unemployment is lower because after people lose their job - empyMT
        • supposed to be, after people lose their jobs, they are forced to take part-time, lower-paying jobs.. - emptyMT
        • my post did not all post in the subject, my apologies... - emptyMT
      • Well...let's see. In 4 years rent in our area has increased at least $500/mo. - but..... sm
        • You need to move. That is terrible. Bless you. - Gosh
          • Why? Except for the rent all the rest is the same everywhere. - nm
            • Duh - I'm paying $2.79 for gas and - Gosh
              • LOL...do you have a TV? - sm
                • You were the one complaining, not me. I was just - Gosh
                  • Maybe there is a misunderstanding. - but....sm
                • Nothing has increased for me except gas and - Gosh
        • Well, all that is true where I live too, but you STILL can't park at the mall - or get a seat in a restaurant. nm
          • CREDIT, everyone is living on credit, and from what I see - emptyMT
        • Don't believe the news media (sm) - Peanuts
  • e:poverty..opinion from the inside out - MQ'r
    • You made several of my points.. - OP
      • Yes, she lived it. I'm curious though, - she mentioned her parents..sm
        • It's the same old story... - SM
          • Amen on babies having babies - MQ'r
            • The teenaged girls in my neighborhood are - it's all over the place
  • Complex question as others have - said - probably a bit of both..sm
    • A reply... - SM
      • More reading - sm
        • Me again - SM
          • You obviously didn't read the - article and have made up your..sm
            • This country has.... - SM
              • You only read what you want to.. - sm
                • OKay, we've got that much. Now what is your solution? - No msg
      • So how do you explain the numbers - in the article? sm
        • The BBC? - SM
          • Can't answer the question about - the growing gap between rich..sm
            • I don't have sound on my computer.. However, - sm
  • I think both, but not as simple as that. - mtathome
  • A - INDmt
  • Mostly A but - more complex than that
    • Learning to read... - SM
    • ABSOLUTELY. Poverty doesn't just happen. The programs - Yes, I'm from NY
      • I agree with you on here, but why pay someone less because they are poor - no name
  • poverty - kks
  • A - nm
  • Mostly A. - n.m.

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I am one of 6 born to parents who (yes, the same for all 6) who were both born in the same low income area of town, little education past 6th grade, yet what attracted my parents to each other in the beginning was there committment to do better for themselves and get out.  Yes, they started having us kids at a young age (hormones, lack of sex education, etc), but they raised us all with love, in the church and the strong faith that with hard work, we all could do better.  It was'nt easy, going to school in hand me downs, not having the nicest things, but with love and committment,  all of us kids got our education and all graduated from college, some 2yrs, some 4.  My parents were so proud of us but as we got older and dared to speak up to daddy (very firm man), we kinda said...you demand the knowledge for us, then we demand the same for you.  My parents did eventually get their GED's and you would have thought they graduated from Harvard.(I swear daddy did it as a challenge more to not let us kids down).just the same in our book that they even took the challenge. It has opened up such a world for them both, if we can't find mom, she's usually at the library lol.

As I got older I realized that yes, we did get help with food stamps when bills were high but both my parents worked long hours to make ends meet and we were loved and cared for, sometimes rebelling against the strictness, but looking back, I see why. 

On the other hand, I can look at some of my aunts, uncles and cousins, the ones who kept believing my grandmother, who beat it into my dad and his siblings heads that they "won't mount to much, ya never gonna make it out here, so quit dreaming and just let the govrnment folk take care of you"!  I love granny dearly but that is the mentality that She was raised with.  The cycle broke with my Dad and one other Aunt, but ironically, that has caused an uneasy distance from the rest of the family, including granny who not once attended any of the graduations.  We're the "high falooting book smart kin" who are too good to come home...not, we just would like to have them at our homes sometimes and it hurts.  It hurts to see my extended family living in the lowest part of town, can't watch the news anymore because of all the shootings, drug busts, etc and we tend to hear from the cousins and their kids when they call from jail needing bail.

Thank God some of my cousins did come to live with us over the years and they are now educated, productive citizens, living a decent life who have broken that cycle of mentality & poverty.  It's a struggle when you are born into nothing, are told you never will have anything, look around you and see nothing but the projects, drugs and poverty and see the programs that are offered but your parent or parents are suspicious of, therefore keeping the chains on.  This coming from my cousins.

Ok, sorry, did not mean to ramble on and on, just wanting to answer from the inside that I've heard about growing up.

I grew up in poverty, much like Loretta Lynn in Coal Miners Daughter.  I mean poverty.....pair of shoes a year, you name it, yet I never murdered anyone, nobody in my family murdered anyone, we didn't rob the local gas station, we didn't murder tourists.  We also didn't hang around on the street corner selling drugs.  We worked, all of us, doing whatever it took to survive and not a one of us ever collected public assistance.  In fact I had never heard of public assistance until I was in my 20s and had moved out of state to Texas and saw somebody using food stamps and didn't know what they were!  I thought Texas had a special colored money different from the "green" I was used to seeing.

Education doesn't cost a dime. I don't care if you have to wear clothes with holes in them, it's your MIND that matters, not what you wear to school.   College is just about free for anybody who wants to go with special programs especially for single mothers, minorities, and those under certain income levels.  I loved learning from a very young age and with my own children, school comes first above and beyond all other activities.  They work for what they want, both inside the home and out. I have four, not one has ever been in trouble, not one drinks or smokes.  So saying poverty breeds violence is an excuse.  What people need are parents with responsibility, and having 5 or more children out of wedlock by different fathers is not responsible.  Not working is not being responsible. Not setting boundaries for your children is not responsible.   I know many all-white absolutely destitute areas in coal country and you can drive through there without getting shot, mugged, or having your car stolen.   I knew many nurses in the New Orleans area who grew up in the projects, went to college and decided they wouldn't raise their children like that.  That's responsibility. Not letting your pre teen and teen children run the streets at all hours, that's responsibility.  Working and showing your children you can succeed with schooling and working, that's responsibility.  Not showing up at school yelling prejudice because your child smacked a teacher and got expelled, that's responsibility.

I did a quick search for crime stats and found this:

http://www.cityrating.com/citycrime.asp?city=New+Orleans&state=LA

Also, my ex is in the national guard in Texas and was there when people were relocated to help keep order.  He saw people dragging in televisions, designer clothes and shoes, etc., all with the vouchers they were given to find housing.   Texas welcomed people with open arms and a small percentage did find housing and went back to work, but the larger majority wasted the money and then were extremely upset that there was no more.   These were people of all races.  One businessman offered his home to a white family of 7 and told them they didn't have to pay until they went to work.  Four months later they still weren't working and when he went in the house to do a repair they requested, the house had been ruined, totally.  Carpets burned and stained, holes in the walls, absolute filth.  The home was worth 256,000 when he provided it to them, and after the finally got them out it took him just under 100,000 to redo the destruction.  Once again, poverty is no excuse!   They should have taken the opportunity to look for work and been happy they were in a great neighborhood outside of Houston with good schools and good churches, full community support.  I have an illness that will kill me and I'm in pain daily, but I work and I'll keep working until I drop.  I couldn't anymore support my family on Disability than sprout wings and fly.   It all depends on mindset and determination and nobody told me when I was born that I should expect our government to just hand me everything and I can sit back and do nothing. 

So many of us do not know what it is like to live in poverty

All and all, AMERICA IS THE BEST PLACE TO LIVE!!!!!  THE LAND OF OPPORTUNITY!!!!

Could anyone tell me if they are an IC or an employee and who they work for?  I am trying to find out if I should change all of our IC's to employees or not.  Also, could you tell me which one you like better?

Thanks

I hope I posted this in the right spot! Kind of new to this forum, especially with posting messages.  I downloaded a medical transcription survey from 2007 from the MTIA web site which I thought was very interesting and would like to share it with you all if you have not read it.

I loved the summary point stating "Doctors do not generate revenue, documents do. Accurate and complete healthcare documents are essential to a doctor's and institution's revenue cycle."

I remain hopeful and optimistic that in the future that we will once again be recognized for how important our jobs really are.  All of us can go out and get ourselves a medical secretarial position or other positions in the medical field, but it takes a special talent to do the job we do, and I think many people who think our jobs are not worth the money we deserve, possibly can't do OUR jobs.

This is the link and if it does not work, go to the MTIA.com web site, search under press releases and it is the Bentley MT survey for 2007. Hope you find it interesting.

http://www.mtia.com/Downloads/MTSurveyReport-Preliminary.pdf

Which is preferred, Notebook or Desktop for working 8+ hours per day doing MT?  Any specifics you'd like to share about processor/memory would be helpful.  Upgrading my computer and deciding which would work best for me.

I have the opportunity this spring and summer to speak to MTs and business owners in various parts of the country, and one of the topics I'll be discussing is voice recognition editing.  After working with it for a year, I have my own opinions on the subject, but I'm hoping to collect information from other MTs who have been performing both editing and traditional transcription for the past 6 months or longer.  Your participation would be greatly appreciated.

The link to the survey is: http://www.webstream.us/survey/index.php?sid=1

Jay

asking about how MQ can do better.  We got a letter telling us the findings 9 months later and on it apparently lots of MTs beitched about no pay increase and they are looking into it.  That was 3 months ago. 

MQ is too busy plotting and planning how to rip off the clients and MTs to be bothered with the current problems.  They have a bazillion managers but no one seems to be able to keep the simplest things done on a timely basis. 

IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE WORKING FOR DTS, BRENTWOOD BRANCH?

HILL-OH-REE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You should all be ashamed of yourselves.  No job is worth this wage. 

When I was a new grad in 2005 I was offered 7 cents per line for every single company I was offered a position with and that was a good bit of companies, btw. That was employee status and that was IC position too. Even now with 1-2 years experience I get offers of 8.5-9 cents a line. 

Now MTSOs are profiting off of slave labor. How can you sleep at night knowing that you are paying your MTs HALF of what they should be making?  I cannot wait til their doctors make it impossible for them to profit too.  Happy day.

All I can say is everyone has to start somewhere and just becuase you are a new grad from college doesnt mean you are paid half of what you should be paid. 

PATHETIC.   

I get making an MT prove themselves for a few weeks at a lower rate (until off of QA) and then up it to 6-7 cents.  If they aren't worth it.. DROP THEM. 

My MTSO was so honest and fair.  She would NEVER EVER think of paying that crap.  We need more people like her.  Out for her employees and not herself. 

You know, maybe it's just my PMS speaking today, but I plan on getting my own accounts and I will NEVER EVER treat my employees like crap and pay them like that.

For 2 weeks of full time work (which for us MTs just starting out is OVER 40 hours) you pay them (based on 12,000 lines a payperiod) 360 (.03) without taxes taken out?? When they should be making $720 (.06) on the low end of the totem pole? 

Wow.  You guys are makin out!!

Does anyone still do that "fleecing of America" segment (or whatever it was called)?  We are being fleeced!!!!!  But again, the other side which promotes offshoring will present a stronger side than us.  All we would get is emotional support from a minority of viewers, which doesn't last long.  We will be told, as I have, "No one is making you do this job.  If you don't like it, do something else."  The public has to realize how important this job is to THEIR well-being.  Now, they can be told that offshoring is saving them money and they will like that. 

That's where our professionalism comes into play but the only way I can see to prove the need for our services is to have all other alternatives fail and have that make a major impact somehow to make people aware, especially the physicians, that we need qualified AMERICAN MTs for America's health records.  Odd thing is, greed gets one only so far.  Then it tends to backfire -- taxes, breach of confidentiality, etc.   Some of those "loopholes" may backfire someday.