Hospital officials say Obama's wife deserved big raise

Officials at the University of Chicago Hospitals say a promotion and large pay increase given to Sen. Barack Obama's wife shortly after the Democrat was elected to Congress were well-deserved boosts for an executive who is "worth her weight in gold." The Chicago Tribune has the story.

"She's terrific," added Michael Riordan, who was president of the hospital in March 2005, when Michelle Obama was promoted to vice president for external affairs and had her annual salary increased from $121,910 to $316,962.

Hospitals spokesman John Easton told the Tribune that Michelle Obama's salary is in line with those of the 16 other vice presidents at the not-for-profit medical center.

Riordan told the Tribune that the promotion and salary increase had nothing to do with Obama's husband becoming a U.S. senator. "She was hired before Barack was Barack," Riordan said
Hospital officials say Obama's wife deserved big raise - On Deadline - USATODAY.com

Healthcare

"I...believe that every American has the right to affordable health care. I believe that the millions of Americans who can't take their children to a doctor when they get sick have that right...We now face an opportunity - and an obligation - to turn the page on the failed politics of yesterday's health care debates. It's time to bring together businesses, the medical community, and members of both parties around a comprehensive solution to this crisis, and it's time to let the drug and insurance industries know that while they'll get a seat at the table, they don't get to buy every chair." -Barack Obama, Speech in Iowa City, IA, 5/27/07
Barack Obama | Change We Can Believe In | Issues

I'm not Barack but I do approve this hypocrits message.:D

Have a good one!:s4:

I'm stunned. Fucking. Stunned. You would think she would say, "Ya know what, I might be First Lady and this could reflect badly on my husband, so I'll decline the raise and continue to work because of the medicine, not the money." I want to say that if she does a job that remarkably, she deserves to be rewarded in our capitalistic society, but I just can't. I mean, an almost 200k pay raise and Obama is concerned with the cost of health care. Christ. It's unbelievable. Someone please make a compelling argument justifying the raise so I don't feel completely apathetic about our government.

"Michelle Obama's salary is in line with those of the 16 other vice presidents at the not-for-profit medical center."

Says it all right there my friend. The problem is always put on the evil insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, etc.... THEY DON'T HAVE A CLUE!!

I've worked in the health care industry....

Hospital Bed: $24,000
O.R. Table: $75,000
Receptionist Chair: $450!!!

I've also done industrial outside sales; besides selling to the Government, hospitals are considered the best source for gross profit on items. Sell at list price....NO DISCOUNTS!

SINCE his wife is a V.P. this type of information should be MORE than available to both of them. Why not confront the actual problem that hospital spending is out of control! THEN we have a salary increase of this nature when he's elected.......SURE, it's Washington that is broke and he's the one for change. MY ASS!!:mad:

Have a good one!:s4:

I just shit my pants. You're telling me a fucking hospital bed costs as much as a mid-level sedan? If there's one man responsible for that, I want to shake his hand for being one of the shrewdest capitalists ever. And then stab him in the heart for lacking a conscience and driving healthcare into the ground.

There are two major names in the industry: Hillrom and Stryker. I've worked on these things and I'll tell ya, they're raping the system. Likewise on the O.R. tables.....$4,500 for a replacement part; hydraulic pump/motor combination. I've also worked in industrial sales so I can tell ya for a FACT that this combination was jacked up by at least 300%!

See the term "non-profit" in the intitial article? We all "think" that means that they keep costs at their lowest and make NO PROFIT off what they are doing. FALSE!! When it gets to the end of the last quarter and they see that there'll be an extra couple 2-5 mill. after ALL the rest of thier pork projects. WELL HELL, time to redecorate some offices with new carpet, chairs, etc... Was the existing decor bad? Hell no, people within the hospital take that shit home to use themselves! Non-profit means that they wasted the money to make the books equal out.

This one area just bought a new coffee table for their lounge area. Damn thing cost over $500. Well, two months after they had "extra funds" so the did a complete remodel. Guess what, I got the coffee table in my living room right now. Throw it out they said.......hell no, I got a note from the director that it was o.k. for me to take this NEW $500 TABLE home.

THAT is where the moneys wasted...right from the top throughout the entire system. Is Washington fucked up? Hell yeah....but do we REALLY want people that fucked up one system to try to fix another?

People like Obama know about this shit but hell, a nice day of gulfing with a couple of V.P.'s and maybe the C.E.O. and it's allllll gooooood.

Have a good one!:s4:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CultureCherryPopper

I just shit my pants. You're telling me a fucking hospital bed costs as much as a mid-level sedan? If there's one man responsible for that, I want to shake his hand for being one of the shrewdest capitalists ever. And then stab him in the heart for lacking a conscience and driving healthcare into the ground.

---

there is one man...Edgar Kaiser (kaiser permanente son of Henry J kaiser sold the idea of the PPO and HMO as we know it to the Nixon administration.......and a stabbing would suffice....
but to fix health care ending these practices abruptly would cause more harm then good. as P4B states above, "THAT is where the moneys wasted...right from the top throughout the entire system. Is Washington fucked up? Hell yeah....but do we REALLY want people that fucked up one system to try to fix another?" we need to address the real problems.... oh yeah by the way Hillary's plan = WORTHLESS as well!!!!!:stoned:

That's not true Ldg, Billary's plan would be worth a never ending amount of money, billons upon billons until the end of time, I mean you know you could put a value on it, but yeah definately a soggy shit plan, and Osamas, a shit plan too, also worth lots of money!

University of Illinois, College of Agriculture Consumer and Environmental Sciences, for the Center for Advanced Bioenergy Research, $1,000,000

The Center will create a facilitative structure for outreach, teaching and research efforts in areas related to bioenergy systems. Research at the Center will focus on the increased output of energy, based on renewable biological resources.


University of Illinois, College of Agriculture Consumer and Environmental Sciences, for the Illinois-Missouri Biotechnology Alliance, $3,000,000

The Alliance is a successful special competitive grants program, focused on biotechnology research on corn and soybeans produced and utilized in the Midwest, and operated jointly by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Missouri at Columbia, and Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.


University of Illinois, College of Agriculture Consumer and Environmental Sciences, for the Illinois Program for Integrated Sustainable Agriculture, $2,500,000

The Illinois Program for Integrated Sustainable Agriculture will support interdisciplinary research to develop an integrated livestock and corn-soybean production system that will conserve maximal quantities of nutrients within the system, minimize nutrient emissions to the environment, and extract other beneficial compounds, while maintaining producer profitability.


University of Illinois, College of Agriculture Consumer and Environmental Sciences, for the Soybean Disease Biotechnology Center , $2,000,000

The Soybean Disease Biotechnology Center is located within the National Soybean Research Laboratory (NSRL) at the University of Illinois and provides a first line of defense against major soybean diseases. Center researchers are working to identify and create new and improved mechanisms of disease tolerance and resistance to protect the soybean crop and increase profitability for farmers in Illinois.


University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, College of Engineering, for Nanomedical Technologies, $3,000,000

Funding will be utilized to equip the new addition to the Micro and Nanoelectronics Laboratory in order to carry out advanced research in Nanomedical Technologies. Activities will include the discovery or invention of new nanoparticles for targeting and imaging cancer; how cells are affected by infectious diseases, and how to detect pathogens.


University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, to encourage further education in technical domains that can be cleared by the Defense Security Service, $2,000,000

Funding will assist in the establishment of Centers at The University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign and The Ohio State University to fund students to pursue graduate studies in the critical technology areas used by the Department of Defense. The technological developments and the training of technically-qualified U.S. Citizens to address research issues in these areas have not kept pace with the rapidly escalating difficulties of the problems solved.


University of Illinois, for the Urban Teaching and Leadership Center, $1,000,000

The Center will be established to reduce and eradicate the unacceptable achievement gap within the Chicago Public Schools. The Center will: redesign UIC school personnel preparation programs to focus on preparing educators uniquely equipped to turn around chronically low-performing schools; increase the number of candidates from underrepresented minority populations completing certification and degree requirements, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels; and reverse the negative effects on student learning of persistent teacher turnover in high-need Chicago-are schools. The Center's purpose is to develop educators who can offer excellent, culturally responsive, and consistent instruction in struggling schools.

Southern Illinois University, for the National Corn to Ethanol Research Center, $2,000,000

The National Corn to Ethanol research facility located in the research Park of Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, is the only full-scale corn to ethanol testing facility in the nation.


Southern Illinois University, for the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, $1,025,000

Funding would provide a permanent and stable source of revenue for the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at SIU, which was founded by former Senator Paul Simon. Federal funding will allow SIU to fulfill Senator Simon's dream for an endowment to support the institute's on-going policy agenda.


Southern Illinois University, for the School of Medicine Simmons Cooper Cancer Institute, $2,200,000

Funding will finish out the space allocated for research laboratories and provide fixed equipment for these labs within the new Simmons Cooper Cancer Institute.


Southern Illinois University, Purdue University, and University of Kentucky, for coal research, $5,000,000

The three universities are members of the Coal to Fuel Alliance that are researching the feasibility of clean coal gasification techniques for fuel technologies. The authorization for this research is in the 2005 Energy Policy Act.

Illinois State University, for the Chicago Teacher Education Pipeline Programs and Partnerships, $300,000

Funding would expand current partnership activities and further develop the Chicago Teacher Education Pipeline Programs & Partnerships. This would increase urban teacher recruitment, improve teacher preparation, and improve teacher retention.


Illinois State University, for the Great Lakes Teacher and Preparation Leadership Preparation Consortium, $500,000

Illinois State University, Eastern Michigan University and the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee would create a Great Lakes Urban Teacher and Leadership Preparation Consortium. Chicago, Detroit, and Milwaukee Public School Districts would be involved in this consortium. The three partner institutions together with K-12 school districts and community organizations would collaboratively enhance teacher and leadership preparation capacity in these urban communities through recruitment and retention programs for hard to staff schools.


Illinois State University, to improve manufacturing competitiveness with further development of the Integrated Manufacturing Laboratory (IML), $500,000

The IML would provide students with experience in designing, implementing, and using state of the art manufacturing technology. The IML is slated to provide small to medium sized manufacturing businesses in Illinois seminars and courses so that they can learn the most effective ways to automate their operations.

Chicago State University, for research into unmanned aerial systems, $5,000,000
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Chicago State University, to develop a sustainable and portable power system for military operation, $5,000,000
Funding will assist CSU in the development of a solar cell power generating system that can be mounted on a backpack, and rapidly deployed and reconfigured for military operation. The system will include sensors, computing systems, and intelligent processing and communications systems.

Chicago State University, to the HIV/ AIDS Policy and Research Institute, $1,000,000
In response to the growing HIV/AIDS crisis in the African American population, CSU has undertaken comprehensive approach to assist with efforts in the South Side of Chicago. This project would support local outreach, education, prevention and research efforts.
Obama Announces FY08 Federal Funding Requests | U.S. Senator Barack Obama

An extra $250,000 a year for all this.....damn good deal if ya ask me.

TIME FOR CHANGE........what a joke!

Have a good one!:s4:

WOW.....a quarter million a year pay raise in exchange for millions in in earmarks and no comments? :wtf:

It's time for CHANGE! :wtf3:

Have a good one!:s4:

OVER $37 million in earmarks for a pay raise and no response or justification from the Obama supporters? Imagine that.......:rolleyes:

Have a good one!:s4: