Even more so doctors greatly restrict the number of new doctors each year by restricting just how many people are accepted into medical school They are controlling the supply of doctors to the point that it keeps them at enough of a shortage to justify the pay.

I think there are some areas in medicine where nurses and other medical professionals with training could easily step in a provide quality services. Midwifery is one that immediately comes to mind. Also the area of anesthesia-there are a lot of CRNA's who could work more cheaply than doctors and provide care in areas where there may not be enough doctors.

When I worked for EDS we had to stop using System Engineer and Software Engineer titles for people who didn't have their P.E. Some states have even have laws concerning this.

I think most countries do too.

The distinction Jeff was trying to make, I suspect, regards those of us who have the P.E. following our name.

When I worked for EDS we had to stop using System Engineer and Software Engineer titles for people who didn't have their P.E. Some states have even have laws concerning this.

In fact when you remove government and its handmaiden sectors of healthcare, education, and the law from the reckoning there's been very little of either job growth or salary growth over the last eight years. Like those above I attribute it to various factors including technology, globalization, and the barriers to entry the practices of law and medicine have operating their favor.

The question is what, if anything, to do about the situation? My own view is that it's probably reasonable to think that salaries for jobs supported by tax dollars aren't going to grow if salaries that aren't supported by tax dollars aren't growing, too.

Those of us in the computer field have hijacked the term and set a disappointingly low barrier of entry on it.

I resemble that remark.

For certain types of engineering. Those of us in the computer field have hijacked the term and set a disappointingly low barrier of entry on it.

The distinction Jeff was trying to make, I suspect, regards those of us who have the P.E. following our name. I wouldnt go so far as to compare my education and apprenticeship to doctors, (eight years before I could even sit for the exam), but I do like to point out that whereas most doctors can save life (usually one at a time), I can take out a whole lot if I screw up. (See the Hyatt Regent catwalk collapse.)

Then again, my professional liability insurance is significantly less that an MD's.

But I have to tell you, there's a third profession that does the same thing: engineering. In fact it's rather more difficult to become a professional engineer than to be admitted to the bar.

For certain types of engineering. Those of us in the computer field have hijacked the term and set a disappointingly low barrier of entry on it.

Doctors control medicine from the most minor cold to the most complex surgery when health techs and nurses could be doing much more of the work. Lawyers control the legal system from traffic tickets to corporate mergers while paralegals could be doing much more. But control from top to bottom means control of prices.

Both of these professions are used by society when we have to use them and seldom by choice. That puts us in a disadvantaged position in terms of comparison shopping. The other disadvantage for the consumer is the way each profession effectively hides it's fee structure. We never know going in what our costs will be.

While the rest of us tighten our belts in a lean economy the power structure of doctors and lawyers will keep them fat and happy.

But then again, I blame Bush.

Greed is good (until it's not).

One thing I've mulled over in my mind for awhile is that just like the, housing bust, there is going to be an education bust. Graduates are in many cases have expensive educations with a lack of jobs that generate sufficent income to pay for college loans.

Fortunately my oldest has landed a good starting job in her field, but she has a Bachelors and two Masters from Kettering University in Flint MI, (and the loans to prove it)