First, regarding your final point about saving both Nefs and jpgs, there is no need to routinely automatically generate jpgs because all the editing required for the jpg is retained in LR's database and whenever you have a specific need for the jpg - for a website, email or to send to a print lab - you can create it in seconds, use it and delete it.
Second, as ssprengel said, it is YOUR processing, your taste and judgement rather than blindly accepting somebody else's decisions. Moreover, it is the first round of processing, not a second round to plaster over what wasn't good in the first round. Finally, Raw data is precise to 12 or 14 bits, jpgs are 8 bits per channel. Jpgs can encompass at best 7 stops of subject tonal range, more usually 5-6 stops, while some cameras can capture a (theoretical) 14 stops in Raw - the difference between white skies and/or black shadows in jpgs and fully detailed Raws. And that greater range can provide the latitude to repair exposure that was inaccurate.