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American Association of University Women members with
President John F. Kennedy as he signs the Equal Pay Act of 1963 into
law
Source: JFK Presidential Library and Museum
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A quick way to kill debate is to accuse your political adversary of
“lying.”
Still, it’s hard to figure out what else propels President Barack Obama
to falsely assert, yet again, that employers rip off female employees by paying
them 23 cents less per dollar than men -- for
doing the same work.
In his last State of the Union address, Obama said: “Today, women
make up about half our workforce. But they still make 77 cents for every dollar
a man earns. That is wrong, and in 2014, it’s an embarrassment. A woman
deserves equal pay for equal work. She deserves to have a baby without
sacrificing her job.” See, the president begins the statement with a fact. That
is, women on the whole make 77 cents
on the dollar compared to the earnings of men, on the whole. But here, as he
has other times, Obama has added for the
same work, or, as in this case, “equal pay for equal work.” This makes the
statement not only flat out false, but insultingly so.
MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” co-host, Mika Brzezinski, echoed Obama: “Of
course, women get paid 77 cents for every dollar men earn for
the same exact job, so it's something that needs to be rectified, obviously.”
(Now according to the Daily Beast, at $2 million, Mika makes half of what
Scarborough makes. Time to hire a new agent perhaps, but it does not excuse
falsely telling woman that they face a 23-cent ovary discount.)
Even the federal government -- that Obama serves as chief executive
-- knows this is nonsense.
In 2009, the U.S. Department of Labor found that, after controlling
for obvious education and job differences, the gender “wage gap” shrank to only
95 percent. The Labor Dept. report also noted women often make different
choices than men: “A greater percentage of women than men tend to work
part-time. Part-time work tends to pay less than full-time work. A greater
percentage of women than men tend to leave the labor force for childbirth,
childcare and elder care. Some of the wage gap is explained by the percentage
of women who were not in the labor force during previous years, the age of
women, and the number of children in the home. Women, especially working
mothers, tend to value ‘family friendly’ workplace policies more than men. Some
of the wage gap is explained by industry and occupation, particularly, the
percentage of women who work in the industry and occupation.”
Even the 5 percent “gap” has a non-exploited explanation. The Labor
report said:
“Research also suggests that differences not incorporated into the
model due to data limitations may account for part of the remaining gap. …[M]uch
of the literature, including the Bureau of Labor Statistics Highlights of Women’s
Earnings, focus on wages rather than total compensation. Research indicates
that women may value non-wage benefits more than men do, and as a result prefer
to take a greater portion of their compensation in the form of health insurance
and other fringe benefits.”
What’s more, three years ago USA Today found that young, childless,
unmarried working women ages 22-30 out-earn
men of the same age: “Women ages 22 to 30 with no husband and no kids earn a
median $27,000 a year, 8 percent more than comparable men in the top 366
metropolitan areas, according to 2008 U.S. Census Bureau data. …”
“The trend is especially apparent,” said USA Today, “in
cities where minority groups make up more than half the population. Among
blacks and Hispanics, women are more than twice as likely as men to earn
college degrees.” They found the largest discrepancy in Atlanta, Ga.,
where woman out-earned men by 21 percent.
Again, why does Obama keep pushing this blatant untruth? Four
possibilities: stupidity, ignorance, agenda/motive or he chooses to believe it.
Possibility number one: Say what you want about Obama, stupid he's
not.
Possibility number two: Obama lacks access to and understanding of the
information? The president of United States does not want for research, data,
information, you name it -- he and someday she, has plenty of information.
Possibility number three: The falsehood advances Obama’s agenda of
combating “inequality” while attacking the GOP for its “war on women.” This helps
to maintain the so-called voter "gender gap” with single female voters. Even
Obama’s Labor Department noted on the first page of their 93-page report, “The [77-cent]
wage gap continues to be used in misleading ways to advance public policy
agendas without fully explaining the reasons behind the gap.” Again, first
page!
Possibility number four: Leftists, like Obama, make a conscious
decision to ignore the evidence and choose an outcome consistent with their
beliefs.
This is the kind of “cherry-picking” they once accused the
anti-science, anti-intellectual George W. Bush of doing, to make a case for the
Iraq War. Some people, goes the saying, believe what they see, and others see
what they believe.
Also published in Investors Business Daily
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