Bill O’Reilly’s contradictory economic worldview was on stark display last Wednesday evening during the presentation of his “Talking Points Memo” on The O’Reilly Factor. This particular “Talking Points Memo” dealt with President Obama’s State of the Union Address. O’Reilly began his commentary with this:
The President’s address last night was heavy on grievance, that is, discussing Americans who are not doing as well as other Americans. The President is promising to fix that. It’s almost like he’s a teacher with favorite students. Last night, American women fell into that category. As you may know, the President wants more income fairness. He wants to lessen the gap between rich Americans and working Americans. Now, that’s a noble goal if it comes about in the private marketplace. But, an imposition into private earnings by the feds goes directly against our capitalistic system. Nevertheless, the President and the Democratic Party have targeted American women as a group that needs help.” (Emphasis added.)O’Reilly then challenged this statement from President Obama’s speech: “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.”
O’Reilly rightfully chastised the president for repeating this hackneyed canard, stating correctly that this income discrepancy can be easily explained away by adjusting for the fact that men tend to work longer hours than women, tend to be in more highly unionized industries, and enter higher paying occupations. He could also have noted the impact on women’s income of temporarily exiting the workforce while raising their children. O’Reilly also pointed out, correctly, that there has been a federal law on the books since 1963 prohibiting gender-based pay inequality.
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