Uncategorized

On Gender Pay

SOME SIMPLE PRINCIPLES …  By FITSNEWS || The federal government loves to lecture private sector companies about pay equity – even though the federal government pays women 12.7 percent less than men for the same job. “This is not a women’s issue, this is a family issue,” U.S. president Barack…

SOME SIMPLE PRINCIPLES … 

By FITSNEWS || The federal government loves to lecture private sector companies about pay equity – even though the federal government pays women 12.7 percent less than men for the same job.

“This is not a women’s issue, this is a family issue,” U.S. president Barack Obama said earlier this year. “Women now bring in close to half of all income, and there are a whole lot of families out there where the woman is the primary breadwinner.”

That’s true … although since taking office in 2009 Obama’s White House has done nothing to cut into the wage gap (even among employees working inside the White House itself).

Anyway … we have some thoughts on this issue and given that you’ve clicked on this page you clearly want to hear them.  So here goes:

1) Government should not employ men or women for non-core government functions – i.e. positions that don’t involve cops, courts, judges, prison guards, soldiers, firemen, first responders etc.

2) In the event government is employing men and women for these (and other) core functions, it should pay them all the same rate.

3) Government should have no role whatsoever in dictating hiring practices or pay rates to the private sector.  In other words if a company wishes to exclusively hire black women and pay them each eleventy kabillion dollars, “you go girl(s).”

4) The marketplace can impact pay equity far better than government.  In other words consumers who place a premium on pay equity are likely to pay a little extra for products or services offered by companies adhering to this practice.

5) Companies paying women less than men – or hiring fewer women than men for similar positions – are not only exposing themselves to adverse market consequences (i.e. potential negative fallout), they are also limiting their labor pool as well as their innovative capacity.  The beauty of the free market is it rewards talent wherever talent is found (assuming government doesn’t get in the way) – meaning companies which limit the pool of talent from which they draw only limit themselves.

There …

Done.

***

Related posts

Uncategorized

Murdaugh Retrial Hearing: Interview With Bill Young

Will Folks
State House

Conservative South Carolina Lawmakers Lead Fight Against CRT

Mark Powell
Murdaughs

‘Murdaugh Murders’ Saga: Trial Could Last Into March

Will Folks

24 comments

Independent Voter October 21, 2014 at 3:07 pm

Why doesn’t the White House live up to its own gender pay inequity rhetoric? Answer: Because Obama and his own administration are not even capable of effectively and efficiently managing and operating even a Walmart Super Center. Furthermore, neither does Nikki Haley.

Reply
Jackie Chiles October 21, 2014 at 3:23 pm

People are ignoring how the “gender gap” in pay is calculated. They’re not looking at the hourly wages based on hours worked. They’re looking at annual salaries of men vs. women. Since women are more likely to be the ones leaving at 2:30 or 3:30 to pick the kids up, to take off work to take care of kids, to have kids in the first place, to go on field trips, their annual salaries look much inferior to their male counterparts, regardless of their hourly wage.

Now, if we’re talking about two salaried employees with equal experience and job types, it’s absurd that a women would make less than the man. Furthermore, if we’re looking at a man and a woman working the same job with the same experience making different hourly wages, that’s also absurd.

Reply
Tazmaniac October 21, 2014 at 3:33 pm

Can anyone smell hypocritical bullshit? First 4 are somewhat less than conservative outlets. I guess you can just get loons to say anything for you when comes to the DNC.

https://www.google.com/#q=white+house+pays+females+less

Reply
euwe max October 21, 2014 at 11:39 pm

smell hypocritical bullshit
———–
I thought the RNC decided back in the 60’s that if you smelt it, you dealt it.

Reply
Jackie Chiles October 21, 2014 at 3:36 pm

By the way, the notion that “consumers who place a premium on pay equity” would have any impact on the pay practices of a company is laughable.

If consumers aren’t willing to pay more for non-slave labor christmas lights, I doubt they’ll pay more for “equal pay wheaties” or whatever product would be rolled out.

Reply
Ayn Rand Needed Some Soap October 21, 2014 at 4:44 pm

Libertarism is bullshit much like Marxism.

Reply
Bible Thumper October 21, 2014 at 5:08 pm

Is fits really this dumb? Nah! He just wants hits.

Reply
euwe max October 21, 2014 at 6:47 pm

women are lucky we let them work… they need to shut their pie hole.

Reply
MaleMatters October 21, 2014 at 7:41 pm

It isn’t everyday women. It’s feminists, both female and male, who complain about pay.

“The Doctrinaire Institute for Women’s Policy Research: A Comprehensive Look at Gender Equality” http://www.malemattersusa.wordpress.com/2012/02/16/the-doctrinaire-institute-for-womens-policy-research/

Reply
euwe max October 21, 2014 at 8:07 pm

feminists
—–
just another word for uppity women. When they learn their place and shut the fuck up when men are having an opinion, things will get better by themselves… like they used to.

They say they want equality, but what they *really* want is a pair of balls!

Reply
FastEddy23 October 21, 2014 at 9:37 pm

“… It’s feminists, both female and male, who complain about pay. …”

AND that’s why They don’t make a better wage. The whiners and losers get the axe first.

The Real Women Are Smarter than that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2Bc71SAGuI

Reply
euwe max October 21, 2014 at 11:34 pm

The whiners and losers get the axe first in the real world.

—–
The smart thing is to wait in the shadows while change takes place without you.

When you complain, you just let people know that you don’t believe in government…. or democracy… or the free market.

if you were meant to have it all, you’d have it all…

There’s only room in the 1% for 1%. Otherwise, why do you think they *call* it the 1%?

They didn’t whine – they went out and *earned* a billion dollars!

Why dig a hole in the ground under the sun for an idiot, when you can use the same time to make millions of dollars, is what I want to know.

Reply
FastEddy23 October 22, 2014 at 3:59 pm

“… There’s only room in the 1% for 1%. Otherwise, why do you think they *call* it the 1%? …”

Yes, life is like a pyramid … but there is always room at the top. (Its awfully crowded at the bottom, so why stay there?)

euwe max October 22, 2014 at 4:16 pm

It’s like cancer – no one gets out alive, but cancer is a bitch.

FastEddy23 October 21, 2014 at 9:35 pm

women are lucky we let them work … and vote … ;>]

Reply
euwe max October 21, 2014 at 11:15 pm

Yeah… and vote!

Reply
FastEddy23 October 22, 2014 at 4:03 pm

“… It’s not like they use [the women’s vote] for anything – except to restrict their own reproductive rights, elect chauvinists and warmongers yearning to turn their children into political and monetary gain, and return them in handfuls or in a wheelchair. …”

Keeps ’em off the streets … at home under a woman’s thumb … out of the bars and out of harms way … and away from “that other woman”.

“Behind every great man, there is a woman telling him he’s wrong.” … Ask Slick Billy for details.

Reply
Smirks October 21, 2014 at 6:53 pm

On the one hand, correlation does not imply causation. On the other hand, yes, there very much is sex-based discrimination when it comes to pay, promotions, etc.

The marketplace can impact pay equity far better than government.

Ah, yes, the same “marketplace” that engages in wage theft to the tune of billions will surely impact pay equity in a positive manner. May the mercy of the Invisible Hand (peace be upon him) protect us all.

In other words consumers who place a premium on pay equity are likely to pay a little extra for products or services offered by companies adhering to this practice.

And the majority of the population that doesn’t give a shit will continue to buy whatever the cheapest product is at Walmart, thus no significant change will actually happen.

This argument is about the saddest one libertarians constantly trot out, as if millions of people will systematically shun a business into oblivion because it farts in the elevator. Meanwhile, in the real world, the worst products are sold at the worst stores by some of the worst paid employees and it churns out billions upon billions for multinational corporations who couldn’t give a rats ass if some sweatshop worker gets offed by terrible safety or being overworked, or one of their serf employees can’t afford to see a doctor. (And, ironically, guess who libertarians tend to defend in those scenarios? Why, the “captains of industry,” of course.)

Companies paying women less than men – or hiring fewer women than men for similar positions – are not only exposing themselves to adverse market consequences (i.e. potential negative fallout)

In any libertarian utopia, all of society’s ills have the potential to be solved. Companies could potentially lose talent for negative practices. If we ended food stamps and let people have a few measly tax dollars back, they could potentially use that for charity to buy people food. If we ended environmental regulations, businesses who chose to pollute to save tons of dollars could potentially face the wrath of the dreaded savvy population at large when they choose not to buy their product or services.

Two things come to mind:

1) The likelihood of these potential fixes actually happening are questionable at best, and delusional at worst.

2) A lot of these potential fixes are suggested at the expense of killing actual fixes, many of which were created as a result of the potential fix never fucking happening in the first place.

I’m not sure if the government should, or even can, do anything to fix the gender pay issue, but if you’re leaving it up to the free market, well, don’t be surprised if it never happens.

Reply
MaleMatters October 21, 2014 at 7:39 pm

Re: “the federal government pays women 12.7 percent less than men for the same job.”

Not true. As a fed govt employee for 27 years, I can tell you first-hand that women get the exact same pay for the same job. Federal wages are public record. Any woman who thinks she is paid less could find out in, oh, 30 seconds or less.

In general, women don’t just live longer than men (that longevity gap has more than doubled since 1900) and enjoy better health than men, who on average die sooner and at a higher rate of the 12 leading causes of death. They as a group also control most of the consumer spending — consumer spending is about 70% of all economic activity in the US — and most of the nation’s wealth. Soon they will control even more.

“Over the next decade, women will control two thirds of consumer wealth in the United States and be the beneficiaries of the largest transference of wealth in our country’s history. Estimates range from $12 to $40 trillion. Many Boomer women will experience a double inheritance windfall, from both parents and husband.” -http://www.she-conomy.com/facts-on-women

The typical wife is younger than her husband by 2.5 years and she outlives him by five. Thus she enjoys her and her husband’s wealth 7.5 years longer than the husband, who much more often than she created their wealth alone.

To put these statements in the proper gender perspective, reverse the sexes in them:

In general, men don’t just live longer than women (that longevity gap has more than doubled since 1900) and enjoy better health than women, who on average die sooner and at a higher rate of the 12 leading causes of death. They as a group also control most of the consumer spending and most of the nation’s wealth. Soon they will control even more.

Just by themselves, the statements would signify enough unfair male power, privilege, and advantage that feminists would explode out onto the streets in visceral, thunderous protest.

“The Doctrinaire Institute for Women’s Policy Research: A Comprehensive Look at Gender Equality” http://www.malemattersusa.wordpress.com/2012/02/16/the-doctrinaire-institute-for-womens-policy-research/

Reply
FastEddy23 October 21, 2014 at 9:28 pm

“The federal government loves to lecture private sector companies about pay equity – even though the federal government pays women 12.7 percent less than men for the same job. …”

It all depends on: the job, the company, the employee, the state … The highest paid real estate agent in Taxifornia is a woman. The highest paid dot.com e-Commerce CEO is a woman. The highest paid Hewlett Packard employee is a woman. … my highest paid employee is a woman, she makes about 10% more than I do and I own it.

Reply
euwe max October 21, 2014 at 11:41 pm

The federal government loves to lecture private sector companies about pay equity

——-
lecture smecture… when the Nazis turned the private sector into a fascist state, it was a big hit!

…until the Allies got a belly full and did something about it.

Otherwise, it’d be the lead story every night on the news… .”War in x going well.. war in y not going so well… liberal protesters keeping trains from running on time…”

hmmmm.

Reply
Bible Thumper October 21, 2014 at 11:50 pm

Those damn allies ruined everything.

Reply
Mark Petereit October 22, 2014 at 8:04 am

I don’t understand why people don’t just look at the facts: men ASK for more money/opportunities, while women tend to simply accept what they’re offered.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/29/AR2007072900827.html

Reply
FastEddy23 October 23, 2014 at 12:04 pm

You obviously have never been manipulated by women … They do ask for more, and usually get it, you jus’ missed the messages. The Women Are Smarter than that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v

Reply

Leave a Comment