Posted on 10/14/2004 9:34:14 AM PDT by No Surrender Monkey
Desperate men often resort to clichéd lines when trying to snare women. Senator John Kerry must be desperate, because he dragged out the tired, misleading statistic about the so-called wage gap during last night's debate; namely, that women only earn 76 cents for each man's dollar.
This factoid comes from Department of Labor data on the average wage of a full-time working woman and the average wage of a full-time working man. And, yes, if you look at those numbers you will find that the average woman earns about three quarters of the income of the average man.
But that statistic ignores many relevant factors that affect a worker's take-home pay. For starters, it doesn't adjust for number of years worked. On average, women spend about a decade out of the workforce to care for their families. It should come as no surprise to Senator Kerry that a 35-year-old woman reentering the workforce after ten years off earns less than a man or woman who worked continuously during that time.
The wage-gap statistic also fails to consider educational attainment. Today, women earn more than half of all bachelor's and master's degrees, but it wasn't always that way. Older women in the workforce tend to have less education than their male peers, which affected their career path, their salaries, and ultimately Department of Labor data.
Women and men also often have different priorities when assessing employment opportunities. One survey of working women found that for nearly three quarters a flexible schedule was "very important" when considering a job. This means that many women are willing to trade more money for more flexibility or time off.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
Let's examine her comments step by step:
"Women are paid less than men for performing the SAME job" and "men doing the same job get more pay..."
But "I don't believe I ever said I was discriminated against. I was given a 16% raise when someone in my company compared the numbers."
Yet "I see salaries in my company and have a basis for making that statement [women are discriminated against]" and "I know who has worked here the longest, the same itme, or less time. I know what their job classifications are. I know what salaries they start both men and women at."
Although "...[M]y company had to adjust my salary to not be subject to the law you are referring to." and "...I [am] the boss then now..." (sic)
But "Now that I am a manager, I can see the descrepancies and I also can note that men get the higher level jobs at entry and women get the lower positions."
Although "The company because of other lawsuits adjusted those that were being discriminated against on their own -- without my need to file. Had I known that I was being discriminated against (which is why they keep the salaries secret by the way), I might have filed."
Still, "I'm comparing women in my dept. with men who report to me also. Same number of years of experience, doing the same job."
Of course, "...I didn't realize I was even being discriminated against THEN."
But then, "But I'll continue to manage 54 employees (men and women) based on merit and not gender," "And luckily no one is being discriminated against now because I have reviewed all the records with Human Resources."
I would surmise her response will be that she knows that discrimination goes on at her company but refuses to address or confront it because...she's being discriminated against? No, wait, because...her boss is a woman? No, it must be because she's...um...working from the inside...trying to resolve things peacefully...by not suing...because the company's been sued already and continues to do it...so lawsuits don't work...even though the last one resolved discrimination...although it didn't really?
Why do I feel like I'm trying to discern Kerry's position on Iraq?
Alright, my brain hurts trying to figure out which way she'll fall on her company's discrimination this time. Your turn to guess what she'll sling out there. I would suggest you put something in there about "male-dominated workplace" and "patriarchal attitude." That and something about how I'm a geezer and control my wife. Oh, and that these posts addressing her b.s. are way too LONG (because that means they must be somehow not right).
Good catch on that, btw. I was so trying to avoid being distracted by the flurry of insults and stay on point that I missed another of her flubs.
At least I've got a great tag line now. If she wasn't serious, if people didn't really think that was how logic worked, it'd be even more funny.
When Kerry's trolling for women (and I have it on good
authority) he wears a fake moustache tinged on the edges
with green dye and his pick up line is this:
"GOT MONEY?"
LOL...he's a total slime with or without a greasy moustache
Ganging up when you can't win now? Very male of you. It's what men do in the corporate boardroom all the time. I expected it of you.
I'm guess neither of you have ever worked in a corporate situation however.
First Polybius admits he found and correct a situation where an incompetent male was put in charge of more competent women. But he continues to claim that it doesn't happen anywhere else. Where's the logic in that?
Arguing with people who have experienced the situation but who still claim it doesn't happen is a loss of time. You are what you are: biased anti-women old coot males. You in reality always were, always will be anti-women. Once you pretended you were not, only because you didn't want to get sued like you sued someone else.
Sad little men.
Thank you for adding to my prayer list--I shall thank God daily for the fact that a woman like you is neither working for me nor married to me. I do not think men should control women.
You don't have to waste your time praying for this. No woman in her right mind would do either. Pray for changing your ways and thinking that women are less than men. Pray that your wife doesn't leave you for your disrespect of women. Pray that your boss (the woman) doesn't fire you.
You proved my point. You can't win so you comfort each other. Just like the boys in the boardroom have to go to the golf course but now the strip club to avoid any disagrement with their long held anti-women comments.
I'm not surprised.
Here is a classic example of the Victim Card, folks.
If she alianates more than one person, then she is the Victim of "ganging up". For another example, see Hillary Clinton's "Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy" accusations.
I'm guess neither of you have ever worked in a corporate situation however.
Well, I own a corporation.
First Polybius admits he found and correct a situation where an incompetent male was put in charge of more competent women.
No. He was not in charge of "more competent women". That was at a small satellite clinic where the other X-Ray technician was not qualified to be manager. That, as I told you before is why I had to advertise in the newspaper to find a manager from outside the clinic when I became the new owner. A competent woman applied and she was hired.......at 110% of the former salary of the previous male manager.
But he continues to claim that it doesn't happen anywhere else. Where's the logic in that?
That is a ridiculous and false Strawman Argument.
Of course discrimination happens every day for all sorts of reasons in every city in the world. That is not the issue.
The issue is whether or not is is so pervasive in the U.S. and women are so utterly helpless that, as a general rule, women in the U.S. make 78 cents on the dollar solely because of their gender.
Arguing with people who have experienced the situation but who still claim it doesn't happen is a loss of time.
That is how a Strawman Argument works folks: First you throw out a false and ridiculous statement, attribute it to your opponent and then you start arguing with yourself.
You are what you are: biased anti-women old coot males. You in reality always were, always will be anti-women. Once you pretended you were not, only because you didn't want to get sued like you sued someone else. Sad little men.
Now she is whipping out the Victim Card. She will continue to do so again and again and again........
As I said folks, this is the classic behavior of a Professional Victim. You will be hard pressed to find a better example than BushisTheMan.
So playing the victim card is bad? Well, when women are paid less than men, they are victims. I know that is a hard concept for someone like you to understand.
I work in Healthcare, so I do not see that at all. I think it is a myth as well. What field do you work in BushisTheMan?
Well, I own a corporation.
My my. Owning your own corporation where you are in control is so much easier than surviving in a corporation where you have to compete. My only wish is that someone who works for you uses that link you keep providing some day.
I don't give out personal information.
Do you see salaries?
My my. Owning your own corporation where you are in control is so much easier than surviving in a corporation where you have to compete.
Ummmm....Genius.....Has it ever occurred to you that, when you own your own corporation, you are in direct competition with every other corporation in the region providing the same product or service?
It's survival of the fitest and, if you can't compete, your corporation is out of business. My corparation has made me one of the "richest 1%" that Kerry keeps wanting to tax so I am doing extremely well in the competition department.
My only wish is that someone who works for you uses that link you keep providing some day.
There goes the whiny Victim Card again.
The Victim Card means claiming victimhood where none exists.
Someone like you will compare the salary of a man with 15 years of seniority with the salary of a woman with two years of seniority and then claim that the woman is a victim because you have seen the salaries and "the man is getting paid more for doing the same work".
You have never put your claims into context, you only look at gender and that makes you a Victim Card pushher.
That, and attributing every challange to you to the fact that you are a female instead of the fact that your arguments are false and foolish.
Being a doctor alone makes you in the richest 1%, with or without competition. I wonder if your women clients know what an anti-woman person you are?
Since you are a man and can't experience being a victum of lower pay, likely you will never understand it. My wish is that as more women doctors hit the market, you will be less and less relevant. Doctors (men or women) who appreciate women will still be.
If you want whining (and you obviously do), I'm whining that my parents weren't rich like yours were and could afford to send me to medical school too.
That's okay that you own your own business...if you control the purse strings, are you paying women less than men for doing the same work?
And yes, I do see the salaries for people I hire, and yes, the pay is not based on sex, it is based on experience. A man with the same experience is paid the same as a woman with the same experience.
I am not trying to be a smartass, I am just saying I do not see it in my industry.
I didn't accuse you of being a smartass. I just asked if you had access to salaries.
You, like me, have access to a small group of people. If the salaries are fair in your case, I applaud it. But you are a small sampling. National statistics still show that women get less than men even when women who leave the work force are removed from the stats.
Each person has to make sure that things are fair in their own organizations and the stats will change. But when you have people who deny this occurs, the changes won't happen.
"......I'm whining that my parents weren't rich like yours were and could afford to send me to medical school too. "?????????????
That statement is utterly pathetic.
One more example of the Victim Card here folks.
This one is a real whopper and exposes how the individual that goes through life as a Professional Victim is his or her own worst enemy.
Our Poor Little Miss Victim can't possibly imagine how anybody in America could possibly become a success without having success handed to them on a silver platter through either "rich parents" or by falsely claiming discrimination.
As long-time Freepers know, I was born in Cuba and came to the U.S. when I was 6.
My parents lost everything they had in Cuba and, when they came here, they had to struggle with whatever jobs they could find. My father, a partner in an insurance company in Cuba, had to work as a taxi driver for years after arriving in the U.S. Just as he was getting back up on his financial feet, he died of pancreatic cancer when I was 16.
Those were the "rich parents" I had. I lost my father to cancer when I was 16 and my mother worked like a dog just to put food on the table.
My father had no money to leave me. However, he did leave me with a work ethic instead of a Victimhood ethic.
I worked and paid my own way through college without a single dollar of tuition help from my mother who could not afford to help. In fact, she sometimes needed my help with money I earned just to pay the family bills.
For medical school, I had a U.S. Navy scholarship and I paid back the Navy with 8 years of active duty.
After the Navy built up a successful medical practice.
"Rich parents" had nothing to do with it.
There is an anecdote published in a book about Latinos that compared the "Can Do" attitude of Cuban Americans with the "poor little oppressed me" victimhood mentality of some other ethnic groups.
As the story goes, a Mexican complained to the Cuban that he was the victim of discrimination because the bank turned him down for a loan because he was a Mexican.
The Cuban, being a typical Cuban who did not wallow in Victimhood replied, "That's funny. Twenty years ago, that same bank did not want to lend me money either.......Not because I was a Cuban but because I was poor and had zero collateral. Now that I own ten stores, every bank in town wants to lend me money and I'm still a Cuban!"
You, BushisTheMan , want to blame everybody else except yourself for your lack of success in life and now you even put the blame on your own parents for not being able to make enough money to hand you success on a silver platter.
That is truly pathetic!
If you have not made a success of yourself in the United States of America, BushisTheMan, don't cop out and blame your own parents for their lack of wealth or blame your gender.
Blame yourself for living your life as a helpless victim who believes that you can't possibly succeed in life because of your victim status.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.