Uh…Clarify Please…
(Disclaimer: Salon citing Media Matters)
Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, Salon’s Elias Isquith writes about something Martha MacCallum said on FNC today…
“I think most women do not want to be treated as sort of a special class of citizen,” MacCallum said. “They want to go to work every day, they want to get paid for being a professional, for doing their job really well, and they don’t want to be treated like some special group of people who have to be, y’know, given a little special handout just to make sure they’re OK.”
Colmes countered that pay-equalizing measures are not special handouts but rather simple fairness. “It’s equality,” he said, “it’s equal pay for equal work.”
“Many women make exactly what they’re worth,” MacCallum responded, bizarrely. After letting it sink in for a second, Colmes made a face of befuddlement and repeated MacCallum’s words back to her before asking: “Are they not worth the same amount of money for the same job as men?”
“No, I’m saying they’re worth a heck of a lot!” MacCallum responded, before rolling her eyes and laughing somewhat dismissively.
Uh…
ummm…
hmmm…
I thought maybe Salon was spinning this a bit but having watched the clip I have to say the summary is pretty dead on.
I have no problem with the first 3/4 of what MacCallum said and neither did Colmes. But I think a lot of women would have a problem with that last 1/4. The idea that women are paid what they’re worth just doesn’t square with the fact that many women, especially in non-union white collar jobs, are not paid the same as men who have the exact same position.
I will not extrapolate upon what MacCallum said and look at the implications of that comment. Instead I’ll will ask MacCallum to clarify what she said just so there is no confusion about what she may or may not have been implying.
However, my checked fire will not extend to Tucker Carlson. He’s off his rocker. Excusing two tier pay levels based on maternity leave? Uh, whaaaaaaaaaat?
Seriously?
Let’s break this down. It’s okay to have two tier pay because of maternity leave. What happens if she never takes maternity leave? What then Tucker? Will the company give her back pay to make up for the fact she never got pregnant? Yeah, right.
What if she works for ten years making 10,000 less than her male colleagues and then gets pregnant and takes a couple months off for maternity leave? Are those two months really costing the company $100,000 in lost work? Uh…probably not.
But let’s take this a step further. Let’s say that somehow that $100,000 in the above example really did even out the cost…but she never gets pregnant again? Will the company re-emburse her that 10k discrepency for the remaining years she works there? HA!
Time to rethink your position Tucker. It makes absolutely no sense.
January 29, 2014 at 8:17 pm
Averages… Averages.
on the average, a male worker never gets pregnant.
January 29, 2014 at 8:38 pm
Tucker rhymes with ……….
Martha and Tucker were just spewing nonsense, as is Larry. Just a few hours ago, Larry and his little wingman’s explanation of why there’s a gender gap was that women couldn’t do pullups or something (which had nothing to do with the subject at hand)…. now it’s because of “maternity leave”. Good grief
January 29, 2014 at 8:45 pm
I know of a lot of people who are paid more than they are worth. That said, Tucker Carlson is an bloviating fool who bounces from network to network and Martha MacCallum is Martha MacCallum.
January 29, 2014 at 8:48 pm
I know of a lot of people who are paid more than they are worth.
I’ll start. Tucker Carlson and Martha MacCallum.
January 29, 2014 at 8:50 pm
I’d be proud to have Nixon as my wingman as he was a Gulf War pilot, but I never made it out of Air Force R.O.T.C.
January 29, 2014 at 8:51 pm
As the wise man once said :
savefarris Says:
January 29, 2014 at 5:40 pm
You wanna talk about equal pay, let’s talk equal pay. And there’s no better place to start than at the top!
http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/inside-politics/2012/oct/17/obamas-record-mixed-hiring-women/
As a famous politician once said…
“But I don’t want the folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking. I want them to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess. I don’t mind cleaning up after them, but don’t do a lot of talking.”
January 29, 2014 at 8:54 pm
“But, Obama….”
No, try to stick to the subject at hand.
Moral high ground, me and Spud have it on this subject.
January 29, 2014 at 8:56 pm
My other post in the same thread Andy choses to ignore:
larrykelly Says:
January 29, 2014 at 3:28 pm
The “equal pay” issue is a crock. If you equalize the statistics based on professions and actual time worked, the pay is virtually the same.
January 29, 2014 at 8:57 pm
I’d be proud to have Nixon as my wingman as he was a Gulf War pilot, but I never made it out of Air Force R.O.T.C.
Thanks, Larry.
January 29, 2014 at 8:57 pm
So, first you’re going to say it’s a non-issue and argue Spud’s point because “averages”, now you’re going to say it’s an issue that doesn’t exist at all? Good grief.
January 29, 2014 at 8:59 pm
If you constantly feel the need to proclaim the “moral high ground” it’s an awful long fall when you come to earth.
January 29, 2014 at 9:01 pm
No Andy, your not paying attention. The two comments explain each other.
January 29, 2014 at 9:02 pm
“You’re” if the police are watching.
January 29, 2014 at 9:03 pm
Pick a talking point and stick to it. Your original argument against equal pay when I posted this story was that women aren’t as strong as men or something like that. You’re all over the place on this.
January 29, 2014 at 9:07 pm
more than anything the issue is meant to divide people which is what Democrats do.
January 29, 2014 at 9:08 pm
I get to have more than one talking point. Try it.
January 29, 2014 at 9:10 pm
Not when they have nothing to do with the subject being discussed.
January 29, 2014 at 9:10 pm
Democrats are bad because:
1) they want to take my guns away.
2) they want to take more of my money away in taxes.
Not so hard.
January 29, 2014 at 9:16 pm
1) women can’t arbitrarily demanded much money as a man if they can’t do the job as well.
2) when you look at professions they can do as well, pay is getting very close /hour worked and is on a path of equalization.
Not so hard, is it.
January 29, 2014 at 9:24 pm
I paid both men and women contractors when I needed extra help? They had varying degrees of talent but I remember:
Man 1 $100/hour
Woman 1 $250/hour
Man 2 $50/hour
Woman 2 $80/hour
January 29, 2014 at 9:34 pm
Not when they have nothing to do with the subject being discussed.
My first dog was a fish.
January 29, 2014 at 9:43 pm
Probably didn’t bark, huh?
January 29, 2014 at 9:52 pm
It was invisible.
January 30, 2014 at 12:36 pm
While we are playing “Find the Fish,” there is this from the Left about pay equality: http://spectator.org/blog/57588/obamas-77-cents-dollar-claim-debunked
January 30, 2014 at 12:38 pm
Here is the original article from Slate: http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2013/08/gender_pay_gap_the_familiar_line_that_women_make_77_cents_to_every_man_s.html
January 30, 2014 at 12:41 pm
Hey Spud: here is some data for you broadly and links to specifics to show that Martha McCallum has a fairly strong basis for her comments.
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/01/30/mcclatchy-wonders-how-does-the-obama-white-house-stack-up-on-equal-pay/
January 30, 2014 at 12:53 pm
From the comments section:
“What happened to the Lilly Ledbetter law that our dear leader signed amidst much fanfare? I thought that he had taken care of this inequality in ’12.”
BINGO!
January 30, 2014 at 1:07 pm
It would be fun to hear MacCallum spout that garbage to Megyn Kelly. Somehow I don’t think Megyn would be OK with Hannity getting more money than her even if MacCallum is fine getting paid less than Tucker or other dayside male cohosts – which I’ll bet she is.
As for maternity leave I thought that was available to either parent in most large corporations depending on who was the caregiver.
January 30, 2014 at 1:18 pm
Read the articles, Fritz. The “garbage” is coming from some of the fevered minds on the Left. As for how much the people you mentioned are making, please provide us with numbers. Otherwise, it is just idle speculation.
January 30, 2014 at 2:02 pm
The whole issue is using bogus numbers to try to make a point. They use Average pay of all men vs. all women. Of course it will be lower as women still go to or already in low pay jobs such as retail. Ever look around when you are at a Sears, Penneys, grocery store etc.
I worked in major worldwide company and ALL jobs have a pay scale. A minimum, mid, and max range of pay depending on your experiences, college ed etc. as all do. Example is a petroleum engineer job….scale was about 7000 to 10,000 per month. Do you think a major corporate company will have a different pay for men vs. women. Complete nonsense. They all are placed in that range per their qualification, grades, years of experience. Yes, the womens AVERAGE pay even in this situation will be lower….why? Because women have not been in those jobs making that kind of money for very long. They are moving into them…but at a very slow rate. Seems men and women dont like the same things…dont tell the womyns studies folks though.
And comparing that type of job in any fashion and pay with a Sears clerk is silliness of the first order. If you want to buy your pants at a Sears that pays your clerk 7 grand per month….go for it