Did You Know...

**Written by Doug Powers

Uh oh — Obama and the Democrats are talking about “fairness” again, which means we’re all on the brink of being screwed, but more fairly than ever:

WASHINGTON — President Obama plans to press Congress today to pass pay-equity legislation that would make it easier for women to sue employers who pay them less than their male counterparts, the White House said Monday.

“Women deserve equal pay,” White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett said in an interview, citing government statistics that show women earn 77 cents for every dollar men earn. “It’s a very fundamental right.”

Obama will announce his support for the Paycheck Fairness Act, a bill that has languished in Congress for several years. In 2007, President Bush warned he would veto the bill, and it has been stalled by opposition from some Republicans and business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The ACLU endorses the proposal, as does every visibly aroused trial lawyer from here to Neptune:

“Due to rising unemployment rates, families need to bring home every dollar they rightfully earn, making pay equity even more necessary, not only to families’ economic security but also to the nation’s economic recovery,” the ACLU’s Laura Murphy said in a July 13 letter to senators.

If women earn 77 cents for every dollar men earn, then why not call on government to immediately cut taxes 23% for working females until this gross injustice can be sorted out? (pause for laughter)

Here’s the so-called plan:

A White House task force plans to announce today that the Obama administration will:

• Improve the government’s data collection from businesses to get a better handle on the scope of wage discrimination.

• Close the wage gap among federal employees.

• Promote greater workplace flexibility. Vice President Biden, noting that two-thirds of households with children are run by working parents, said, “The workplace has, for the most part, not changed to reflect these realities — and it must.”

The irony is of course that maybe parents wouldn’t have to work so much if these alleged seekers of “fairness” weren’t strangling the private sector to death. But it’s not like they don’t know that.

Rest assured the Democrats won’t address any wage gap among government employees by bringing the high end down to match the low end, but rather the other way around.

The “Paycheck Fairness Act” will be about little except lawyers, ratcheting up pay for Federal employees (and more importantly, the dues those employees pay the unions who back Democrats), allowing the government to dig their snouts even deeper into the pie of American business (how many more IRS agents will this Act require in order to enforce it?), and, perhaps most importantly, artificially ratcheting up private sector taxable income via yet another government mandate.

Hopefully the three women and two men in the country who still have an actual job by the time Team Obama is finished will appreciate the gesture.

If we’re serious about settling pay inequities, maybe we should start with Obama’s Pay Czar — he’s made more money than any women I’ve ever met, and what’s fair about that?

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe