77 Cents Myth

Ugh, can we work on real problems, please?

WSJ Opinion

April 8 is "Equal Pay Day," an annual event to raise awareness regarding the so-called gender wage gap. As President Obama said in the State of the Union address, women "still make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns," a claim echoed by the National Committee on Pay Equity, the American Association of University Women and other progressive groups.

The 23% gap implies that women work an extra 68 days to earn the same pay as a man. Mr. Obama advocates allowing women to sue for wage discrimination, with employers bearing the burden of proving they did not discriminate. But the numbers bandied about to make the claim of widespread discrimination are fundamentally misleading and economically illogical.

...

These gender-disparity claims are also economically illogical. If women were paid 77 cents on the dollar, a profit-oriented firm could dramatically cut labor costs by replacing male employees with females. Progressives assume that businesses nickel-and-dime suppliers, customers, consultants, anyone with whom they come into contact—yet ignore a great opportunity to reduce wages costs by 23%. They don't ignore the opportunity because it doesn't exist. Women are not in fact paid 77 cents on the dollar for doing the same work as men.

I've worked at 3 large companies (14,000 employees, 11,000 employees, and now ~3,600 employees) and have been very involved in recruiting and hiring. There is not one case of gender wage discrimination that I'm aware of in the ~20 years. It makes no sense... I want to hire the best candidate possible for as little money as possible, male or female. We also worry about every basis point of margin. I'd hire all women as well if I can get a huge margin bump.

NPR = National Progressive Radio

What a load of partisan crap. I'm a cynic... this whole audacity/hope/change thing was a trick to fool stupid young voters. Obama is super liberal and a narcissistic power grabber, much like most (if not all) prior presidents. The difference is that his #1 selling point was that he is different. It's pretty evident after 5 years that he is not. As scandals start piling up this week, it appears he is worse than your average president and a total hypocrite.

I'm upset that my tax dollars, no matter how small, goes towards this guy's salary.

NPR

Goodbye, Again, To Obama's Most Audacious Hope

The sudden eruption of second-term scandals in his administration will have many costs for President Obama, but surely the most grievous will be the lost opportunity to transcend the partisan wars of Washington. That aspiration was his fondest dream for his second term, much as it was for his first. Now it seems destined to be dashed once again.

...

We can now be sure that the capital's pre-existing condition of partisanship will worsen with complications from multiple investigations, probes and Hill hearings as far as the eye can see. Whatever else that means, it means that the President Obama we have will not be the President Obama he wanted to become.

The article begins and ends on a fallacy that Obama is not partisan. Maybe we're looking through different colored lenses but Obama has done nothing but push the liberal agenda and totally unwilling to compromise. My taxes will be higher for 10+ years due to the Democrats buying off voters. Obama and his "we won" attitude is the problem with Washington.

BTW, my job is finance in a private company where politices don't matter. Ron Elving is an editor at NPR. He shouldn't work there if all he's doing is pushing the liberal agenda. Me and half of America want our money back.

Worst-Run State in America

Of course it's California... 2nd year in a row.

Yahoo! Finance

Every year, 24/7 Wall St. conducts an extensive survey of all fifty states in America. Based on a review of data on financial health, standard of living and government services by state we determine how well each state is managed. For the first time, North Dakota is the best run. California is the worst run for the second year in a row.

Now with a Democratic super-majority in CA state government, it's going to get a lot worse.

Stock Market Tanks...

4 more years!

4 More Years of Wealth Redistribution

Crap. Well, at least I don't live in China. This has to be a bad translation... or the most incoherent article I've ever read.

Be wary of populism led by democracy

Results of the US presidential election will be made public today. No matter who wins, Barack Obama or Mitt Romney, there's no expectation either domestically or externally that US policies will dramatically change. The problems in the US will remain.

The election has just been about getting votes, and this is gradually becoming a popular political rule throughout the world. Politicians should try their best to please the voters and make various promises. The demands of voters will continue to increase, while their patience for setbacks grows weaker.

The electoral system encourages populism. Parties and politicians are slowly turned into its captives.

Viewed from the literal meaning of the phrase "civil rights," this evolution in the political system is correct.

The outcome of carrying civil rights to their extreme is to maximize everyone's benefits.

The concepts of effort and hard work will become outdated. The overall progress of the country has become an issue of secondary importance.

This is a worldwide phenomenon. China will also be affected, even though its political system is not the same as the West's. China once attached great importance to efficiency. The impact brought about by populism may affect this.

However, Western governments have given up their responsibility to lead society and now only shuffle voters and votes.

This should alarm Chinese society. The spirit of hard work and effort must not be replaced by unrealistic welfarism.

China's general situation is far less well-developed than that of the US.

However, many people in the world are optimistic about China. This is because they trust in the continuity of Chinese policies and China's social governance capabilities. They believe that China's system can overcome difficulties and promote the development of the country.

There's no perfect political system. However, China's current system is widely considered to be an effective one. The efficiency of this system is both outstanding and rare.

The most precious thing in the world is development. Some people think that happiness is more important than development.

However, without development, the economy will deteriorate. Then what happiness can there be?

Fairness is also very important. However, only when the joint development of both the economy and society has been achieved, can fairness be ensured.

China has already experienced the old days, when there was a low standard of fairness. But now, who wants to go back to that time?

A real understanding of the US presidential elections is extremely important to Chinese society. It can broaden our horizons.

We can also heed warnings from their examples. Modern Chinese society should be able to discern the truth. China's rise is already an unstoppable trend and it is halfway through this path.

Difficulties can be found on all paths. What we should overcome is our own difficulties. Our determination and confidence will be more firm once we have overthrown illusions.

46 Slaves

Look, a website that calculates how many "slaves" work for me... and most of them are in China. If I'm going to oppress people through forced labor, I may as well do it to my "own" people.



Slavery Footprint

This is beyond stupid, and a waste of taxpayer money: the website is sponsored by the State Department. The site says the average person has 38 slaves; I got dinged for my 10 computers. There are about 200+ million adults in the U.S. If each one has 38 slaves working for them, then there are 7.6 billion slaves worldwide supporting the American lifestyle.

Wait, there are only 7.0 billion people on earth? Let's not let facts get in the way of progressive feel-good propaganda crap. If you are going to use incendiary rhetoric such as equating "owning slaves" to consumerism, you'd better get your story straight. Like the comment above for China. There are closer to 250 million migrant workers and the majority do not work in illegal coal mines or brick kilns. Most probably work in factories like Foxconn; is that considered "forced labor"?

Ban Profits!

Ugh, what is wrong with these people?! No profits means no corporations and no jobs... do these retarded Democrats think we can all work for the government?!

All Your Base Are Belong To Us

Seriously, WTF?!

White House

There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me -- because they want to give something back. They know they didn’t -- look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something -- there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.

If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.

The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together. There are some things, just like fighting fires, we don’t do on our own. I mean, imagine if everybody had their own fire service. That would be a hard way to organize fighting fires.

This is so wrong I don't even know where to begin. Yes, I've had some help along the way but those people were paid for their efforts. Did those "great teachers" work for free? Did I not pay taxes for roads and bridges? Millions of us work our asses off each day so we can provide for ourselves and our families, paying 1/3 to 1/2 of our income towards taxes, while millions of other sit on their asses and collect welfare. They're not helping me one bit.

And how does someone who spent his entire career in academia and government have the creds to criticize business owners? Everyone who owns a business or has equity in their employer company should be totally offended. This culture of blaming others for your failures and taking credit for other people's work being promoted by Obama and the Democrats is bad for America.

Democrat Dictators

What's with Democrats/Liberals and their love of dictatorships? I guess it's implied that they assume that they would be in charge, instead of being silenced and oppressed.

Foreign Policy

"The Chinese are more successful [in building infrastructure] because in their country, only three people make the decision. In our country, 3,000 people do, 3 million," LaHood said in a short interview with The Cable on the sidelines of the 2012 Aspen Ideas Festival on June 30. "In a country where only three people make the decision, they can decide where to put their rail line, get the money, and do it. We don't do it that way in America."

Is this man retarded? How did he become a member of Obama's cabinet? These idiots that praise China's "efficiency" are ignoring the inevitable results of dictatorships: massive corruption and rampant human rights abuses. What if the "three people" are wrong? Look how "successful" China was when it was effectively one person (Mao) making decisions.

Worst.Fundraiser.Ever

Why The Face?! Seriously, what the hell are they thinking? This has got to be the worst idea ever for fundraising. Government is intrusive enough; we don't need "OBAMA/BIDEN" at every one of our personal events.

I think Obama overestimates how much people like him and underestimate how much this kind of crap irritates people.

Worst.President.Ever

State Department FAIL

I hope I'm wrong but it looks like Obama, Clinton, and the US State Department just handed back Chen Guangchen back to CCP thugs for more torture and illegal detention. I guess the US Embassy is not safe... perhaps I should be traveling on my Canadian passport next time I go to China.

AP

A blind activist said Wednesday that U.S. officials told him that Chinese authorities would have beaten his wife to death had he not left the American Embassy, where he sought sanctuary after fleeing persecution by local officials in his rural town.

A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, denied that the administration had passed on to Chen Guangcheng any threat of violence to his family, but did say that Chen was told that if he stayed in the embassy indefinitely, his family would be returned to their home province.

A shaken Chen, speaking from the hospital room where he was taken after leaving the embassy Wednesday, also said that U.S. officials told him Chinese authorities would send his family back home if he stayed inside. But he added that, at one point, the U.S. officials told him his wife would be beaten to death.

"They said if I don't leave they would take my children and family back to Shandong," Chen told The Associated Press. He said he heard the death threat from an American official whom he could not identify.

Lame. Everyone was complaining about China sending North Korean refugees back across the border to certain torture or death. Now the Obama is doing the same thing. They rejected Wang Lujin's asylum request because Biden didn't want to complicate his meeting with Xi Jinping; did Clinton just do the same with Chen Guangchen?

Clinton had said in a statement earlier in the day that Chen's exit from the embassy "reflected his choices and our values" and said the U.S. would monitor the assurances Beijing gave.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry demanded that the U.S. apologize for harboring Chen, investigate how he got into the embassy and hold those responsible accountable.

"What the U.S. side has done has interfered in the domestic affairs of China, and the Chinese side will never accept it," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said in a statement.

Both sides were eager to resolve Chen's case to clear the way for talks on a U.S.-China agenda crowded with disagreements over trade imbalances, North Korea and Syria. With Chen out of the way, Clinton, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and their Chinese counterparts would be able to focus on the original purpose of their two-day talks starting Thursday: building trust between the world's superpower and its up-and-coming rival.

I think the Foreign Ministry meant to say, "How did he escape after we spent millions of RMB guarding him?"

Permanent Campaign

POTUS CFOTUS = Chief Fundraiser of the United States

Daily Mail

Barack Obama has already held more re-election fundraising events than every elected president since Richard Nixon combined, according to figures to be published in a new book.

Obama is also the only president in the past 35 years to visit every electoral battleground state in his first year of office.
The figures, contained a in a new book called The Rise of the President’s Permanent Campaign by Brendan J. Doherty, due to be published by University Press of Kansas in July, give statistical backing to the notion that Obama is more preoccupied with being re-elected than any other commander-in-chief of modern times.

Doherty, who has compiled statistics about presidential travel and fundraising going back to President Jimmy Carter in 1977, found that Obama had held 104 fundraisers by March 6th this year, compared to 94 held by Presidents Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush Snr, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush combined.

I guess the upside is that while he's out campaigning, he's not raising taxes or redistributing wealth. At this point, I don't even care who will be the Republican nominee; I'm voting for him/her/it over Obama, though my vote won't even matter on the crazy Left Coast.

Bathroom Break

Since we have a fairly strict sign-in policy at work, there is a unisex bathroom behind the receptionist in our main lobby (in case you need to go but don't want to sign in). My sister was visiting me on Tuesday afternoon and need to use the bathroom. The receptionist told her to wait since there was someone else in there already. We waited for about 2 minutes and an old white guy walked out. There was about six people waiting for him in the lobby and he was giving orders to everyone; I got the impression that he was used to giving orders to a lot of people.

Anyway, I had to drop my sister off somewhere right after and we noticed that the old white guy had a CHP escort in front and a black Secret Service looking SUV following his car (another large SUV). We thought he was probably a VIP but couldn't recognize him. I followed his caravan out of our office and I think they took the 105 West on-ramp, probably to LAX.

I asked my boss today and it turned out that the old white guy was Harry Reid, US Senate Majority Leader. When he came out of the bathroom, he mentioned to someone (his staffer?) that the faucet was cool. I hope he wasn't commenting on the motion sensors because that's not rocket science. I was also told that Diane Feinstein was here earlier in the day... not sure if she was impressed by the bathroom.

Chevy Volt Subsidies

Why is Obama taking money from me to give to rich people so they can buy another car?

The Daily Caller

The White House intends to boost government subsidies for wealthy buyers of the Chevy Volt and other new-technology vehicles — to $10,000 per buyer.

That mammoth subsidy would cost taxpayers $100 million each year if it is approved by Congress, presuming only 10,000 new-technology autos are sold each year.

But the administration wants to get 1 million new-tech autos on the road by 2015. The subsidy cost of that goal could reach $10 billion.

The planned giveaway will likely prompt populist protests from GOP legislators, but it will likely also will be welcomed by auto-industry workers in the critical swing state of Michigan.

It's an election year and Obama needs votes!

I guess Elon will be happy since the Tesla cars will probably qualify for the $10k credit.

Dictator Supporters

Once again, China is on the wrong side of history, supporting dictators who murder their own citizens rather than share power.

Los Angeles Times

A United Nations resolution that Washington and its allies called the best chance to stop Syria from sliding into full-fledged civil war went down to defeat, dashing hopes for a political settlement as death tolls soar in the strategically situated Arab nation.

Security Council vetoes by superpowers Russia and China on Saturday doomed the measure, which condemned a Syrian crackdown on dissent and backed an Arab League plan calling on President Bashar Assad to cede power.

Of course, this was expected from China. After all, the CCP supported Ghaddafi and they continue to support the crazy Kim's in North Korea. Dictators have to stick together in times of crisis.

State of the Union Lies

I didn't listen to the State of the Union speech because like most political speeches, it would be full of lies and a total waste of time. However, I read some comments on the Internet and had to check for myself:

But in return, we need to change our tax code so that people like me, and an awful lot of members of Congress, pay our fair share of taxes.

Tax reform should follow the Buffett Rule. If you make more than $1 million a year, you should not pay less than 30 percent in taxes. And my Republican friend Tom Coburn is right: Washington should stop subsidizing millionaires. In fact, if you’re earning a million dollars a year, you shouldn’t get special tax subsidies or deductions. On the other hand, if you make under $250,000 a year, like 98 percent of American families, your taxes shouldn’t go up. You’re the ones struggling with rising costs and stagnant wages. You’re the ones who need relief.

Now, you can call this class warfare all you want. But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes? Most Americans would call that common sense.

What is fair? Taxes pay for government services. The ultimate "fairness" is to pay for what you use, i.e., usage fees instead of indiscriminate taxes. Small example: abolish taxes for national parks and increase the entrance fee to cover costs. Big example: have parents pay for the children's schooling costs instead of taxing all their childless neighbors. I'm not suggesting that these are good/bad ideas... of course, there is a role for government (national defense, public safety, etc) but there needs to be a robust discussion on how much is too much. Obama equates fairness as at least 30% if you make >$1M. Why 30%? Does 30% of everyone's life depend on the federal government? Why not make everyone pay 30%? We know half of America pays almost no federal income taxes. How is that fair?

The last part of the quote is a complete lie. Obama is confounding tax dollars paid and average tax rate on purpose, unless he is trying to tell us that the amount on line 61 of Warren Buffet's 1040 form is less than the amount found on his secretary's tax return. I read that Buffet paid ~17% on his taxes while supposedly his secretary paid ~36%. Since the median taxpayer paid only 12.8%, and the top marginal tax rate is only 35%, common sense suggests something is wrong. Buffet and his secretary should release their taxes since Obama is using them for political purposes.

Mitt Romney's Tax Return

Mitt Romney's 2010 tax returns can be found at his campaign website. The important number, AGI, is $21.6M and it's all from interest/dividends/capital gains. I think I heard on the news that their effective tax rate is ~15% whereas I'm paying about 31%, same as Newt Gingrich.

This is okay with me. I think there is a good reason to have a lower capital gains tax rate since the investor already paid taxes to acquire the "capital" and the company generating "gains" on that capital is being taxed too. What I have a problem with is Obama's class-warfare crap, and the fact that Romney's tax return is 203 pages long.

Occupy Portland

Chapman Square

I took this during my Christmas trip to Portland. Like most other OWS related protests, this one came to nothing as well... other than a total waste of time and money, and a closure of public spaces.

Stupid.

The Story

The Story is a radio program produced by American Public Radio. I hear it a lot on KPCC when I drive home from work. On Friday, the topic was 2011: A Year Of Protest. The rest of the show was okay but when they did the segment on OWS, I found myself swearing at the retard they interviewed (about 2/3rd the way through). He has a college degree but is unemployed, and has been sleeping in a tent at the protest. During the interview, it came out that he studied German Studies in college and has ~$120k of outstanding loans. Unsurprisingly, he has been unable to find a regular job. The interviewer (Dick Gordon) gave him a few opportunities to take some responsibility for his predicament but the "protester" never did. Instead, he blamed everyone and everything but himself, and of course he wants the government to "fix" things.

Call me heartless or whatever, but I have zero sympathy. The guy said he went to college because you were "supposed" to, and he went to a liberal arts college to find himself. That's all fine and good but I'll bet he never worked part-time and was probably drunk the entire time. His 4 (or 5) year party ended with $120k of debt and an useless degree. The responsible thing to do is to admit he screwed up, get whatever job he can to repay the loan, then move on with his life. Instead, he joins OWS and wants to continue to live on other people's hard work. The OWS people are living in a fantasy. They're protesting against a system that made it possible for them to sit around and do nothing for a few months. Imagine if they tried to pull that stunt in China. If you look at their actual "governance", with all the retarded working groups and the human megaphone (I hate that too), there is zero chance that any of them can manage anything except talk.

Occupy Wall Street Class

NYU charges ~$20,000 per term for tuition or $40k per year. If you take courses by the unit, then they charge you ~$1,200/unit. I heard on the radio that NYU was going to offer a class about the Occupy Wall Street "movement" and thought it was a joke, but it looks like it's true.

CBS New York

Don’t understand the Occupy Wall Street movement? Now, you can learn all about it.

New York University says it plans to offer two classes next semester on Occupy Wall Street through the school’s Department of Social and Cultural Analysis.

It will be called: “Why Occupy Wall Street? The History and Politics of Debt and Finance.”

Another professor will be teaching a graduate-level seminar on the demonstration.

How ironic. I thought one of the things OWS was whining about was student loans. Some of the college-educated protesters were unemployed and unable to repay their loans. Inevitably, you find out they studied something totally useless, like a degree from the NYU Department of Social and Cultural Analysis for example. I couldn't find the course in NYU's catalog (too new?) but most classes were 4 units, which means the OWS course will cost ~$5,000 while providing zero value on a resume.

My unsolicited advice? If your degree is has the words "social justice" in it somewhere, use your last free elective and enroll in an intro finance class. It may be too late to do anything about the $250,000 wasted on your Ivy League education, but at least you will understand why TANSTAAFL (there ain't no such thing as a free lunch).

Go home. Get a job. Pay your loans.

==========

Even though I'm basically talking to myself on this blog (it's therapeutic), I want to clarify that crony capitalism is bad. I believe Bush and Obama should not have bailed out banks and GM/Chrysler. Let them go bankrupt, reorganize, and the market will sort it out. Where I disagree with OWS is that they're just a bunch of protesters with no solutions. Don't like the system? Then get behind a candidate and get him/her elected to office. All these pointless "occupations" are basically making everyone poorer by disrupting business and commerce. Instead of creating wealth, let's destroy wealth and get rid of the wealth gap the socialist/communist way.