Income Inequality ~ Eric Smith

Today my friends I want to discuss income inequality; namely the difference in the amount of money a man earns and a woman who does the same job and works the same hours. Now it is generally understood that on the average for every dollar a man earns a woman only earns seventy seven cents. So forgetting deductions for taxes, Social Security etc; for every $10.00 a man earns a woman earns $7.70. 

Now let's say the man and the woman work an eight hour day. In the course of that day the man will earn $80.00 whereas the woman will earn only $61.60 because remember the woman twenty three cents for every dollar she makes doing the same job and working the same amount of hours as the man and she is losing these twenty three cents not because the man is doing the job better but only because she is a woman. In short she is losing $18.40 a day for no other reason than that she's a woman.

Now let's go to the typical forty hour work week. A man earning $10.00 per hour working eight hours a day and five days a week will earn $400.00 because of course eight times five is forty. Now a woman who only earns only seventy seven cents for every dollar a man makes will earn what? Multiply $7.70 by 40 and you will come to $308.00. In other words a woman who does the same job and works the same hours as a man will earn $92.00 less than a man for no other reason than that she is a woman.

Now let's look at how income inequality stacks up over the course of a month. With a forty hour workweek you are talking about on the average four weeks so multiply forty by four and you come to one hundred and sixty. So a man who earns $10.00 hour will over the course of 160 hours earn $1,600.00. That will be his monthly taken. Now factoring in income inequality where the woman will only earn seventy seven cents for every dollar a man makes, what will be her take for the month? Multiply $7.70 times 160 and you will come up with $1,232.00. In other words with income inequality a woman who does the same job and works the same number of hours as a man will earn $368.00 less per month than the man not because she doesn't do the job as well but only because she is a woman.

Now let's top it off by looking at yearly income. A person works one hundred and sixty hours per month and there are twelve months per year. So to come up with the number of hours worked per year multiply 160 times 12 and you will come up come up with 1920 working hours per year. So a man earning $10.00 per hour will earn how much if he works 1920 hours per year? Multiply 10 times 1920 and you will come up with a yearly income of $19,200.00 for the man. Now a woman earning seventy seven cents for every dollar a man earns will make how much over the course of the year doing the same job and working the same number of hours. Multiply her $7.70 times 1920 and you will come up with a yearly income of $14,784.00. Now with income inequality how much less will the woman make per year solely because she is a woman. Subtract $14,784.00 from $19,200.00 and you will come up with $4,416.00. 

So here is the deal with gender inequality. With a woman earning only seventy seven cents for every dollar a man makes who does the same job and works the same number of hours that the man does will earn $18.40 less per day, $92.00 less per week, $368.00 less per month, and $4,416.00 less per year than the man who does the same job and works the same amount of hours and earns $10.00 per hour, $80.00 per day, $400.00 per week, $1600.00 per month, and $19,200.00 per year! 

That my friends is income inequality! Not only is it wrong and immoral; from a purely economic standpoint it is profoundly stupid since that lost income for a woman is taxable income; it is money that if paid could be used to help fund our schools, police & fire departments, among other things. It is taxable income that could be used to put additional funds back into Social Security to be used for higher Social Security payments upon retirement or in the event of disability. It is extra money that could be used to pay for food, clothing, housing; money that could be returned to the economic pot in the form of buying goods & other products; increasing the demand for them and necessitating the number of more people to help meet those demands and lower unemployment and pull more people out of poverty.

In short, income inequality based on gender ultimately shortchanges us all for it collectively lowers the quality of life for the nation, it makes woman economic second class citizens, and it starves our economy of needed funds in the form of additional taxable income. That is why it must be addressed and why it must be eliminated for income inequality has no place in a society that professes to be free for its existence denotes the absence of full freedom and is a sign of economic stupidity of the highest order.