WEALTH – WHAT’S IN YOUR WALLET?
Cass – JULY 31, 2020
Today the Pod co-hosts and I, got together and recorded another podcast on women’s issues.
Mo, Kat and I welcomed Sammi in as a co-host. How could we not? Her energy and knowledge on the issues we want to discuss is just so contagious.
I wanted to talk about this book I have been reading, SHORTCHANGED, by Mariko Lin Chang. I am so blown away about how indept this book is on the wealth gap between men and women. At first, I must admit, I was intimidated by the facts that she was discussing. From the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, to how being married, not married, never married, divorced, widowed and even gay/lesbian women are, well, short changed.
The fact that in the 1960’s women earned $.61 on the dollar compared the men, making the whole dollar.
In 2007, women earned $.78 on the dollar. Anyone else thinking what I am thinking?
It took 47 YEARS….. for women to earn not the whole dollar, no, $.17 more on the dollar. And that was 13 YEARS ago….. How does this get to happen?
Aren’t we the RICHEST country in the ENTIRE world? And yet, we can not pay women, of all colors, the whole entire dollar that the man is paid. According to payscale.com, the 2020 report states white women are now making $.81.
Somehow this enrages me, in this day and age, women still can’t get paid a whole dollar that a man receives doing the exact same job. And in all of the books I have been reading, websites I have read the number one reason, AKA excuse, is this. Women tend to “take a break from the work force to have children” or “ women take less paying jobs so they can have flexibility with their family”.
Now fast forward 40 years, the length of a career, this inequality results is women LOSING $3,750,000 in wages, doing the exact same job as her male co-worker.
The woman who doesn’t or can’t have children just lose this, I guess, well, is that their punishment for being barren or gay?
The wage gap isn’t color blind either. American Indians, Alaska Native, Hispanic and black women are hit hard too. They are reported to earning $.75 to the dollar of a man.
Most of the people publishing this information say this is called the “motherhood penalty” or “childbearing penalty”. So, merely having the potential to bear a child, lessens you as a valued employee. Bright Horizons released a study in 2019 in which 41% of employed Americans believe working women are less devoted to their work, 1/3 judged them as needing a more flexible schedule. Men, on the other hand are NOT penalized for becoming parents, some men are actually paid more money after becoming a parent.
I misspoke today on our podcast, I stated of the TOP 10 PEOPLE IN AMERICAN ARE ALL MEN.
According to therichest.com, the Mars family is number 5 at $80 billion. The ability to transfer wealth is the primary reason families remain wealthy from generation to generation. The Mars family is a 3rd generation company comprised of 2 brothers and a sister. So, I guess 2 brothers dragging a sister into the top 10, still counts.
At number 21, Alice Walton would be the next woman to make the list at $52.3 billion.
At number 23 Lilianne Bettcourt with $42.3 billion and then, at number 25 Jacqueline Mars returns to the lineup with $41.6 billion.
This always returns me to the thought of, who in the hell actually NEEDS to make that much money? Seriously, you can only buy soooo many houses ,cars, islands, politicians, race horses, at what point is enough, enough? How do they sleep at night, knowing their employees are one check away from bankruptcy, probably on food stamps? And why are there NOT more people wondering this?
Is it “smoke and mirrors” or have we been beaten down so much that we just feel defeated, that there is no way out of this? There are so many of us nonmillionaire, billionaire’s out here and so few of them, why are we not saying ENOUGH IS ENOUGH?
The TOP 250 RICHEST PEOPLE IN AMERICA are making bank off the sweat of our labor, if that isn’t enough, they are also making sure we are taxed to death to pay to feed and house the people who can not afford to eat, have a home.
Does anyone else out there ever think about this? I have to leave this blog here and go try to tend to some calves that are ill. There is so much info in this book, I will simply have to blog off a different topic tomorrow!
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