Promoting Full Employment For Lawyers and Bureaucrats

From The American Spectator:

Promoting Full Employment for Lawyers and Bureaucrats


By Doug Bandow on 7.20.10 @ 8:58AM



The Obama administration is committed to job creation. For lawyers and bureaucrats.



The latest proposed boost for America's leading economic parasites is the president's endorsement of new legislation to promote pay "equity." Reports USA Today:



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.



It's long been against the law to discriminate in paying workers. What the president wants to do is engage in social engineering. Valerie Jarrett is smart enough to know that the 77 cents figure is meaningless, since most of the difference reflects different work patterns. Women are, for instance, more likely to take time off for family reasons. This legislationactually would encourage unequal pay for political purposes.



But the administration obviously sees no reason to let facts get in the way of a nice pay-off to lawyers and bureaucrats. After all, there isn't much job growth anywhere else in the economy!