The Debates- 2012

[AGDee]

I agree the association is loose.

YAY!!!!!!! Tigers!!!!!!!!

<back to our regularly scheduled debate discussion>

It is very difficult to determine how many women this affects directly. However, Obama did get an Equal Pay bill passed already.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by thetalady

Gas at 1.86/ gal is a sign of an economy about to head over the edge of the cliff and crash? Well, that is a new one to me...

Actually it is true. Gas prices were low because demand was low as people stopped driving when the economy tanked. People started driving again and gas prices increased. You see similar things yearly in the summer when people go on vacation and we get the summer gas spikes. Why the government can't effect gas prices by increasing drilling, though, is that refineries are at MAXIMUM production. You could suck millions more gallons of oil per day out of the ground, and it wouldn't increase the amount of gas being produced in the US. The cost is also effected by the stock market and speculation which, again, are NOT controlled by the President.

[DubaiSis]

Also, and I think primarily, gas is traded on the stock market. People and corporations who buy and sell those stocks affect the price at the pump more than anything else, in my opinion. Availability of oil has virtually nothing to do with the price at the pump. The price is not based on scarcity of the product but on the scarcity of the stocks. Now, when the oil companies say they don't set the price, they are victim of the stock market, that is hugely disingenuous because they are the major stock holders. They benefit from the stock price and then again from the price at the pump. And then again from government subsidies and tax breaks.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by GeorgiaGreek

It may be true that women in the workplace are making less because of maternity leave and taking time off to be with their children, etc., but how many of those children are the result unplanned/unwanted pregnancies due to lack of available contraception?

I think pay should be equal for equal work, and I think contraception should be available and affordable, but I don't think the two are as heavily related as the President implied. If contraception and abortions were all made free and accessible, I don't think this would make a even a small dent in the pay gap. They are two separate issues, and they need to be addressed with separate plans.

Oh, I disagree. The birth control pill becoming widely available was a major development for women in the workplace. In fact, as soon as the question was asked, I said out loud "Talk about birth control!" This may be overlooked by a lot of people who aren't familiar with the history of the women's movement, but the pill's economic impact in undeniable.

Here are a couple of links (I'll give you one from the left and one from the right) that discuss it:

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/20...t-of-the-pill/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghanca...ey-healthcare/

[AGDee]

I do think it is hard to separate the pill's entrance into the market with the other civil rights movements going on at the time though. I do know it was the end of the baby boom because my brother is a Boomer and I am not. His high school class had over 1000 kids in it. Mine was 700. The one below me was 400.

The attempted passing of the Equal Right's Amendment and the significant push for equal working rights happened shortly after the pill came on the market. It really is hard to separate them. But the pill does allow us much more independence, choice and freedom to choose when we become mothers.

ETA: My mom was a bank teller when she got pregnant with my brother in 1961. She was told she would have to quit when she started showing and wearing maternity clothes. Yes, that was legal. Yes, it happened all the time. We have come a long way baby.

[AGDee]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BBEXB1Wf9c

This is kind of funny... if you are an Obama supporter.