March will be a 2-fer for me

March is Women's History Month and Irish Heritage Month in the United States. According to the U.S. Census Bureau 36.5 million
U.S. residents claimed Irish ancestry in 2007 (the year we visited Ireland). This is more than eight times the population of Ireland itself (more than 4 million). Irish was the nation’s second most frequently reported ancestry, trailing only German. My ancestors also came from Germany and Switzerland and were Lutherans and Mennonites many of whom became German Baptist Brethren (Church of the Brethren) shortly after arriving. The Scots-Irish I'm assuming were Presbyterian types--but I don't have much evidence.

Although I have no idea why, Irish Americans make more money. The median income for households headed by an Irish-American is $56,966, higher than the $50,740 for all households. In addition, 8 percent of people of Irish ancestry were in poverty, lower than the rate of 13 percent for all Americans. Appalachia is heavily Scots-Irish and they sure aren't rich. 72% of Americans of Irish heritage own their own home, which is also higher than the national average of 67%. After visiting Ireland and learning its history and how brutally they were driven off their land, I can sort of see that one. There are 9 cities in the U.S. named Dublin, one right here in central Ohio where famous people like Jack and Tiger play golf at Muirfield and others and librarians go for millions and millions of shared records (OCLC).

There were 154.7 million females in the United States as of Oct. 1, 2008 and 150.6 million males. By age 85, there are twice as many women as men in that age group, but I don't hear of too many government grants going to address that situation. They all go the other direction--to give women even more advantages and health benefits. $34,278 is the median annual earnings of women 16 or older who worked year-round, full time, in 2007, up from $33,648 in 2006 (after adjusting for inflation). Women earned 77.5 cents for every $1 earned by men. But that's a pretty silly statistic because men and women doing the same job with the same education and the same family situation, make virtually the same salary--women may even edge ahead on this, if you're comparing single people. During the ice storm last week I saw two women and a truck at 6 a.m. cleaning the parking lot and side walks where I get coffee. I'm guessing that if they are private contractors with some hustle in their bustle, they are pulling down just as much money as the guys, and getting home in time to fry up some bacon in the pan.

There were 116,985 women-owned businesses with receipts of $1 million or more and nearly 6.5 million women-owned businesses in 2002. Women owned 28 percent of all nonfarm businesses and employed more than 7.1 million people. 38% of women 16 or older worked in management, professional and related occupations, compared with 32% of men. So you can see that President Obama's confiscatory tax policies are going to really hurt business women, which makes the Lilly Ledbetter Act a piece of poo.

There's a pretty good chance that those taxes will be prepared by a woman--62% of tax preparers were women in 2007--our accountant owns her own firm.