Read those annual reports of your stocks

I tossed out my stockholders ballot before I read the proxy statement and notice of annual meeting for Netflix. First, but least important, was the salaries. The two co-CEOs earn $53 million each. The so-called "median employee" earns $211,201, a ratio of 255 to 1.

Second, and most important, the shareholders wanted changes and those proposals were all opposed by the leadership. Proposal 5 was on politicized brand misalignment, i.e. gender ideology in children's programming. I was horrified reading through the titles of the garbage being aimed at children. "This promotion of sexualized content, particularly to Netflix' youngest viewers, has alienated customers, employees, and shareholders, and exposed Netflix to litigation and regulatory scrutiny . . . exposed Netflix to significant contingent liability and material legal risk." A $500 billion market value company with CEOs who make $53 million is trafficking children, in my opinion. I'll need to call our broker today. Netflix opposing statement was jibberish.

March 8--a day without women

Why is the left afraid to investigate the differences in wages among women? For the obvious reasons--we all know the answer. Career choice, education, experience, skill and geography determine salaries in the USA. For men and women.  Both of us use an all female medical practice. I have no idea if they purposely keep out men (except for patients), but there's a high level of estrogen when you walk in. I think I did see a male tech several years ago, but I he's moved on.

And guess what? There is a vast difference in pay among the 

1) female staffer who moves the sliding window, takes our insurance cards and hands us a clipboard, and 
2) the tech who checks our weight, blood pressure and types notes into the computer, and 
3) the doctor who rushes in for 5 minutes and tries to find out what's going on since the last visit.

I'm guessing at income--about $25,000 for the first woman who is a high school graduate, $35,000 for the second who had 6 months of technical school, and about $200,000 for the third woman who had 4 years of undergrad, 4 years of medical school and 3-7 years of residency before I saw her in that office. Where's the rage, and who should be marching on the Day without women? Woman one, two or three?

I asked a pleasant young clerk at the ophthalmologist office what her training was for the field, and she said none, she had a degree (something in the humanities) and this was the job she found when she and her husband moved to the area. Which category will she go in?   That practice is almost all male doctors and female staff.

Salaries for librarians

I received an e-mail newsletter/update from the University of Illinois School of Information Sciences.  Lots of news about minority recruitment.  I wonder about that.  Librarianship (the old name) requires a master's degree.  With school teachers earning anywhere from $56-$60 an hour, much more than librarians, why recruit minorities?  It's possible that median salaries are listed under some other titles.  Another website listed slightly higher salaries--about $35,000, but nothing that would pay off college debt.

So I sent the school a note:

"I was reviewing “iSchool at Illinois” and what has obviously been a very successful recruitment of minority and male students. I found the microaggression workshop a bit off-putting, but then that's my age--graduate MLS in 1966. From what I've seen of them they are anti-white, anti-male and divisive. So I checked a website for salaries and see a library researcher is $27,848 annually, same as a linen room attendant and $2,000 less than a parking lot attendant/valet. There was no listing for "librarian." Do you have any current salary figures that would make recruitment of men and minorities a worthwhile effort?"

 

 

Sex, race and income gaps

On my walk this morning I saw three women and four men, in four different jobs.

One woman was about 23 and a home health aide walking one of my neighbors around the condo grounds.  She was white, attractive, pleasant and cheerful and they were chatting together. Her median pay scale (on the internet, because I didn't ask her) is about $10.00/hour.  If she works for an agency, the family will probably pay more than double that, but she'll have decent benefits. If she's a private contractor, she'll make more, but will have to contribute her own Social Security.  Not even a high school degree is required.  I often see foreign women with limited language skills in these positions.  It was not the case with this young woman.
 
As I continued, I saw two men with the Columbus Public Utilities department--both had uniforms, tools, and white trucks.  They were white and probably under 40. They were repairing a piece of equipment in a large box near the road. I'm guessing they do some kind of electrical maintenance.  I think the box probably controls power in the whole neighborhood. If they were supervisory, they'd need a bachelor's degree and about 10 years experience. Salaries were hard to determine, since I don't have a job title and am guessing, but the median could be $154,000.

Two women were in the playground of the near by church with pre-schoolers.  I don't know if they were teachers or aides, but I'm going to call them pre-school teachers. They were white and probably early 30s. They were actively involved in the children's activities and very watchful. They weren't sitting and chatting or checking their phones. Their median salary is about $12.06/hour  ($28,570) or about 50% of an elementary school teacher ($56,000), and less than a fitness instructor ($39,410) at a private club or gym. I think the pre-school teachers need a bachelor's degree or would be working on one, but most elementary teachers around here have a master's degree.  Also the teachers work 9-10 months with a number of days off during the school year, but the Fitness instructor works 12.  They would probably all have benefits, at least health, vacation and sick leave.  The pre-school teacher may also get free day care for her own children, or a discount.  The fitness instructor may have a family discount to use the gym.  The elementary teacher gets play ground duty and short lunches.

When returning home I noticed two trucks going  a bit over the speed limit driven by two young black men   for the company, 1-800-Got Junk. These days it's called "environmental diversion."  I think they may have been late teens or early 20s. I actually found this company on the internet, and various job titles.  A truck driver makes $11.36 or ($18-$22,000 a year).  I think they had full benefits. There were various job levels, and room for advancement, and no education (for truck driver) was required. Brian Scudamore, a high school drop-out,  is the founder and CEO of 1-800-Got Junk, and you can check him out for a very interesting career story.  He's founded several companies, but this one does about $152 - $170 million a year. He got this idea when he was 18 and working at McDonald's.  (Company is now franchised, so I don't know who owns the one in Columbus.)

The next time you see an article about the wage gap or gender gap or race gap in employment, remember, not all jobs are the same, they don't have the same requirements, responsibilities, education, and race or gender probably isn't what has caused the difference. And also think about Mr. Scudamore.  Anyone could have done what he did, but he rolled up his sleeves and did it.

Teachers with benefits earn $56.72/hour

“Private industry employers spent an average of $31.32 per hour worked for total employee compensation in December 2014, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Wages and salaries
averaged $21.72 per hour worked and accounted for 69.4 percent of these costs, while benefits averaged $9.60 and accounted for the remaining 30.6 percent.

Total compensation costs for state and local government workers averaged $43.95 per hour worked in December 2014. Total employer compensation costs for civilian workers, which include private industry and state and local government workers, averaged $33.13 per hour worked in December 2014.

Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC), a product of the National Compensation Survey, measures employer costs for wages, salaries, and employee benefits for nonfarm private and state and local government workers. Private industry employer costs for paid leave benefits averaged $2.16 per hour worked in December 2014. Private industry costs for paid leave include vacation leave which averaged $1.13 per hour worked, holiday leave which averaged 66 cents, sick leave which averaged 26 cents, and personal leave which averaged 12 cents in December 2014. Paid leave benefit costs are often directly linked to wages; therefore, higher paid occupations or industries will typically show higher estimates for this compensation component. Private industry paid leave benefit costs were highest for management, professional, and related occupations at $4.67 per hour worked, or 8.4 percent of total compensation, in December 2014. Costs were lowest among service occupations at 56 cents, or 3.9 percent of total compensation.  Included in this amount were employer costs for vacations, holidays, sick leave, and personal leave.”

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ecec.pdf

More on non-profit annual reports—Planned Parenthood

Yesterday I wrote about frustration with slick annual reports. Talk about a glitzy annual report--you should see the Planned Parenthood 2013-14. Lots of smiling young women. 327,653 abortions--94% of its "health" services, about 38% of which are for black women. (CDC reports 72% in Mississippi for blacks, 42% in Ohio, and 67% for black teens in New York), $528.4 million from government grants and reimbursements, which equaled 41 percent of its revenue. The rest comes from donations and foundation grants. And the CEO received nearly half a million in salary and benefits. PP has $1.4 billion in net assets.

Abortion is a very lucrative business. "Black lives matter," except in the womb.

http://www.plannedparenthood.org/files/6714/1996/2641/2013-2014_Annual_Report_FINAL_WEB_VERSION.pdf

http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2015/01/01/planned-parenthood-annual-report-all-about-abortions-and-profits/

http://dailycaller.com/2014/01/09/planned-parenthoods-annual-report-shows-abortion-pays/

This isn’t the real cost

The greatest cost is in loss of time and bonding between mother and child.  Most day care/childcare workers don’t have the level of training and love as the child’s mother—if they did, they’d be paid higher salaries or they’d open their own business, or become an administrator (who earn about the same as teachers) and hire the day care workers. No one in a nursing home says, “I wish I’d spent more time at the office and less at home with the kids.”

The average annual cost of care for an infant in a day-care center can range from $4,863 in Mississippi to $16,430 in Massachusetts, according to a report last year by Child Care Aware of America. Depending on your state, the average cost of full-time care for an infant in a day-care center ranges from 7 percent to about 19 percent of the state median income for a married couple with children, the report adds. In 2012, in 31 states and the District of Columbia, the average annual cost for an infant in center-based care was higher than a year’s tuition and fees at a four-year public 

The median salary of a day care worker is $8.94/hour, less than a receptionist, a retail clerk at WalMart, a cashier, a stocker, security guard, a fork lift operator, photo technician in department store, etc.  Unless she has a child in the center and gets a break on her costs, I’m thinking she’ll move on rather than go on food stamps.

And children are resilient, they can perhaps overcome this.  But what about Mom? How can she make up for the hours and years her child is in day care, and she’s 20 miles away in the classroom, or behind the computer, or driving in traffic?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/youd-better-budget-for-that-baby/2014/04/15/791a3ccc-c4d7-11e3-b574-f8748871856a_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines

http://www1.salary.com/Retail-Stock-Clerk-Full-Time-salary.html

http://jobsearch.about.com/od/jobs/qt/childcare-worker-earn.htm

http://www.northernstar.com.au/news/mothers-prefer-home-child-care-by-people-they-know/2231074/

http://www.naccrra.org/sites/default/files/default_site_pages/2012/ccgb_mothers_workforce_jan2012.pdf

Southern Poverty Law Center brings in the big bucks

We're on a lot of hit lists for money. Here's one that won't get a dime--but I haven't heard from them lately. Southern Poverty Law Center--the guys who publish lists of hate groups. They take in about $34 million a year (probably by sending mailings to rich white folks feeling guilty about their wealth), have assets of about $230 million, and pay their CEOs over $300,000/yr. I keep telling you, poverty is big business for the the middle class. If poverty were to disappear tomorrow, thousands would be out of work, and we could start the cycle all over!

Information from Charity Navigator. The good news is it takes zero government dollars.

Why are librarians' salaries so low?

From my blog 5 years ago, March 2006.

There are people needing promotion and tenure to study this, but here's my take. Librarians have no organization to represent their own interests. Oh, they have lots of organizations--out the wazoo--but just look at the names: American Library Association; Medical Library Association; Association of College and Research Libraries; California Library Association. Do you know what my husband's professional organization is called? The American Institute of Architects. Get it? It is representing ARCHITECTS. People, not government entities or buildings. And although I'm sure it leans left like most professional organizations, I haven't heard that the AIA is trying to get President Bush impeached while they redesign cities in Mississippi as service projects.

"Librarians and library workers are under-valued, and most people, whether members of the public, elected officials, faculty, corporate executives, or citizen board members, have little or no idea of the complexity of the work we do." from California Library Association web site.

In my opinion, this inclusion of “library workers” in all attempts to get the professional, degreed salaried librarians paid a fair wage worthy of a master's or higher degree is part of the problem. “Library workers” may have high school degrees or they may have PhDs in Victorian Poetry or Trombone Performance, but they are not degreed librarians. This may explain why people (even librarians) believe the degree isn’t important, and so the salaries can stay low. Anybody can do it, right? Just ask the ALA (which spins its wheels in political, i.e. federal and state, battles).

But, then, it's not my battle anymore--or even theirs. Librarianship is going the way of the buggy whip manufacturer. A few with special crafting skills are still needed, but it's not a career or profession anyone should reach for.

Equality -- or Freedom?

"On average, Asians earn more than Hispanics; blacks less than whites. Mormons earn more than Muslims; Jews more than Jehovah's Witnesses. And Polish Americans earn more than Puerto Ricans.

Does that prove America is a racist and religiously bigoted country?"

One time I asked my boss, Jay Ladd, why a male librarian hired after me, younger, was earning more. His answer stunned me. "Because he asked for more." When I had children, I left the work force. When he had children, his wife left the work force. But there are lots of reasons women's salaries differ. They take fewer risks; move less; turn down more difficult assignments; don't want to do the out of town trips and work; and there are no "good old girl" networks that even come close to the "good old boys." We tend to stab each other in the back rather than let another woman get ahead.

This article is on the new Paycheck Fairness Act passed by the House 256 to 162.

Equality -- or Freedom? - Pat Buchanan - Townhall Conservative

Speaking of philanthropy--what about Race for the Cure

Saying anything negative about the various races for this or that cause or disease in which volunteers raise funds from family and friends and sponsors is like being against motherhood and apple pie in this country. But let's look at the facts. It IS called "Race for the CURE." A cure would imply some heavy duty research, right? The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation was founded in 1982 by Nancy Goodman Brinker after losing her sister, Susan Komen, to breast cancer. According to their latest annual report, the Foundation and its affiliates have raised, in sum total (2009 figures) $1.3 billion dollars and have awarded more than 1,000 breast cancer research grants totaling approximately $190 million. (from the Komen web site) Cha-ching. That means the Foundation has spent $1.12 billion on expenses. Could you stay in business with figures like that? Would you sponsor a runner if you knew that in 2007 total revenue was $274,875,945, and total functional expenses were $239,544,000, and that the COO, Patrice Tosi, was paid $513,095 (2007 figures latest available in Charity Navigator).

Even the small amount that isn't used to keep the organization up and running with well paid staff, is primarily used for education and screening grants, not research that will really benefit women in the long run. Yes, mammograms are important, as are printed brochures and posters reminded women of the signs, but folks, unless the English language has really changed more than I realize, "education" is not "cure."

Lop a few zeros off those figures so you can understand the problem. If the Boy Scouts took in $1,300 selling Christmas trees, and $180 went into the fund for the trip to Yosemite, and the leaders kept $1,120 for their own expenses, the cost of the trees, advertising the tree sale and you and your son were also asked to volunteer to help, wouldn't you think something was funny if all you raised for all your efforts was $180?

I would love to have someone prove these numbers somehow make sense and not just get nasty and sling mud because I've pointed out another idol with clay feet.

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.

Trying to appease the PUMAs

Although he can't do for women what President Bush did--he freed millions more women from tyranny in Afghanistan and Iraq than Lincoln freed slaves--he can undo a 2007 Supreme Court ruling about the statute of limitations on filing a job discrimination claim. It was easy. No deliberation. No discussion. No stats, just myths. Stroke of the pen. I don't know why 6 months was bad and 12 months is good. I guess if you don't get a new job, you can look back and say, "Now that I've been unemployed for awhile, I think it was discrimination and not my performance, but I just didn't realize it until now."

I read through the complexities of this, and it still is no piece of cake, even though it will be full employment for trial lawyers, as are most of these government regs. Never you mind--the media have put a feather in Obama's cap. (Lawyers should kiss his feet, or go higher.) Most smaller companies won't be able to afford to fight it, so we'll see some incompetent, unhappy people staffing various offices and boards. And more reluctance on the part of employers to take a chance on placing women in line for top positions. Was Michelle Obama on that Chicago hospital board because of her brilliant legal abilities, or because she was Mrs. Obama? What spouse of a white legislator would be allowed to complain or file a discrimination suit and not kill his/her future with the party? The actual facts are that when you sift all the numbers nationwide, black women are making more than white women and Hispanic women. Now, sociologists and economists try to blame this on a number of reasons, like maybe white women stay home longer after a birth of a baby, or black women may have a second job, but they really don't know. Maybe it's the Oprah factor.

If women, of any color, won't play the game, they won't have the gain. Here are the items you need to look at when comparing incomes of men and women, or even women with women: Women who

first and foremost are married, because most top male executives are--today marriage is the big divider between getting by and doing well

have a spouse who manages the home, the nanny and the housekeeper

have a spouse willing to chauffer the children to sports and activities, take the pets to the vet, serve on the school committees, meet with the teachers, make all the appointments for doctor, dentist and hair cuts, hire and supervise the lawn service, oversee the nutritional needs of the household, and help out mom and dad at the retirement home

are willing to work 60-80 hours a week

spend hundreds of hours a year on the Bluetooth while sitting in airports, sleeping in first class on airplanes

are willing to have no personal relationships with other women, or maybe occasional casual sex with lower ranked male colleagues

willing to endure the long commute from the fashionable suburban McMansion

can show, and this is critical, that they have never bumped anyone better qualified out of line because of affirmative action or need for diversity in the company (which brings huge resentment with networking colleagues whether or not they admit it)

What has she done to deserve this?

Joyce Beatty lives in Columbus, OH and was elected to represent the 27th district (Ohio) in 1999. Now she’s landed a real cushy position at Ohio State for $320,000! My, not once did I meet anyone at Ohio State who was worth that--not even the president of the university. Of course, I retired in 2000, and now President Gee is the highest paid public college president in the country.

"Ohio State pays 154 employees at least $250,000 a year, with university president E. Gordon Gee topping the list at $775,000 a year," transparency center director Mike Maurer said. Mr. Gee's total annual pay package, between $1.6 million to $2 million, makes him the highest paid public university president in the nation, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education and the Columbus Dispatch.

From the Buckeye Institute via an OSU student blogger, .Justin Higgins

Corporate executives and directors of Fannie Mae

Look how much they earned to screw up your retirement accounts. Click on each name. Some are on more than one board. You can check on their donations--Linda K. Knight, one I just chose at random--has made two $500 donations to Obama and one $500 donation to Chris Dodd.

He's probably a Democrat

Les Moonves' salary in 2006 was $5.6 million, plus a bonus of $15 million for a total package of $28.6 million, according to the week-end WSJ. He got a 29% increase for 2007, for a package valued at $36.8 million. Guessing from what CBS offers us in entertainment, I'm betting he votes Democrat and is supporting Mrs. Clinton.

My 2007 pension was under $20,000, and I'm a Republican even though they also spend money like a drunken Kennedy. Still, I believe he should answer to the stockholders and not liberals who want to put a cap on the compensation of CEOs and executives of corporations.

Despite the trash, fluff and fodder, the Rathers and Courics who get enormous salaries to read the news, they should get what they pay for. . . and they are. And when you read Rather's remarks about Couric, you realize how many words that man uses to say, Yes, No, or Maybe.

The inequality myth

Wall Street Journal's Carol Hymowitz again trots out the old saw that women with the same level of education earn 20-25% less than a man and the glass ceiling is turning to steel. Here. I know from our stock annual reports that there are darn few women on the boards of major corporations. But ask yourself, is it diversity if they are just smaller or darker versions of the good old boys who are already on the board? When they get to that point in power, prestige and income, just what would they be bringing to the table that would benefit women and minorities on their way up--people who went to college with a GED or after military service or who attended a junior college and lived at home before transferring? Now that would be true diversity. If they aren't representing me, the investor, then why would they be on the board? What did an expensive Ivy League education get Mama Obama? She's raising her kids and supporting her husband's career! What woman in her right mind would give up that to sell plastics or mine coal from the office board room?

But Hymowitz's statistics (supplied I think by Catalyst) lie anyway, the value of diversity aside. They are not adjusting for the right variables. Thirty five years ago claiming "same education" might have made sense; today it doesn't. They need to be looking at women who

first and foremost are married, because most top male executives are--today marriage is the big divider between getting by and doing well

have a spouse who manages the home, the nanny and the housekeeper

have a spouse willing to chauffer the children to sports and activities, take the pets to the vet, serve on the school committees, meet with the teachers, make all the appointments for doctor, dentist and hair cuts, hire and supervise the lawn service, oversee the nutritional needs of the household, and help out mom and dad at the retirement home

who are willing to work 60-80 hours a week

who spend hundreds of hours a year on the Bluetooth while sitting in airports, sleeping in first class on airplanes

who are willing to have no personal relationships with other women, or maybe occasional casual sex with lower ranked male colleagues

who are willing to endure the long commute from the fashionable suburban McMansion

who can, and this is critical, show that they have never bumped anyone better qualified out of line because of affirmative action or need for diversity in the company (which brings huge resentment with networking colleagues whether or not they admit it)

4006

The stuff of urban legends

I know a young, beautiful woman--early 30s I think--who married the wrong man when she was very young. A sweet baby and nasty divorce followed. She lacked a college degree or a trade so she began waitressing in an upscale restaurant and did well. There she met a businessman who noticed her people-skills and who offered her a job in marketing for a small TV station. She took the job, and again did very well--she used the same engaging personality and attention to her customers that she used at the restaurant. Recently she was offered a position in a larger market and took the plunge. The offer? $133,000 a year.

Now, I heard this story from her dad, and let's say he exaggerates a bit, because I think she inheritied his charm and sales skills. Even if you shaved the salary some, it's still a pretty good story, don't you think?