THE SEVENTY-SEVEN CENT CANARD.

It's easier for hack journalists to repeat soundbites than to analyze the facts.  Here, Rachel Maddow finds meaning in the comparison of medians. The video is not for the faint of heart.

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Kay Hymowitz notes that those median differences conceal tough tradeoffs, and more generous family leave policies in Scandinavia accompany countries with differences in median income by sex.  (Note carefully: "accompany" carries no implication of cause or effect.)

But it's so much easier to smirk, "Listen, this is not a math is hard type of conversation."  Republican strategist Alex Castellanos's response, "If so, every greedy businessman in America would hire only women, save 25% and be hugely profitable" ought be deployed whenever misconceptions about pay inequities come up.  But to the women of the fevered brow, passing a law with a high-sounding title means there is a problem and it has been fixed.

But given that some of us believe that women are getting paid less than men for doing the same work, there is something called the Fair Pay Act.  There was a court ruling that said the statute of limitations, if you're getting paid less than a men, if you're subject to discrimination, starts before you know that discrimination is happening, effectively cutting off your recourse to the courts.  You didn't know you were being discriminated against.  You can't go.

The first law passed by this administration is the Fair Pay Act. 

That the short title says it is such an act does not make it such an act. That is where market tests do come in.