Bill Kristol Takes on Mika Brzezinski's Equal Pay Crusade: 'Not in the Top 20 Problems'

Bill Kristol Takes on Mika Brzezinski's Equal Pay Crusade: 'Not in the Top 20 Problems'

Over the past few days, “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski has been touting the Obama administration’s efforts to push the issue of the gender pay gap to the forefront. But on Thursday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol debated the validity of those claims and said he had concluded this issue, which was addressed by President Barack Obama very early in his first, isn’t in the “top 20 problems” in the United States.

“If you look at the actual statistics, and control for education and hours worked, women have about 97 percent of the salaries of men, and younger women in their 20s and 30s have slightly higher salaries than men,” Kristol said. “Actually, the real problem if you actually talk to a serious economist about our workforce, the people who are really doing badly, and it’s a terrible thing, are young men. Especially young, less-educated men, working class men in their twenties and thirties. Globalization hasn’t helped them in the types of jobs that are produced.”

“Wasn’t the first law that President Obama signed was the Lilly Ledbetter Act?” Kristol added. “Didn’t they deal with this when they had a Democratic Congress? Wasn’t it supposed to solve that? So why suddenly in 2014 when the Obama administration was floundering, when they’re desperately trying to appeal to their base, they go back to this decision. They passed the legislation they thought was necessary in 2009 and 2010. I’d like to see someone explain exactly what has changed that requires additional legislation.”

(h/t Mediaite)

Follow Jeff on Twitter @jeff_poor

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