Women's national team files wage-discrimination action vs. US Soccer Federation
One of the most basic rules of economics is that prices are determined by the laws of supply and demand. The same principle applies to wages: supply & demand.
If you are one of the best male soccer players in the U.S., there are many venues around the world where you can play soccer professionally and make "a good buck." So if the U.S. national team wants to field players who are as skilled as possible, it must compensated them with recognition of the other options they have to be paid to play soccer.
If you are one of the best female soccer players in the U.S., there are very few places where you can go to be paid to play soccer. Nowhere outside the U.S., and - sad to say - nowhere inside the U.S. There are no leagues or travelling teams that pay "a living wage" to women soccer players.
So if you want to have the best possible U.S. women's soccer team, you only have to pay them more than they could make someplace else, which is - not to put too fine a point on it - very little.
And the fact that the women's U.S. soccer team generates more revenue than the men's team doesn't really enter into the discussion.
The laws of economics are neither "fair" nor "unfair"; they just are. If I have a unique, patented product that can be sold at a 90% gross margin, but can be produced by unskilled, inexperienced workers, those workers will be paid according to the market price for unskilled workers, and not according to the market price for my innovative, valuable product. It's not "unfair," it just is.
Clearly, the "laws of economics" do not conform to the Laws of Leftist "Thinking." Leftist-think postulates that any time there is "inequality" there MUST BE unfairness or exploitation, and that unfairness and/or exploitation MUST be remedied by a law, regulation, or court.
Unfortunately for everyone, there are lots of U.S. District Court Judges who are card-carrying Leftists, and it may well be that some court will rule that the Laws of Economics don't hold any sway in these here United States of America, and if one of those judges gets hold of this case - especially a judge of the female variety - there is no telling what the ruling might be.
But the fact remains that as long as the U.S. Women's soccer team pays enough to field a credible team, it's none of any court's business what those wages are.
One of the most basic rules of economics is that prices are determined by the laws of supply and demand. The same principle applies to wages: supply & demand.
If you are one of the best male soccer players in the U.S., there are many venues around the world where you can play soccer professionally and make "a good buck." So if the U.S. national team wants to field players who are as skilled as possible, it must compensated them with recognition of the other options they have to be paid to play soccer.
If you are one of the best female soccer players in the U.S., there are very few places where you can go to be paid to play soccer. Nowhere outside the U.S., and - sad to say - nowhere inside the U.S. There are no leagues or travelling teams that pay "a living wage" to women soccer players.
So if you want to have the best possible U.S. women's soccer team, you only have to pay them more than they could make someplace else, which is - not to put too fine a point on it - very little.
And the fact that the women's U.S. soccer team generates more revenue than the men's team doesn't really enter into the discussion.
The laws of economics are neither "fair" nor "unfair"; they just are. If I have a unique, patented product that can be sold at a 90% gross margin, but can be produced by unskilled, inexperienced workers, those workers will be paid according to the market price for unskilled workers, and not according to the market price for my innovative, valuable product. It's not "unfair," it just is.
Clearly, the "laws of economics" do not conform to the Laws of Leftist "Thinking." Leftist-think postulates that any time there is "inequality" there MUST BE unfairness or exploitation, and that unfairness and/or exploitation MUST be remedied by a law, regulation, or court.
Unfortunately for everyone, there are lots of U.S. District Court Judges who are card-carrying Leftists, and it may well be that some court will rule that the Laws of Economics don't hold any sway in these here United States of America, and if one of those judges gets hold of this case - especially a judge of the female variety - there is no telling what the ruling might be.
But the fact remains that as long as the U.S. Women's soccer team pays enough to field a credible team, it's none of any court's business what those wages are.
