The gender gap isn’t closed when it comes to equal pay: a new study of recent graduates shows a demonstrable difference in wages between women and men who are just entering the workforce. Also, the former district attorney and the current district attorney of Los Angeles debate California Proposition 34, which seeks to end the death penalty. We also take a look at how accurate medical study results really are and Steely Dan’s co-founder Donald Fagen gives us an earful on his new music.
Study shows women only make 82 percent what men make right out of college
The gender gap isn’t closed when it comes to equal pay: a new study of recent graduates shows a demonstrable difference in wages between women and men who are just entering the workforce. The study by the American Association of University Women meant to capture men and women at their most equivalent stages in life, and showed that young college-educated women earn only 82% of what their male peers are making.
The results of the study are indicative of a larger trend in pay disparity: in every state, women, college educated or not, make only about 55- to 80-percent as much money as men, despite attending and graduating college in higher numbers and earning better grades. As election day approaches, President Obama and Mitt Romney are both vying for the women’s vote.
The first bill that President Obama signed was the Lilly Ledbetter Equal Pay Act, and the President has been consistently in the lead with female voters. In the second debate, he cited the rising number of female breadwinners and argued that pay equality is an economic issue and a family issue, not just a women’s issue.
Although Romney has made efforts and strides towards catching up, touting his hiring processes as Governor of Massachusetts, he still trails in polls of female voters. How can America close the wage gap? Will this issue play an important role in the election? How might truly equal pay change the nation?
Guest:
Lisa M. Maatz,director of public policy and government relations, American Association of University Women
Andrew Biggs, Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute
Prop. 34: Debating California’s initiative to ban the death penalty
Proposition 34, a measure on the November 6th ballot, would replace California’s death penalty with life without parole. Proponents of the bill say that the switch would save the state tens of millions of dollars every year, and potentially correct unjust racial imbalances in sentencing.
The choice may seem obvious for voters who oppose the death penalty, but some opponents of Prop. 34 say that the funding cuts proposed in the bill eliminate many of the options that death row inmates currently have, including access to a lawyer to help prove their innocence. Inmates would have to file their own claims, rely on volunteers, or petition a judge to order the state to pay for legal costs.
They may not be able to vote, but some of California’s 725 death row inmates also oppose the bill – many said they would rather protect the death penalty and the funding that grants them legal aid than spend life in prison. Donations have rolled in consistently from supporters of Prop. 34, but a recent poll says that only 42% of voters favor the measure.
Prop Breakdown
Official Title — End the Death Penalty Initiative
Repeal the death penalty as maximum punishment for persons found guilty of murder and replace it with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Apply retroactively to persons already sentenced to death. Require persons found guilty of murder to work while in prison, with their wages to be applied to any victim restitution fines or orders against them. Create a $100 million fund to be distributed to law enforcement agencies to help solve more homicide and rape cases.
Should California overturn the death penalty? How would the financial details of the proposition affect inmates and citizens? With hundreds of convictions being overturned by groups like the Innocence Project, is it ethical to restrict access to lawyers for prisoners with lifelong sentences?
Guest:
Gil Garcetti, Yes on 34 campaign; former District Attorney of Los Angeles
Steve Cooley, No on 34 campaign; current District Attorney of Los Angeles County
Many medical study results really are too good (or too bad) to be true
If you happen to come across medical study results that claim a treatment has a “very large effect,” those results are likely either exaggerated or flat out wrong, according to researchers at Stanford University’s School of Medicine.
A statistical analysis of nearly 230,000 trials led by Dr. John Ioannidis, published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that 90 percent of studies showing "very large effects” in initial reports on medical treatments are less effective or nonexistent when additional trials are conducted. Dr. Ioannidis attributes this misleading trend to a variety of causes including the fact that many studies’ sample sizes are too small and that the results are often based on intermediate effects only.
How surprising is it that the allegedly dramatic effects achieved by many medical treatments are exaggerated or false? What can medical professionals do differently to avoid making false claims about treatments?
Guest:
Dr. John Ioannidis, MD, Professor of Medicine and Health Research & Policy, Stanford University's School of Medicine; Co-author, "Empirical Evaluation of Very Large Treatment Effects of Medical Interventions," published in The Journal of the American Medical Association this week
Dr. Ivan Oransky, MD, Executive Editor, Reuters Health; teaches medical journalism at New York University’s Science, Health, and Environmental Reporting Program; co-creator of the blog Retraction Watch focused on retractions of studies in science journals
Hate crimes in Los Angeles County are up 15 percent
County officials are releasing a report today that shows a 15% jump in hate crimes in 2011. The spike follows three straight years of decline in hate crimes in Los Angeles. Even so, the 489 incidents last year was the second-lowest number in 20 years.
The commission that issued the report found that 49% of the hate crimes were motivated by race. Among them, a significant majority of the attacks on African-Americans were committed by Latino suspects (65%). Sexual orientation accounted for 25% of crimes, and religion 24%.
This doesn’t just mean violent crime: in California, hate speech is considered a crime when there’s a specific threat of violence against a person or group of people based on their race, sexual orientation or gender, among other protected classes; graffiti targeted towards those classes is also considered a crime. But are these valid measures?
Has the designation of “hate crime” become overused? Is it right to punish two crimes with equal effects differently on the basis of the perpetrator’s “intent?” Should some of these acts, however offensive, be punished as typical crimes? What accounts for the rise in numbers? Are there specific groups or people targeted in L.A. County?
Guests:
Robin S. Toma, executive director, Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission
James. B. Jacobs, professor of criminal law, New York University School of Law
Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen returns with new music on 'Sunken Condos'
The band Steely Dan made a name for itself by creating a highbrow brand of slick, funky rock music that was heavily influenced by jazz. The core of the band has always been a duo comprised of singer and pianist Donald Fagen and guitarist Walter Becker, but the hallmark of their records is a seldom matched level of perfectionism in the recording studio — a characteristic which sometimes meant that any given song would feature performances by dozens of musicians.
After Steely Dan’s popularity peaked in the late 1970s, Becker and Fagen would step away from the band and return to it multiple times for tours and the occasional album, but they were anything but prolific. The band’s 2000 album “Two Against Nature” won four Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. Steely Dan followed it up with “Everything Must Go” three years later but the band hasn’t released anything since 2003.
But Steely Dan fans can rejoice.
Last week, Fagen released “Sunken Condos,” his fourth solo album since 1982 and first since 2006. The album is replete with Fagen’s unique brand of wry lyrics, as well the kind of dry and meticulous production and complex chord structures that fans of his music will find familiar.
What makes Donald Fagen and Steely Dan albums so instantly recognizable?
Guest:
Donald Fagen, musician, songwriter and co-founder of the Grammy Award-winning act, Steely Dan; his fourth album, Sunken Condos, was released on October 16th, 2012