...so hard for it, honey

At long last, the gender pay gap is narrowing, but for reasons that should come as no surprise to observers of the recent American economy: men's wages are eroding, and (male-dominated) blue collar jobs are disappearing. Thus, the narrowing gap helps no one; just another symptom of a sick economy with zero rewards for hard work and limitless wealth for those born on third base. The experts put it best:

"We're closing the wage gap in exactly the wrong way," said Rebecca Blank, dean of the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. "The idea was that women's wages were supposed to rise, not that men's wages would fall to women's level."

Economist Jared Bernstein of the Economic Policy Institute in Washington said: "Low-wage men have just been taking it on the chin. What you would like to see, especially during a period when the economy is growing at a good clip, is men's wages rising but women's wages rising more as they move toward equal pay for equal work."

Sure, Bernstein's lost in utopian thinking: this growing economy will probably see men's pay fall further (thus achieving pay equity, hooray), followed by a ruthless era that pushes both men and women together in equally stagnating pay. This is because wage increases no longer have anything to do with productivity increases, and unless you're lucky enough to stumble upon one of these new wealth-harvesting occupations (whose pay is also disconnected, but in the other direction, from productivity), prepare for a future of scrabbling and stagnation.

On the other hand, maybe lots more women will test out the motivational myth of the American Dream by organizing workers and bargaining wage increases.