War on Caterpillars

I happened to catch Reince Priebus on TV today. I was channel surfing and saw him on msnbc talking with Thomas Roberts. You can watch it here to see the two of them discussing caterpillars. It's just a little over the 3-minute mark when they start discussing what is actually the war on women, not really caterpillars. It was Reince Priebus that first started the whole caterpillar thing, by the way. They did talk about "family planning" a lot and also about the economy.

Seems like the problem for women, according to Reince Priebus, is the economy. And he should know because, as a conservative man, he feels comfortable speaking for women. Stephen said so last night, so it's true. But, (and I refer you to the previous post for more about this), the economy, family planning, Equal Pay, women's health decisions, ... it's all connected. Having a baby affects your health, your career, your earning potential.

When they talk about women being most concerned about the economy, that perhaps needs clarification. There is the economy in general and of course women are concerned about that. There is also their own personal economy, e.g. paying the rent or mortgage, buying groceries, paying the doctor and dentist bills, buying clothes and other necessities.

Children are expensive and I should know because I was one once upon a time. Having a baby and raising a child costs a lot of money. Having three children is going to cost approximately three times as much. Not exactly, because they can share a bedroom, so not much extra cost there. They can wear hand-me-downs, so that cuts down on some of the clothing cost. But they can't eat hand-me-down food. They can't use hand-me-down braces on their teeth.

If the child goes to day care, that costs money, a lot of money. If Mom is staying home instead of working, that means the income will go down for the family. It puts more pressure on Dad to earn more money to make up the difference. So, decisions on when to have children and how many children to have are key factors in a family's personal economic stability.

So, I hope Reince Priebus will read this and that it will help him understand what that whole war on women is about. It has something to do with women making their own decisions and not having Reince Priebus making those decisions. He should go back to playing with his caterpillars and leave women alone.