The State of the Union contained a throw-away line: "We are going to crack down on violations of equal-pay laws - so that women get equal pay for an equal day's work." Presumably, this was included just so the president could check the box of having had something for the feminists. Yet it's worth asking, how is this different than what's being done now? Discrimination based on sex is already illegal, and presumably the administration has already been "cracking down" on companies that are mistreating women, or anyone else.

But what's worse, the line continues to propagate the impression that women are still victims of systematic discrimination (they aren't). And threats to ramp up federal investigations into the workplace hardly seem the best way to encourage employment.

It's a throw-away line that should have been thrown away completely.