American Morning
Insure.com says mom is worth $61,436/year, do you agree?
Celebrating mom this Sunday on Mother's Day? Flowers and cards can never quite repay mom for all she's done, but have you ever thought about how much she's really worth? One website is putting a dollar amount on mom this year with its "Mother's Day Index."
The site, Insure.com, says the value of the tasks mom performs for her family, not including her job, is $61,436/year. That amount is based on what a professional might charge for these tasks: cooking, cleaning, driving, childcare, helping with homework, nursing wounds, planning parties, summer activity planner, haircuts, shopping, family finances, yard work, fixing up the house, and finding out what the kids are up to.
AM ask for your thoughts on the value of all mom does for the family. How much is your mom worth?
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This is disgusting. How about the love, nurturing, care and affection. Can someone put a price on it? Perhaps in hollywood culture you can... This tells the direction in which the society is going...
Ladies: All the more reason to choose a lucrative & interesting career & pay a professional to do the: cooking, cleaning, driving, childcare, homework, planning parties, haircuts, shopping, yard work, fixing up the house, et al.
Kind of makes sense. Maybe grow and make your own floral bouquets. http://www.cultivatingfloraldesign.com. or just make a nice meal
With 2 income families being the norm for so many, how do you account for time spent? $100 an hour from 6 PM until 10? What price is America paying for destroying the economy and forcing mothers into such servitude? Kids of rich parents have full time Moms, or Au pairs.
The only way to know how much a house is worth is a real estate appraiser, see http://jdappraisal.com/blog/home-values-and-how-to-find-out-what-your-house-is-worth/
The only way to know how much a Mom is worth is to love yours.
George W. Bush had the opportunity to take custody of Osama bin Laden in
October 2001. The Afghanistan government offered to turn over OBL for
evidence or proof OBL was responsible for the 9-11 attack. Note that bin
Laden has never been charged or indicted for 9-11, apparently not enough
evidence to make a legal case.
http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/usama-bin-laden/view
The major point in question is what proof or evidence did Bush have
regarding OBL being responsible for 9-11 at the time he needed to furnish
the evidence to the government of Afghanistan to avoid an unnecessary war?
That was October 2001.
what proof or evidence did Bush have then which he was unable or unwilling to furnish to Afghanistan to get custody of OBL and his group. Bush chose war over negotiation, possibly due to lack of any evidence against OBL?
We have not yet seen the evidence. If you know of such evidence, please
furnish the same with your source links, for the time period of October
2001. The media are not dealing with the important issue of the evidence
against bin Laden which has never been shown. Did Bush start an unnecessary
war based on no evidence, or false evidence which showed Iraq was
responsible for 9-11.?
Assertions are not facts, and assertions against bin Laden are not proof.
Again, let us see the evidence which led to the war on the government and
people of Afghanistan, who were not responsible for the 9-11 attack. The
people and government of Iraq were also not responsible for the 9-11 attack,
but we invaded them anyway, just like we invaded Afghanistan.
==================
We have not yet seen the evidence against him.
What Is (the) Evidence Against Bin Laden?
By Jessica Reaves
Oct. 03, 2001
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,177983,00.html
Within hours of the World Trade Center collapsing, the U.S. began pointing
fingers at Osama bin Laden. And within days of those accusations, the Bush
administration began talking of the "evidence" against bin Laden. Colin
Powell has talked about it. Donald Rumsfeld has talked about it. President
Bush has talked about it. The past two weeks have been dotted with press
conferences, international committee meetings, lengthy legal discussions,
all focused on one question: Where is the evidence of bin Laden's guilt?
To date, very little evidence has been made public, for obvious security
reasons, so any discussion has been necessarily relegated to the realm of
speculation. We do know that this is not a "normal" evidentiary search:
Colin Powell has been candid in saying that the evidence is not of the type
that would stand up in an American court of law.
The best way to support our troops
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/5821/supporttroopspk6.gif
All the reasons given by Bush for the war on Iraq have proven false or
illegal.
Pre-emptive war is illegal under international law, as is war for regime
change. Iraq war was illegal and breached UN charter, (and violated
Article VI of the Constitution) says Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of
the United Nations
September 16, 2004
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1305709,00.html
Article Six establishes the United States Constitution and the laws and
treaties of the United States made in accordance with it as the supreme law
of the land
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_Six_of_the_United_States_Constitution
2. This constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made
in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under
the authority of the United States shall be the supreme law of the land; and
the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, any thing in the
constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.
According to U.S. law treaties are those international agreements that
receive the advice and consent of the Senate. (Article II, section 2, clause
2 of the Constitution). A treaty to which United States is a party is given
status equal to that of a federal legislation and therefore forms a part of
the Supreme law of the land.
http://definitions.uslegal.com/s/supremacy-clause/
This means all treaties made, such as the Geneva Conventions and the UN
Charter, are the Supreme Law of the United States, so violations of those
international laws and treaties are violations of Article VI of the
Constitution, the Supremacy Clause.
Bush response to 9-11: two illegal immoral unnecessary wars.
Before the invasion of Iraq, what were the facts on the ground? We knew
that there were no WMD, stockpiles or active weapons programs. The UN
Inspectors had free access to all parts of Iraq for four months, using
all the intelligence furnished by the USA, and reported nothing was to
be found. The inspectors were pulled out so Bush could start his "shock
and awe" bombing campaign. Those who read the classified version of the
National Intelligence Estimate concluded that it did not support the
unclassified version, and that Iraq was no imminent threat. There was NO
evidence that Iraq had any connection to 9-11 or to Al Quaeda in spite
of a massive campaign of lies by the Bush administration which made
those claims. The USA was not authorized to use military force by the
UN, and doing so was a violation of the UN Charter and article VI of the
US Constitution. Pre-emptive war is a war crime and a violation of
international law. The attack on Iraq did not meet the historical
standards of a "just war" and was clearly immoral. The war may end up
costing 3+ trillion dollars, all for no valid purpose. A massive waste of
human life, property and loss of world respect. (Documentation is in my
four part research linked below.) Documentation of hundreds of Bush
lies. And more details about the illegal Afghanistan invasion.
http://www.hamiltongirls.com/BushWar.htm
–C Hamilton
On his recent book tour, Bush continues to rewrite history with lies about
his war of choice in Iraq, a pre-emptive war which is a war crime by
definition.
comment By cripes, May 2
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/chris_hedges_speaks_on_osama_bin_ladens_death_20110502/#399692
Aside from the debate whether Bin Laden was responsible for 9/11, Al-Queda
or domestic violence seems to me an angels-on-the-head-of-a-pin debate.
Interesting, but useless.
He was a single man, probably isolated and sick, and the consensus is that
he was operationally ineffectual. If he was even alive the past ten years,
after all; the peasants are told what their rulers want them to hear.
Bin Laden was never indicted for 9/11, and his FBI poster only mentions him
as a suspect in the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.
http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/usama-bin-laden/view
So we assassinated a symbol. And three of Qaddafi's grandchildren and a son.
And how many thousands more in the middle east and around the world? What
exactly did (bin Laden) do against the US to merit assassination by fiat
from the American king? No one seems to know, or care.
We must remember Bin Laden as a product of the anti-soviet, CIA intelligence
asset factory. This duplicitous operation straddles the planet with a
netherworld of spooks, spies, drug dealers and rogues. It hasn't reformed,
it has metastasized.
Mortal damage is inflicted to the remains of our democratic state every time
the US exercises its extrajudicial assassination program, expanded by Obama
from the Bush years. We are lawless.
240 years ago our forefathers revolted against the tyrannical power of Kings
to mete out life or death against all without recourse to law. They were
right to do so.
Now we throw this heritage away in a foolish orgy of cheerleading to murder
and assassination. Openly proclaiming "justice" as long as the crime is
heinous enough to justify hanging before a trial.
Obama is morphing into the "war president" PR brand that now is a
prerequisite for incumbent presidents seeking reelection.
Saddam, Qaddafi, Bin Laden. Blood lust theater for the rubes. Do you feel
manipulated? You should.
The whole thing is disgusting.
Copyright © 2011 Truthdig, L.L.C.
======================
"I should like to see these profound words inscribed on the threshold of all
the temples of science:
'The greatest derangement of the mind is to believe in
something because one wishes it to be so.'"
–Louis Pasteur
http://wisdom.mondocolorado.org/topics/reason.htm
Most of the greatest evils that man has inflicted upon man
have come through people feeling quite certain about
something which, in fact, was false.
–Bertrand Russell
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.
It is the source of all true art and science.
- Albert Einstein
C Hamilton
a moderator of
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/new-continuum/
If you want to change what your government is doing,
contact those who are acting in your name:
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/misc.html
Parenting: priceless. Can we focus on the real issues? Seriously.
I couldn't even think about putting a price tag on how much a mom is worth because a mom is worth EVERYTHING and then some!!
NO I THINK THAT WE AS A MOM WORTH MORE THEN THAT NOT TO MENTIONED GIVING BIRTH FOR MUST OF US MOM THAT IS PRICELESS!! NANCY TEXAS.
I wonder how much I could add for being a Military wife? I do Dads job too..5 Deployments in 8 yrs!
I think the $61,000.00 figure is low. If you throw in the "hooker" time n the bedroom, it should be around $500,000. minus gifts and gratuities of $1,000. and you are looking at $499,00.00 annually.
From Toronto Canada..
Price of a box of chocolates $30.00
Price of a dozen roses $45.00
Price of a Caribbean vacation for two $3000.00
Motherhood.......PRICELESS.
Happy Mother's Day to me and all Mothers!
you left out one of the most important aspects of being married. Sex!
how much would it cost to hire an escort to replace the "sex services" a wife provides? what do they call it in court? loss of consortium.
By the way, Salary.com says a mom should be paid about 138K this year...
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/03/business/main2757270.shtml
I like the question and it is about time we finally put a price on mom and dad work at home. We can at least use the information to valorize their importance in the society and stop thinking that stay at home parent (woman and man) are useless (economically)!
just wondering why preparing meals is not included in this cost?
I think this price depends on how exactly does the mom do the job.
My mother had 6AM – 7PM days and did:
-Cooked from scratch. No boxed macaroni and cheese or looking for the easy way out going to restaurants 3 times a week.
-She would sit by me for 2-3 hours making sure I learned the concepts taught in school but also of the extra classes taken.
-She washed, but also ironed. I never had wrinkled clothes.
-My condo was spotless, not just clean.
-Always balancing the budget. What does she need, what can she cut. Budget was handled better by her than during the 3 months my father, an MIT Sloan School grad.
-When mom worked, we hired a maid. She still made sure all these things happened.
-Great source of advice. She might be right or wrong, but whe would always give her true assessment.
-Made sure her mother never lacked anything.
I don't expect my future wife to be like this, but my mother has my eternal gratitude. Mom is only one.
you forgot psycologist & referee.
(overtime not necessary...that's paid in hugs, kisses, gentle touches, precious handmade gifts, and "I love you Mommy")!
Shame on CNN! Please use your time and our tax dollars for some useful research. Putting a price tag on Mom: Only in hedonistic America!
I agree in part because the topic is bias. Why not say, "What is the value of a stay-at-home parent?". There are many more stay-at-home dads than before and single parent dads; like myself, who work a full-time job and then come home to do the duties of an absent mom and father. After all, I guess this article is appropriate, since Mother's Day is around the corner.
Placing a economic value on the jobs that mother's and "homemakers" should be considered at a national level since women do not receive social security credits for this job. At retirement, therefore, many a woman's social security income is much lower than that of a man as a result of the years spent raising and caring for a family.
hey guys you miss the last 6 zeros!!!!!
Mom or dad, whoever takes on these tasks: mental health counselling (anyone have a teenager?), orthodonture (replacing bands, wires, etc.), medication managment (for occasional or chronic illness), higher education counselling. High-paying jobs, these!
Sorry i thought this was a news channel ...
$61,000? Yeah, we KNOW that's low! But what about mom's like me who have 5 kids, If I can multiply that according to how many children I have then we can talk!!!
All the more reason to be a bachelor and live in the north woods
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-603098
Mom's are valuable that is something that can't be debated.
But ...... enough with the attachment of a dollar value to everything.
If Insurance.com says the value is $61,000.00 then if a mom was to get hurt woudl the insurance industry pay for the loss. I think not.
I think thats fair, but I'd rather hire a full time nanny for my children and make my wife to go get a job because nannies only cost around 35K/month.
To Ruthann, did we not read the word "moms" in this story? I am sympathetic to you and your husband's situation, but c'mon... you didn't mention a child once.
I'd like to see research like this
and have seen it before!! Love to show it to Mom when I can, especially around Mom's day!!
I'd like to see it side by side w/research on the $ worth of working Dad's and or Mr Moms who do landscaping , car rpair, hs maintenence, etc!!
TY, B
I also forgot how many times a day I give my husband breathing treatments 4 and as needed. His tract is cleaned and his tubing is clean 1-3 times a day, I also help him on the computer to point to the questions that I ask him and also help him with his exercise.
I believe I am worth more than 61 thousand dollars because I only take care of one person my husband, but I would not give him up for the world. He is my life.
I hope that you can read this to all the people that listen to your show. 95 % of the time you are the only show that we watch all the time. Your show tells us more news than the Wall Street paper does and we stop that long time ago from coming to our home.
I forgot to add this. I have to go now. Thank you.
Ruthann
This is such a brilliant (and loaded) question. It gets very personal for us women who have struggled with the choice to be both professionals and mothers and yet, I would maintain, don't always have the freedom to do both well, without compromising an element of Oneself. I would venture to say that you simply cannot put a $ amount on what us mothers and working mothers do only because our time is worth more than what anyone could possibly pay us. A friend of mine recounted to me when she and her husband were looking at life insurance coverage for her, he had suggested that $100'000 should do since he was the breadwinner, and she replied, Why don't you try $1,000,000? You couldn't find a soul to do my job!). My ex-spouse recently reminded me via email that he was paying me $50'000 a year to support his ex-wife and children; I had to laugh because I thought to myself, You couldn't find anyone to do my job for that amount–to love and care and be there for your children (ages 10 and 14) when they are sick, or angry, or brooding, 24 hours, seven days a week. It was refreshing (to a degree) to hear this morning that this 'job' has an estimated value of a little over $61'000. How about tripling that? It's the single most exhausting and exhilirating (physically and emotionally) job not to mention that a mother is 'on' all the time when her children are in her care. Thanks for asking the question! Nicole, Winchester, Massachusetts
I have tremendous respect for work at home Mom, but these surveys are unbalanced because they look at things in a vacuum.
If a woman was paid to do these jobs, she would be living in her own home. A quick list for my area shows these expenses which are being covered...
Monthly Expenses Raleigh N.C. area
Rent............................$600
Electricity...................$150
Gas..............................$100
Water...........................$100
TV/Phone/Internet......$130
Auto............................$200
Auto insurance............$50
Food............................$150
Gasoline......,...............$100
Clothes........................$50
Health Insurance.........$300
Cleaning Supplies.......$100
This is over $24000 per year in covered expenses which the survey forgot would be incurred.
I am a stay at home wife as of August 31, 2010 as I have retired from my retail job and I work 24/7 and take care of my husband Phil who is bedridden.
I bathe him, clean up his diapers, clean his tract, do laundry at least 6-8 times a day 7 days a week., make sure that he has clean bedding when he is home and also goes to dialysis three times a week, help him get dress,make sure his J-Tube is always clean before putting medicines and food into his tube for this is the way he can only eat. He hasn't talk for quite a long time.
I talk to him all the time. sometimes I think if he could talk his first words would be to me, shut up.
The tract that he has in prevents him from eating, drinking and talking.
I also go and get his medicines and do some other errands.
Thank you for listening to me.
Ruthann Boggs-Roberts, Toledo Ohio
I agree, but why stop with Mom? How about the value of dad mowing the lawn, painting the house, fixing the car, building a fence, repairing an appliance, fixing the computer, etc. Motherhood is not about her monetary value nor is fatherhood. Why even ask this question? Love is not employment!
Of course, it is not possible to put a dollar value on the intangible aspects of a mother's contributions to home and family. Children who do not have a mother or a person who serves in this capacity are inevitably damaged in countless ways. If we add emotional costs to those tangible costs that went into the insure.com calculations which valued mothers at $61436, the value would be much higher. Mothers cannot be replaced by unrelated babysitters, transportation services, housekeepers and cooks. Children need someone who knows them well to advocate for them throughout years of school and when seeing doctors. What about help with homework, chaperoning at parties, wedding planning, taking care of the grandchildren?
At the same time, it is important to consider the dollar value of a mother so that society no longer considers a stay at home mother someone who is unemployed. All of the benefits that working people require, such as health insurance, sick days and vacations are needed by stay at home moms too.
There should be a substantial tax deduction for serving as a mother.
What about homeless mothers? A recent White House study on the Status of Women found a substantial number of single mothers raising children despite being homeless. Poor women who do not abandon children should be compensated so that the number of homeless mothers and children does not grow.
I spend every morning with you guys from 4:30 to 5:30 and I love you! But I'm disappointed this morning...Let's elevate the conversation a bit and make the story lead what a stay-at-home parent is worth instead of saying the word mom. Yes, I realize most of them are moms and not dads, but it's a growing reality...I think 25%...that dads are the stay-at-home parents. And aren't we glad? We certainly need more even involvement in a child's life.
I am a stay at home mom, I also work and a large full service wedding and bridal consultant company. I take care of the kids, house, husband, and still have time for up to three weddings or events a month
Since family duties are so much more universal in today's society, I'd like to see this study extended to cover the value of the unpaid work men do as well. It seems a bit sexist to apply this only to women!
If you refer to any act of physical affection towards your spouse or significant other as a "service", maybe you shouldn't be in that relationship. It's love, not a repair appointment for your car.
"...service that us wives provide to our husbands..."? Really, Jean? Do you check under his hood and all that? Sounds like a bored housewife to me.
Only 61.4K? It should be significantly more. What job could me more important than raising children?
We may have found the answer to the federal deficit problem, This is a great untapped source of taxable income.
As a stay-at-home parent, I was subjected to ridicule almost constantly. My son was born early, so add to the list of jobs medical care as well! His first years of development depended on endless appointments and visits from a nurse to my home. Most parents working or not, have this to face as well.
As a former stay at home mom for 10 years...I just wanted to add a few extra costs that were missed, that will definitely add to the bottom line. Maintenance and minor repair of household appliances, care for elderly parents that live with you, maintaining the yard, tutoring, shopping, and please don't forget the service that us wives provide to our husbands, that could be calculated using an hourly wage...that is most often provided by the stay at home mom during the lunch hour and at night...so double that yearly cost!
Thanks CNN. My wife asked me $20 to take the kids to School this morning.
To Rob, read my comment about stay-at-home dads way up top there.
Of course, the fools come in here and start talking politics. C'mon, folks.
Let me preface my comment with this...I honor stay at home mom's. I wish I could have afforded to stay home longer after I had my two children who are now adults. However, I don't get the analogy. When you are a parent you're suppose to tutor your children, you're suppose to cart them around to activities, you're suppose to do laundry, clean house etc. Your pay is well rounded, adjusted, successful adult children .
There's gender bias in the question. Dad's do plenty, on top of the 40 hour work, especially the single Dad's. 60K for domestic labor is a good reference.
On the Worth/Value of a Mom and/or Wife? You Left out being a Psychologist, listening to your troubles and giving advice or the Sexual Favors/Demands Made at Home!
I think the federal government should allow households with moms to reduce our income by this amount before paying taxes! They say they want to promote the family; that would be a great way to promote family, even promote moms staying at home - at least while the kids are young, and our nation's moms would finally be somewhat "compensated" for raising-up new taxpayers for the country!
Mom. Reduced to $61K. Really? Our kids mom (who happens to be my wife) has a value far in excess of $61K. For mother's day lets celebrate the her contribution to society as the mother of our future and the force behind every successful man. Mom is love! Besides, I do the shopping, cooking, homework and cleaning.
Absolutely agree!!! If you had to replace tasks dollar for dollar, absolutely agree!!! But, not to be left out there are single dads out there too, and dads who do it all.
Only a decadent society would actually put a price tag on their mother...how about giving life? Priceless!
I know Mother's Day is coming, but how about the stay-at-home dads? Anything on them? How much is their worth? I better see a report on Father's Day. >:-D
@Insure.com says the tasks mom performs for her family is $61,436/year.
Don't tell Uncle Sam. He'll want to tax someone for it!
I agree that my mom was worth that much and more. She'd work all day and still find time when she got home to cook a meal, clean the house and take care of us kids. Talking to most moms now though, they either pick up some fast food or microwave a dinner, clean the house only on weekends and the kids take care of themselves by watching videos, playing online games while mom is busy texting or tweeting. And dads are even more unavailable. These days it's more everyone's on their own