A 2006 article in the New York Times cited labor department statistics that, for college-educated women in middle adulthood, the gender pay gap had widened during the previous decade. The phenomenon was attributed partly to discrimination, but also to “women’s own choices. The number of women staying home with young children has risen …. especially among highly educated mothers, who might otherwise be earning high salaries.”

Aagh ... ugh ... oh no, not again ...

That's the awful sound of your bank account as you ask it to give you more than it has to give. You are torturing it and yourself, once again. You slam your head on the desk, utter a few words that your mother told you never to say, and lapse into yet another financial crisis. Is it acute or chronic? Is this a scene that happens rarely or repeats over and over? Well, today is the day that the torture becomes history. Take up your pencil and prepare to "balance the budget." If Congress can do it (it has happened), so can you.