Here's a rough guide to the numbers that everyone is talking about.

In the second edition of "Women's Figures," author Diana Furchtgott-Roth shatters the myth of the wage gap, alleging that women are continuing to gain ground relative to men. Preferential policies towards women are undermining America's notion of meritocracy and are actually calling into question the value of women's earned achievements.

President Barack Obama took office in January 2009 after having campaigned on the broad promise of "hope" and "change." However, to stay in office, there is one thing President Obama should hope for: an improvement in the employment picture before the 2012 elections.

The teaching profession is crucial to America's society and economy, but public-school teachers should receive compensation that is neither higher nor lower than market rates.

Several studies have shown that public-sector workers receive higher compensation than their counterparts in the private sector. Although, federal contractors have some of the advantages of private sector workers, in that poor performers can be dismissed and the composition of the contractor workforce altered, it is possible that they are overcompensated just as federal employees are right now.

The U.S. economy has grown considerably over the past three decades. However, there is a prevailing sentiment that the middle class and the poor have been left behind. Our results show evidence of considerable improvement in material well-being for both the middle class and the poor over the past three decades.

We estimate that public-school teachers receive total compensation roughly 50 percent higher than they would likely receive in the private sector.

A January 2012 report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) shows that federal government employees receive substantially higher compensation than similarly skilled workers in the private sector. The report’s methodology and conclusions are broadly similar to previous studies from both The Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute.