The decline of the American economy during the presidency of George W. Bush cannot be blamed on lazy American workers. The productivity of American workers has continued to increase, even as the economy in general has languished.
One measure of the increasing workload on ordinary Americans is the time of the day at which Americans begin their work day. Since the year 2000, the number of Americans who leave their homes for work before 6:00 in the morning increased by millions.
Working Americans are up at the crack of dawn doing their part. It’s the right wing economic elites that are leading this economy down the tubes.
(Source: USA Today, September 12, 2007)
My wife works for a major American Health Care corporation. The company just announced massive layoffs in both the regional hospitals and in corporate management (up to 35%). Fortunately, my wife was not included in the downsizing. However, does anyone think that the amount of patient-care and administrative work has decreased correspondingly? The additional duties that she may be asked to take on may drive her to resign. She already works 7 days a week. This sort of work load is not uncommon in her company, or in corporate America as a whole. It’s true that Americans are working harder and longer than ever. Corporate America wants ever more out of their exhausted employees.