http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebat...reduce-the-workweek-to-30-hours?smid=fb-share
This is quite possibly the dumbest article I've ever seen.
We need a slow but steady move toward a 30-hour week for all workers. This will help solve a lot of connected problems: overwork, unemployment, overconsumption, high carbon emissions, low well-being, entrenched inequalities and the lack of time to live sustainably, to care for each other and simply to enjoy life.
I'm touched! Except someone needs to explain to me exactly how reducing work hours will possibly result in lower unemployment. Following that to its logical conclusion...if everyone worked zero hours, no one would be unemployed. Right?
People working shorter hours generally have a smaller ecological footprint. If you are tied to the workplace for 40-plus hours, you don’t have much time for the rest of your life. So things have to speed up. You travel by plane or car instead of train, foot or bike. Convenience-driven consumption takes a heavy toll on the environment.
So if I suddenly had a 30-hour work week instead of 40, then that means I'd just sit at home like a hermit, locked up in the house and not consume any more resources during those extra 10 free hours? Or would I be more likely to take one of those carbon-unfriendly vacations since I now have a lot more free time?
Some say it can’t be done because wages are too low. So let’s raise wages. No one should have to work long hours just to get by. Some say it’s uncompetitive.
Oh, ok. Let's just raise wages. No problem. Thank heavens there would be no side effects like higher prices for products or higher unemployment. Where would the money come from to compensate for this additional budget expense? Ahh, who cares? Minor details! I can't believe no one has ever thought of this before!
But there’s no match between average working hours and the strength of a country’s economy. The Netherlands and Germany have a shorter workweek than the United States and Britain. But the Dutch and German economies are stronger, not weaker.
Really? What metric supports the claim that Germany and Holland have better economies than the US? And does this bimbo remember what happened when the Frenchies tried to reduce their workweek to 35 hours? Nah, I didn't think so.
Here's your progressive economic mindset in a nutshell. Based in complete fantasy.
This is quite possibly the dumbest article I've ever seen.
We need a slow but steady move toward a 30-hour week for all workers. This will help solve a lot of connected problems: overwork, unemployment, overconsumption, high carbon emissions, low well-being, entrenched inequalities and the lack of time to live sustainably, to care for each other and simply to enjoy life.
I'm touched! Except someone needs to explain to me exactly how reducing work hours will possibly result in lower unemployment. Following that to its logical conclusion...if everyone worked zero hours, no one would be unemployed. Right?
People working shorter hours generally have a smaller ecological footprint. If you are tied to the workplace for 40-plus hours, you don’t have much time for the rest of your life. So things have to speed up. You travel by plane or car instead of train, foot or bike. Convenience-driven consumption takes a heavy toll on the environment.
So if I suddenly had a 30-hour work week instead of 40, then that means I'd just sit at home like a hermit, locked up in the house and not consume any more resources during those extra 10 free hours? Or would I be more likely to take one of those carbon-unfriendly vacations since I now have a lot more free time?
Some say it can’t be done because wages are too low. So let’s raise wages. No one should have to work long hours just to get by. Some say it’s uncompetitive.
Oh, ok. Let's just raise wages. No problem. Thank heavens there would be no side effects like higher prices for products or higher unemployment. Where would the money come from to compensate for this additional budget expense? Ahh, who cares? Minor details! I can't believe no one has ever thought of this before!
But there’s no match between average working hours and the strength of a country’s economy. The Netherlands and Germany have a shorter workweek than the United States and Britain. But the Dutch and German economies are stronger, not weaker.
Really? What metric supports the claim that Germany and Holland have better economies than the US? And does this bimbo remember what happened when the Frenchies tried to reduce their workweek to 35 hours? Nah, I didn't think so.
Here's your progressive economic mindset in a nutshell. Based in complete fantasy.
You axe to many questions.
