If you live in America in the 21st century you’ve probably had to listen to a lot of people tell you how busy they are. It’s become the default response when you ask anyone how they’re doing: “Busy!” “So busy.” “Crazy busy.” It is, pretty obviously, a boast disguised as a complaint. And the stock response is a kind of congratulation: “That’s a good problem to have,” or “Better than the opposite.”
Notice it isn’t generally people pulling back-to-back shifts in the I.C.U. or commuting by bus to three minimum-wage jobs who tell you how busy they are; what those people are is not busy but tired. Exhausted. Dead on their feet. It’s almost always people whose lamented busyness is purely self-imposed: work and obligations they’ve taken on voluntarily, classes and activities they’ve “encouraged” their kids to participate in. They’re busy because of their own ambition or drive or anxiety, because they’re addicted to busyness and dread what they might have to face in its absence.
Continue reading The ‘Busy’ Trap
Bill Maher had a piece about American workers not daring to take any vacation days because they were too afraid to look "lazy" in front of their boss (who usually takes all of their vacation days).
He also pointed out that America is a rare exception, because most countries have a legally mandated amount of paid vacation days. (Even China!)
American workers are more productive because they're working scared. Employers like this arrangement. The only thing they like better than this is being able to fire you when you age or become sick without any legal consequences for having done it.
Other countries at least pretend to care if their workers fall over and die from overwork/stress.
Whether or not "Mittens" or Obama wins this election, the United States is probably in an irreversible decline.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/06/16/1100524/-Bill-Maher-asks-why-the-U-S-doesn-t-have-paid-vacation-leave
"And Americans look at this and think it's weird, without realizing we're the weird ones. They have the right idea. The Declaration of Independence says "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". Not "work, consumerism, and the pursuit of profits for Mitt Romney's investors". (audience applause)"
Posted by: Abraham Lincoln | July 04, 2012 at 03:29 AM