Stress Costs U.S. $300 Billion a Year 418
jburroug writes "A new study, as reported in the New York Times claims that the stress of the modern always-on work environment is taking a far greater toll on the health of workers than previously believed, to the tune of $300 billion in lost productivity and increased health care costs in the U.S. alone."
Isn't that.... (Score:4, Funny)
And they wonder why (Score:5, Insightful)
Folks, shut off the cellphone, log out of the internet and leave work at work because you're slowly killing yourself with stress.
Re:And they wonder why (Score:2, Funny)
Re:And they wonder why (Score:2, Funny)
Re:And they wonder why (Score:2)
Re:And they wonder why (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:And they wonder why (Score:4, Insightful)
I personally have put my foot down about "expectations" on the part of management. My wife and I had a baby and I did not want to be a "virtual dad."
And frankly, even if it didn't work I was prepared to walk. If they are expecting the work of 2 people out of you, they should in fact be hiring 2 people, not making you feel constantly inadaquate.
easy solution (Score:4, Funny)
great... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:great... (Score:2, Funny)
By applying stress ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Business gets a $2 trillion (number pulled from nether regions) boost in profits by applying stress. $.3 trillion is a small price to pay, and it's not even business' burden to foot the bill.
Get real. Stress motivates, and it's an integral part of business strategy.
Re:By applying stress ... (Score:3, Insightful)
I've taken a 50% pay cut to escape from an environment like that and I've never been happier. Being rich is nice but not when you're freaking out trying to keep up with the crappy culture that exists at far too many companies.
Gad! (Score:2, Funny)
Stressful (Score:4, Funny)
people in the US work too much (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:people in the US work too much (Score:2, Insightful)
You call that a right? I call that a burden.
The parent probably meant that he doesn't have to work his ass off to be assured of not loosing his job.
Also, you could work a lot (60+ hours a week) and still be half as efficient as a 35-40 hours worker, due to stress, fatigue and whatnot.
Re:people in the US work too much (Score:2, Insightful)
But I am serious. I am overworked but if I slack I seriously will lose my job.
Its a sad world we live in but I go to school too and need to put food on the table. All I know is if I do not work over 40 hours things wont get done and my boss will be wondering what I am doing if I am not working regular hours(as in 60).
I will be replaced but what can I do?
If the economy improves I could tell my boss to hir
Re:people in the US work too much (Score:5, Interesting)
Working in Sweden is quite sweet...
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Things are looking up for me-Performance anxiety (Score:2, Funny)
Trust me. They're already stressed enough.
Go tell it to the Europeans (Score:5, Interesting)
I really do not understand why we Americans have let ourselves be brainwashed into SweatShopAmerica.
See my sig for links on how the social democracies of Europe fought and are still fighting for a better , less stressful workplace, for universal healthcare, and for a social welfare state/safety net that lets them less afraid of losing their jobs.
Re:Go tell it to the Europeans (Score:5, Insightful)
My employer does a fair amount of business in Europe or with European based companies. Everytime a customer from this continent comes up, we always talk about the numerous weeks of vacation and whatnot.
People always end up talking about the "high" unemployment rate and the "high" taxes, but they always wistfully look on the health care and 3x vacation....but then they drive home in their 2nd or 3rd car (sometimes an SUV) to a home that's twice as big as they need to their big screen TV that they paid for with a bonus check that could have been put to retirement....
As long as we Americans want our toys and things, we'll never get get 6 weeks vacation....
50% of all tax returns are less than $35K (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Go tell it to the Europeans (Score:2)
(redundant disclaimer: it's hear-say)
Anyway with all that unemployment, I wonder how many work there IS worldwide. Divide that by the number of people living on the planet (minus children etc), and maybe you'll get a 20hrs of work per week?
Re:Go tell it to the Europeans (Score:2)
"Encouraged" by fear of losing their jobs (Score:2, Troll)
Re:"Encouraged" by fear of losing their jobs (Score:2)
Now as for the scare-quotes, there's no denying that businesses conflate the sorts of things I listed above with a better lifes
Re:Go tell it to the Europeans (Score:5, Insightful)
The US may have the most "stuff" but we pay for it with our health. We buy a $5000 plasma TV to get our minds off the stress of all the work we need to do to afford a $5000 plasma TV.
Re:Go tell it to the Europeans (Score:5, Interesting)
I think what we have brainwashed into believing those who work the most are the most dedicated, when in fact they may just be the least effecient, or, possible, the least qualified to do the job. Or pehaps the employer will not pay for the proper tools because he or she knows that the employee will donate the time neccesary to compensate for the substandard equipment. I am in a situation like that right now. Crappy cheap web designer are costing me a few hours a week of free time.
One last point. Healthcare and vacations should pay for themselves. A healthier worker will be more effectient. However, this only matters when the company is worried about the long term viability of the worker and has to pay for the long term care of the worker. Neither is that true in the current situation. The pay for unskilled labor is low enough so it does not matter if the worker is not effecient. Skilled labor is often on salary, so it often does not matter if all the labor is inexperienced and takes 25% more time. Health care is largely oursourced to the middle class, through taxes and insurance payments, so that is not a big issue either.
the belabored point from above is that Sweatshop America is realy TemporaryJobAmerica, in which companies hire on an as needed basis, works the employer as hard as possible, and then throws the employee away as soon as the job is done.
Re:Go tell it to the Europeans (Score:4, Interesting)
Efficiently is calculated by cost per work returned for that cost. I agree an overworked worker is not as efficient as working regular hours for the cost of 2 workers it just may not be efficient. Especially in this tight job market and economy.
Businesses view employers as expenses and cost centers. They need to be cut because they get in the way of profits. Sadly this is why the stock market has gone up as of recent. Its because despite the recession businesses are hiring Indians and having 1 person do the job of 3. This saves alot of money.
Take the example from the japanse (Score:2, Informative)
Just think of the long-term benefits if we all just follow the trend and work ourselves to death.
Fewer people on the highways
Fewer elders collecting retirement
No need to raise taxes on the beleagured wealthy to prop up social security
Cheers!
Re:Go tell it to the Europeans (Score:5, Insightful)
And you still have to shop at Wal*Mart.
Think about it. It's not like Europeans have a low standard of living. They get paid well, they get great vacations, they get great social benefits. WTF are you thinking, working harder for less?! Something is wrong in America.
Re:Go tell it to the Europeans (Score:5, Insightful)
WTF are you thinking, working harder for less?!
The answer to that is simple: I want a job. It's pretty much impossible to negotiate for a shorter work week for a professional job here. Beleive me, I've tried. When I got hired on at my current job I actually asked if I could get double vacation (4 weeks) or a seven hour work day if I took pay cut, my request was met with a confused stare and a refusal. I was honestly afraid that even by just asking I'd lose the offer because management would then assume that I wasn't a 'team player.' I should point out that the company I work for is considered liberal by US standards - a paid lunch break is factored into our work schudules, which is almost unheard of in the US these days. And we get to leave early on the day before a holiday.
Still though, I often find myself badgering co-workers to leave on time almost daily. Since I work 10-6:30 (thanks to clients out west we need extended hours) instead of the normal 8:30-5 I know when everyone leaves. Waaay too often they'll inist on staying till they finish "one last thing" which costs them an hour of personal time they won't ever get back. Thus increasing their stress, and their health care costs and raises the insurnce premiums we all pay. So sad. Also makes it harder for me to goof off ala Bonjour Paresse
Re:Go tell it to the Europeans (Score:3, Insightful)
And you still have to shop at Wal*Mart.
Weird, isn't it? The US economy is staggering in world terms. We hear that all the time. Yet, for the people within the US, their purchasing power isn't wildly different. There are other factors, such as the massive availablity of land, that change things such as the size of your typical house, but broadly speaking, the average US citizen isn't much better off than a european counterpart. And judging by the other posts in this thread, he works a bit harder for it t
Garumph (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Garumph (Score:5, Insightful)
That's assuming that people wash their hands when they're done. If you've ever watched the people that finish up and leave, you'd know better.
Yeah, I'm the freaky guy that stands in the bathroom watching everyone else.
Re:Garumph (Score:3, Funny)
You call that freaky? I use a hidden camera for that.
(just kidding people)
Re:Garumph (Score:2, Insightful)
It is a very intersting book with does address your point about vague measurements being used for whatever ends the user intends.
However, I think you are missing the larger point of the article in that it intends to continue the discussion of: are Americans working t
Re:Garumph (Score:2)
Re:Garumph (Score:2)
The Cure (Score:5, Funny)
How can I do all that, I'm too busy working.
on the plus side.... (Score:3, Funny)
Eh? (Score:5, Insightful)
This is another one of those monetary statistics that we can file under "overblown."
Re:Eh? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Eh? (Score:2)
Re:Eh? (Score:2)
2. Because we've got good cooperative neighbors to take advantage of. Canada and Mexico also have vast resources that compliment US corporations' ability to gain money on a large scale. From labor, to timber, to mining to many other things, they expand on what gives American businesses a
"Mental health" day (Score:4, Interesting)
We all need to step away from the everyday crap and let our brain rest. Sometimes you need it and you usually come back to work energized and ready to finish the rest of the week.
This is what happens when (Score:4, Interesting)
I tried my best to work in the u.s., but I couldn't hack it, just couldn't do it. Even the innocuous suggestion that we go down the pub for an ale during lunch raised some eyebrows and instilled fear in my coworkers. Why do the people working in corporate america have this attitude ? Is it just plain fear? Are you all so desperate to climb the corporate ladder that _living_ takes a backseat to it? Then the 60 and 70 hour workweeks, people taking work home with them for at least another dozen hours of unpaid work...
Absolutely ridiculous... I'm glad to be back in
GREAT POST! (Score:2, Insightful)
I mean it, man. I was born here, and served in the military for America. But when I started comparing it to other countries (which I could finally do only with the Internet), I discovered that something is wrong with this country. And it is not something new. It is something that goes back decades. Or maybe even centuries.
Re:This is what happens when (Score:5, Insightful)
Here's how I dealt with it:
1. Identify something at your company that isn't "sexy." And I'm not talking about the 50 year old receptionist. 3 years ago, right out of college, I took a job with a small software company. They make applications for point-of-sale systems, and about half of the customers are still running old hardware with MS-DOS 6.22 with no plans to upgrade. However, they still wanted new features so there was constant development in this area which no one wanted to do because the Codeview debugger sucks and putting printfs everywhere is tedious.
2. Get good at it. Ideally, you want to find a better way to do things than just do things. So I invested a bunch of time and effort into learning how DOS works at its lowest levels and memorizing the 286-protected mode extender's manual. Then I cooked up some better debugging tools. One thing I did was created an exception routine that would iterate through the frame pointers on the stack and print the address of each called function to a file when the app crashed in the field. It also saved off various variables indicating when in the transaction the crashed occured as well. I then created a script that would automagically match up these hex values to addresses in the map file and give me a human readable call stack. No more unexplainable, unreproduceable offsite crashes. Totally revolutionized how we do things. I was a hero and suddenly I am THE DOS expert. Mostly I now sit in my cube and read Slashdot, pausing occasionally to help the other developers with their DOS problems. Oh, and I write the occasional module to interface to a new device (RS-232, another unsexy area of expertise).
3. Live below your means. As I live in the midwest, housing is cheap to begin with. I shopped around until I found a house that needed some work and had a motivated seller. It was $45K (less than I make a year!), has three bedrooms plus a large finished attic, and is located in a reasonably decent, working class neighborhood. A little paint, a new roof on the garage, and some carpet and its good to go. I've almost got it paid off.
4. Don't get married for a while. For me, this was easy because most of the women I dated up until now have been psychos. Ideally, you want to find a mate that's not horribly materialistic. See that girl with the nice hair and make-up and the designer clothes? Ignore her. She's hugely materialistic and probably a total flake to boot. Instead look for someone that at first glance you wouldn't ordinarily glance at. She's the one wearing the T-shirt and blue jeans and hastily combed hair that likes to stay up all night watching Monty Python. (They do exist, I'm dating her right now. I love you honeybunny.) She may not be as attractive initially but, I've noticed that, if I date an attractive woman with no personality, she quickly becomes less attractive. On the other hand, a relatively unattractive woman with a great personality will become more attractive as you get to know her. (Subjectively attractive that is, they don't let themselves go or anything.)
5. After establishing yourself as the resident expert in something, be sure your boss knows you are living well beneath your means. But don't tell him outright. You don't want to come off as cocky. Instead, drive a shitty car to work as your primary vehicle or casually discuss how you spent the weekend re-roofing the garage. He'll get the idea. Once your house is paid off and you got it fixed up (and it will be soon within a few short years if you do most things yourself and don't spend a ton of money on a new car or other luxuries), you'll be able to quit any time you want and go to work at the local Dairy Mart and your boss will know it. Suddenly, he's kissing YOUR ass. You won't be asked to work 80 hours a week anymore. You might even get to telecommute.
Oh, and as for the THC thing, shave your head and keep a sample of clean urine handy.
So to recap,
Re:This is what happens when (Score:3, Insightful)
Sorry, but I happen to like my toys. I took Friday off for this Labor Day weekend to give me 4 days of no work. What did I do Friday? I went stomping around the Santa Cruz mountains in my new car. And then I came home and watched a movie on my big-ass TV.
Re:This is what happens when (Score:3, Insightful)
Short answer: Yes
Longer answer: Employee are expendable in the USA. You may be let go for not being a "team player" and working the extra hours your peers work. This creates a competitive atmsphere where no one wants to be seen as the slacker. Once you have been let go, you lose your benefits (yes you can continue your health benefits at a very high cost under a program called COBRA, but that is short term and v
It's all about balance. (Score:5, Insightful)
There will enevitably be many +5 (Insightful) comments about how we're being mowed down by "the Man, squeezing more blood out of us to make more money", but when you think about it, the reason for that is we all, in reality, want to be "the Man". We want the things they dangle in front of us, that require disposable income to acquire. "Ooooh, Shiny iPod/Beemer/Opteron" crosses our lips and we've bought into this system. Work more to get more things for our "leisure time", which ends up being non-existant. "If work hard, I'll get promoted and get that raise - then I'll get a life" used to be my mantra. Now, after my good paying job was killed and in essence just moved out of province in the name of profits, I'm fed up enough to say "Fuck you - as long as my family is warm, healthy, clothed and fed I'm happy".
Capitalism is good, it's the best system we've got, but like all things it can go too far. Don't forget why your toiling away - it's to make a life, not make money. Remember, there is a downside to everything - no exceptions.
Meh. Just Crown Royal influenced ramblings from a slightly bitter old man. On to our regularily scheduled bashing of "the man"...
Soko
Please do the math for odds of becoming "The Man" (Score:2)
And that McMansion is usually mortgaged to the hilt....
Re:Please do the math for odds of becoming "The Ma (Score:2)
I'd rather fight to give this guy a job, rather than a handout.
Re:It's all about balance. (Score:2)
Re:It's all about balance. (Score:2)
Well, I think Yin and Yang is essentially Taoist, but you're right about us Buddhists finding a happy medium.
The example from Buddhist canon that springs to mind is the Lute Simile, where our choice of lifestyle is likened to the strings of an instrument. Too much tension, and they snap. Too slack, and their noise is unpleasant. But just the right balance, and you have beautiful music.
Likewise, it's important to be energetic and dedicated in our pursuits, but not to the point where we work ourselves to
Re:It's all about balance. (Score:3, Insightful)
Capitalism works if there are resources to waste, that is if we can afford to have 20 different firms making a product, knowing that 80% of them will not exist in year, and half the inventory will be surplus.
In any system there are the vested interests that will oppress to maintain power or profits or whatever. And there are as many people in a Ame
I Am the man (Score:5, Insightful)
When I am not working I relish the fact that I am saving thousands ($USD) per month in taxes, so the lack of income really isn't that bad, since I don't aquire every "Ooooh, Shiny iPod/Beemer/Opteron" piece of crap that passes in front of me.
When I am working, I can easily take in $10 - $12K per month. Taxes eat almost half of it, but I always stash plenty away as a "stress reducer", for later.
There would be a lot less stress in the world if people didn't buy more than they could afford. I have zero credit card debt, and own my cars. I could have bought beemers, but paying cash for Toyotas is so much less stress. Plan to live on a "flippin burgers" income and just think of all the stess-reducing beer money you will have when you earn more!
Good and/or bad (Score:5, Insightful)
Anyways...
What I find interesting is that if this were about another country, such as Germany, people would be speaking highly of the German people's work ethic, their productivity and their strength. When it's about America though, it's because we're greedy and don't know how to enjoy life (regardless of the fact that for some, work is enjoyable).
Now what if this article stated that the U.S. had the least stressful workers with the most leisure time? There would be endless comments citing this as evidence of American laziness and preoccupation with entertainment. No matter what, it is possible to interpret the data however one desires, to fit any man's personal slant.
But Germans work less than Americans (Score:2)
And that did not happen by accident. The German people and their government arranged it that way.
Temporary effect of capitalism? (Score:3, Insightful)
If a company needs more work done, why not hire more qualified people and keep the working hours down? Overtime is compensated quite heavily and by hiring an extra person instead of all the compensation the company will not spend more money on the work force, more people will be working, and there would be less stress. Can it be this simple, or is there something that I am completely missing? If this had been the most efficient solution one would think it had been adopted as a standard in the constant fight in our capitalistic environment.
Re:Temporary effect of capitalism? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Temporary effect of capitalism? (Score:4, Insightful)
You don't have a family and kids do you?
Working hard to buy a home so your family can have stability: good
Working hard to live in a good neighborhood so your family doesn't live next to drunk homeless guys: good
Working hard so your wife doesn't have to work (and keeping kids out of daycare): good
etc...
That's not capitalism, that's common sense and being responsible.
And sorry, I don't trust the government enough to let them try and provide those things for me via social programs.
Might I suggest a cure ... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Might I suggest a cure ... (Score:3, Insightful)
YAFWAKBCQ (Score:2)
The Perfect Solution! (Score:5, Funny)
Outsource our stress to India! They'd be glad to stress out at 1/3 the cost.
- Primary numbers are out to kill me
Greed (Score:5, Interesting)
1. Where do I park my boat? What? No valet service?!?
2. ???
3. PROFIT!!!!!
If executives were more entrenched and had more at stake there would be more coherent operations at work. CxOs need to have their livelyhood at stake in the same way the rest of us do in order to make the right decision. Nothing trickles down to the underlings. You might survive in this corporate culture by sucking up. 1 minute of "face time" has become much more important than fixing a problem or making an improvement. God help us all.
Re:Greed (Score:4, Funny)
You mispelt Ruining...
Re:Greed (Score:3, Interesting)
Well of course. (Score:2)
So Slack! (Score:4, Insightful)
Just don't care!
Yea... that deadline is coming quick, but who cares? Which is more important? Some product getting out the door or your sanity and full head of hair?
Re:So Slack! (Score:3, Insightful)
If you dont do the dealines then your employer owes it to its shareholders to find someone else who will.
With Indians doing that for 7-14k a year what choice do you have? Suck it up?
Nice to see a verification. (Score:4, Interesting)
Once upon a time, I worked for the Company Formerly Known as USWorst. That experience left me with more knowledge of both their database and their employee benefits program than I ever wanted to know. The stress of that position also left me with carpal tunnel syndrome, the beginnings of a whopping good ulcer, and stress-related dissociative attacks. (Literally, my brain was going on mini-vacations, and neglecting to take me along with it.)
Now, I own my own business. The pay isn't as regular, but my schedule is my own, and the unreasonable request list is pretty minimal. The carpal tunnel still flares up form time to time, but it's in remission without surgery. (Since I use my hands a lot, this is a critical point.) The other problems started to heal as soon as I escaped the toxic work environment. I'm not spending as much time sitting in a doctor's office, and nowhere near as much money on things like Pepto and pain relief nostrums.
So, yeah; not exactly news, but it's nice to see that somebody has quantified the impact that work-related stress has on people's lives.
Death is Nature's Way of Telling You to Slow Down (Score:5, Insightful)
You only have one life. Do you want to spend it working overtime, putting cover sheets on TPS reports and dealing with control freaks in management? Working excessive hours will not make your penis/boobs larger or make you a better person.
someone who spent two months proving the obvious-- (Score:5, Interesting)
Bullshit. Without stress nothing gets done! (Score:2, Insightful)
Entitlement (Score:3, Insightful)
This couldn't come at a better time (Score:2)
Since then I have developed an ulcer, suffer frequent tightness of the throat, and am more scared, lonely, and depressed than I have ever been.
The odd part is that I love my job. Tomorrow I'm going back to see my girlfriend. Maybe my time with her will help me relax.
Spinning wheels? (Score:2, Interesting)
Stressssss (Score:3, Funny)
You people have it all wrong (Score:4, Interesting)
But as the rest of the world developes, we're running into serious resource shortages. As these shortages start to be felt, the greedy won't scale back their extravagance, so the rest will be made to suffer. The stress will be increased, your health will go to hell. But it won't matter, since there are plenty of fresh bodies to replace you, just waiting to be used up. Right now this is an issue because society can afford to coddle it's workers while letting that 1% live like they always have (the phrase 'live like a king' didn't just come out of nowhere). Wait and see. The response to a study like this won't be treating workers better, it'll be discarding them faster.
You have to make a very concious decision (Score:3, Interesting)
I guess I am lucky to have had a few good role models growing up and early in my career. You should pick the 1 or 2 most important things that need to be done, knock them out, and then move on to the next 1 or 2. Concentrating your effort and attention gives much better results. You get more done in less time and you make fewer mistakes. It is much more effective and a lot less stressful.
One of my first bosses is like that. The "fire fighters" as we called them would be running around frantically all stressed out about every problem. They always looked really busy and really stressed. He, on the other hand, would sit down and make a list of the problems and figure out how best to tackle the situation and then concentrate on one item at a time. He would get that one highest priority item done properly and then move on to the next. Sometimes people would get pissed at him for not working on 10 other things but he would stick with it and get them all done. The fire fighters would always look more busy and frantic but in the end they would accomplish very little and much of that would have to be redone.
Never mistake activity for work. You have to be deliberate and figure out how to get the highest value out of your time. Work less, be more effective, make more money. That's my motto. Everybody gets the same 24 hours in a day. Its how you use them that counts.
Random musings (Score:3, Interesting)
Some research suggests that people can't really concentrate well more than 6 hours a day (three hours in the morning, and three hours in the afternoon after a lunch break), if even that. Even so, try getting companies to let their employees off that easy.
Among my friends are some people who work or worked for international companies such as Ericsson, Volvo or Saab-Scania. They said when they came to the US they thought it striking how most companies either didn't allow proper lunch breaks, or had employess who were eager to show how efficient they were. Instead of 40min-1 hour time to go to a resturant, most of the employees remained in their cubicles and ate some sandwiches while continuing their work.
Also, while American workers stayed long, perhaps until 5-6 pm, there was a noticing slacking of pace in the afternoon. People pent more time talking around the water cooler, killing time by surfing or just staring into space. They were just mentally exhausted and couldn't do much efficient work, but they were still required to stay for several hours.
One of my friends held a presentation about Swedish working conditions. When he talked about the generous working laws and vacations, such as 4-6 hours paid vacation per year minimum (even with "vacation bonus" to your salary, since you spend more when you are on vacation), the workers were amazed and the managers started to fidget and make unhappy faces. He wasn't allowed to do that presentation ever again.
I really liked a recent article in the Economist, that suggested that European and American productivity was about equal, Europeans just choose to sacrifice income in favour of more free times, and Americans were willing to sacrifice free time in favour of more money. Perhaps the old joke that Europeans work to live, and Americans live to work has some truth in it. I'm not looking down on people in the US, but I think I prefer our system.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:i'm a conservative (Score:5, Insightful)
My view is: nobody forces you to work as hard as you possibly can. So if you don't want to, don't. You're not lazy, or "French", or whatever, as long as you are making enough to keep from depending on others for anything, and you lead the lifestyle you want.
Sure, some might look down their nose at you if you "only" work 35 or 40 hours a week, or if you take every Friday off. But you shouldn't structure your lifestyle to suit your friends. Find friends that understand your lifestyle. The more people that do this, the more employers will support it and you don't have to resort to being self-employed if you don't want to do that.
I think that's the conservative viewpoint: don't like working so hard? Then work less!
Re:i'm a conservative (Score:3, Insightful)
I know this was a side comment, but i do take issue with this sort of attitude. You depend on so many people during your day, that it can boggle the mind. Just imagine how many people you rely on to have that roof over your head, or that car in your driveway, or the fact that you are educated, and are able to be self-employed.
"The more people that do this, the more employers will support it and you don't have to resort t
Unemlpoyment is OK when you have good benefits (Score:5, Insightful)
Plus, welfare is far more generous there.
Re:Unemlpoyment is OK when you have good benefits (Score:2)
How about 'go get a job'. Any job.
Why should I, as a productive citizen, subsidise someone who chooses to slack off for a year or more? Why do *I* have to work my ass of to support him? Why can't he pull his own weight? I do.
Plus, welfare is far more generous there.
Welfare is the biggest pyramid scheme going. Sure, some people need assistance for a while. No problem with that. But unproductive people, some by choice, are merely a drag on society.
How about this...
How about I invest
PARENT IS A TROLL (Score:5, Informative)
for one thing: I'll take the 35 hour work week.
Also, they did NOT have negative GDP in 2003. It's close to zero, but it's not negative. Don't believe me? ask the spooks:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ fr.html
thirdly, their unemployment rate, while high, is not 15%. In 2003 it was 9.6%, again per the spooks.
Parent is a TROLL.
RS
Re:Meh (Score:5, Interesting)
Those people living like moles in the New York subways sure as hell aren't counted in the unemployment statistics, but equally they sure as hell aren't "gainfully employed" by anyone. That's a few million, right there.
The European Union may not have the perfect system (and most of Europe holds to the 35-hour week) but they do seem to be more honest about the real cost of their system.
If we're spending 300 billion dollars from overwork - money we're no longer earning, because a certain US President just eliminated overtime rules - then we're just burning money we don't have. We'd be better off banning the overtime and putting the money into better healthcare. We'd be paying the same, it's just that we'd be in better physical shape when we do fall ill, and the health system would be in better shape to take care of us.
Of course, you could argue that the country is overcrowded anyway. True enough, but I'm not sure that involuntary euthanasia by excessive workloads is really the way to deal with the problem.
I guess this could be taken by a cynic as confirming previous Slashdot articles which claimed that Republicans were mentally ill and had deficient brain activity.
Re:Meh (Score:5, Informative)
(England, Scotland, Ireland, Denmark)
or actually better
(Australia, Holland, Germany, Sweden, and some smaller nations such as Iceland).
We rank 7th in average prices, while France, for all the problems you point out is at least 15th, partially though not completly offsetting that high unemployment. France has a much higher average income tax rate (They're 5th, with an average of 50.5%, while the US is 26th, with an average of 30.5%), and I'd argue that that extra 20% is quite enough to give them their unemployment rate.
Are the French, over all, doing worse than us? Probably yes. Are we doing the best? Probably not.
Where did I get these numbers?
http://www.nationmaster.com/ [nationmaster.com]
(On the economic menu, several of these are in the section under
Re:Meh (Score:5, Insightful)
In another example, let's say I spill a tanker of oil off the New England coast. Damage to the economy and value of lost oil will be arbitrarily set at $50 billion dollars. If, however, the cleanup costs are $60 billion dollars paid out to various workers to clean up the mess, then the GDP will actually increase by $10 billion dollars, despite the fact that nothing actually got produced - some idiot just made a big mess and then someone cleaned it up.
GDP is big fat lie.
Re:399 driik (Score:3, Insightful)
Alcoholics Anonymous [alcoholics-anonymous.org]
See, that's at least two times you've done this now. Yesterday sometime [slashdot.org]
Of course, there is the chance that you are joking. I doubt anyone could type that bad and still be close enough for me to rad it intentionally.
And yes, this is way offtopic. I better post something related, insightfully if possible
See, this is the kind of thing that is a result of stress. 300 Billion a year is hard to imagine. This guy posting drunk to slash
Re:399 driik (Score:2)
My father had a drinking problem, so I'm careful with my drinking.
Ethnocentrism (Score:2, Interesting)
" US are very too dumb . .
This part of your sentence does not translate well. The flaw in your grammar could, with a little allusion, be extended so that YOU (plural) are ignorant also.
" . .
The 'each and several states' send delegates to the appropriate state capitols in the second week of December. These electors will cast their votes for President and Vice President. h [fec.gov]
Less stressed, but just as industrious, Europe (Score:5, Interesting)
The reason they are less stressed is because their governments have restrained the amount of leverage that employers may apply to the employee.
Re:Cycle. (Score:3, Interesting)
It's a good idea to avoid confusing "money" with economic wealth. They are actually only very loosely linked, and the fact that money continues to circulate is largely irrelevant to whether the economy does better or worse.
As an example, let's say a falling tree crushed your car and you buy a new one for £20,000 (no insurance - damn). You are worse off by £20,000. Other people (car dealer, company, suppliers e
You're making the broken window fallacy (Score:4, Informative)