Ezra is right here, too. Unlike our allies in Europe, we have over the past 30-40 years used public policy to create a society in which employees have very little free time in their lives. We work more hours per week than our peers in Europe, but we are no more happier, wealthier, or wiser.
We're a rich society. We could afford to guarantee our workers paid vacation, we could afford to offer paid sick days, we could afford to make it easier to live a life in accordance with our preferences, rather than constantly fearing that actually taking necessary or desired time off will tarnish your reputation around the workplace.
I've written before on the more theoretical arguments as to how our culture, and in particular our economy, overvalues the acquisition of stuff over leisure, so rather than recap those arguments, I'll just link to the piece. But the Pew Poll is powerful confirmation that something strange really is going on. Even I, for all my interest in the topic, wouldn't have thought Americans would place time above family and religion on the priorities list.
Conservatives can make fun of the French all they want, but the French get six weeks of vacation, have fabulous health care (its true!), work 35 hours each week, eat wonderful food, drink amazing wine, and in the end have a standard of living - once you account for the amount we are forced to spend on health care - comparable to our own.
It does not have to be this way. We have made a series of stupid choices, but they are not set in stone. We can decide to make room for things beyond work. We can use public policy to create that possibility. It can be done. Economic growth should be a means to an end, and never an end in itself. We are more than we produce and consume. Aren't we?
Subscribe to this blog's feed
