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Hey,
Recently I heard a radio report on the extreme disparity between vacations for American workers and the rest of the industrialized world. Most of us start with less than two weeks of annual leave, compared to five in places like the Netherlands. But the report went on to point out that even those Americans with generous vacation leave often fail to take it, due to external (supervisory demands) or internal (fear of work piling up) pressures. This hits fairly close to home for me, since while earning five weeks of annual leave I have only managed to take one full week off in the last three years. I get to enjoy lots of long weekends but feel too chained to my desk to get away for longer.
The program referred to Juliet Schor's book The Overworked American, from the early 90s, and went on to say that the disparity has only grown in the last decade. We are now working much longer hours than our parents did, far more than Europeans, and are more productive on an hourly basis as well. It is a bit unsettling to listen to a report that reveals one's own life changes to be part of a sweeping generational transformation in labor conditions.
Tieing this into DU and the current political situation, I wonder if overwork and job insecurity contribute to the political apathy and ignorance that has allowed the current regime to get away with its destructive policies and incompetent performance. Americans have their noses so close to the grindstone that they can't see what is happening in society at large. When they get home they are too exhausted to do anything more intellectually demanding than watch a stupid reality show on TV.
Folks talk about the future agenda of the BFEE, with deficits deliberately run up to destroy Social Security and Medicare, as part of a plan to pauperize workers and increase the power of capitalists. But in fact it seems that the position of workers has been steadily deteriorating for decades now, ever since Reagan was first elected, with a brief respite under Clinton. One encouraging sign noted by Teixera and Judis in The Emerging Democratic Majority is that professionals, who used to identify with the bosses, now see themselves as oppressed workers and are much likelier to vote Dem than they were a generation ago.
Comments?
CYD
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