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About the Swiss referendum, @reality, aren’t the Swiss and the Germans known for being hardworking people? Maybe they…
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The OECD published some interesting and possibly surprising stats on working hours recently: http://ur1.ca/9zcfe
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@mcnalu those are surprising stats. /me wonders where USA would fit in on that table.
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Not sure, but I read in a book by P Krugman that if the US dropped average work hours to match germany then unemployment could be 0%.
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@mcnalu Oh, I see. Just ahead of Italy. http://is.gd/gi5QKv
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@lnwalt assuming of course jobs could be shared and folk unable to work are not counted.
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@mcnalu ... and that hourly rates increased enough to cover the lost income. Most USians paying 30-50% of net income for housing.
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@laurelrusswurm I believe paid
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Interesting. I'd need to check, but I think that isn't the case here because home ownership is high and mortgage interest rates are so low.
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@reality Where does the money to pay it come from? Out of employer pockets, deductions from employees, or tax dollars or all of the above?
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There's a 4th possibility: because switzerland is not in the Euro, it can create its own money.
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@mcnalu Er... isn't that kind of thing *why* the world economies have tanked?
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I don't believe so, it was debt, greed and dishonesty. I'm not advocating that Switzerland should do it, in fact it would be very foolish.
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@mcnalu I liked your stats article http://ur1.ca/9zcfe ...personal experience is working too long can turn productive work into inefficiency
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wise words. I wish you could tell folk in the UK that, including some of my friends and family.
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@mcnalu I;m betting it's that (being rested and not burnt out) as much or more than technology that s responsible for German productivity.
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@mcnalu …investing in infrastructure (gets economy moving) but our govt dances the tax cut/belt tightening dance; pretends economy recovered
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@mcnalu governments these days only listen to think tanks bankrolled by the corporations that really rule the world :(
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Yes, spending money on homes, transport etc would help just now, and up to the point of causing inflation money can be created for it.
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Sadly true. Though recently I was invovled in a community-led campaign that forced a gov minister to reverse a decision. There's hope.
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@mcnalu yes, but they have jigged the system as to make it increasingly more difficult for us.
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@mcnalu And, of course, workers who work too much have little energy left to hold gov't accountable
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That said, I think I need a nice walk in the park where the squirrels and the antelope play... :)
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