# Are we too productive? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 23, 2009, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-too-productive/514910 "2009-10-23T22:57:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-too-productive/514910/21 "2009-10-26T06:21:54Z")
> [@Iridescent\_Orb](#): > > Health care and long vacations are not free… 😉 So what? They seem to be doing _something_ right. I’ll take a high tax rate and a better standard of living over what I’ve got right now. Oh, wait, were we supposed to shriek in reflexive unthinking horror at high taxes? 'Cause they’re always bad, right? ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-too-productive/514910/22 "2009-10-26T12:50:47Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > So what? They seem to be doing _something_ right. I’ll take a high tax rate and a better standard of living over what I’ve got right now. > > Oh, wait, were we supposed to shriek in reflexive unthinking horror at high taxes? 'Cause they’re always bad, right? Hear hear! (I watched this Continental Congress thing on tv last night). ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Rosetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Green\_Rosetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Rosetta)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-too-productive/514910/23 "2009-10-26T20:50:28Z")
There is a really interesting book called _The Big Squeeze_ that talks a lot about this- how workers are being forced to work more hours, for fewer benefits and lower wages (adjusted for inflation) than ever before. I don’t know if I’d say that we’re too productive, but certainly in the US, and I’d wager to bet elsewhere in the world, workers are not being properly compensated for their services, often so that goods can be cheaper (hello, Wal-mart.) ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-too-productive/514910/24 "2009-10-26T21:35:17Z")
More and faster is necessary. Not for any good reason; _it’s just necessary._ Business these days is about the numbers, the numbers, and nothing BUT the goddamn numbers. Shareholder value is the only meaningful metric, and shareholders are mostly professional investors, who spend all day in front of terminals yelling into phones. When they move, they move like Marines, or angry sheep: fast, _en masse,_ and with deadly force. Profitability is not enough: _maximum_ profitability is all that will keep your price per share from crashing. It is not enough to win; your competitors must lose. Lead your market sector or don’t survive. So, when there is only ever one winner and Nos. 2 through _n_ get the keys to the street, everyone has to haul ass just to stay alive. ---
**Author:** ![rivulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rivulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rivulus)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-too-productive/514910/25 "2009-10-26T22:36:47Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > So what? They seem to be doing _something_ right. I’ll take a high tax rate and a better standard of living over what I’ve got right now. > > Oh, wait, were we supposed to shriek in reflexive unthinking horror at high taxes? 'Cause they’re always bad, right? Amen to that. Along similar lines, I’m fine at my current salary. Rather than a raise next fiscal year, I would love to have more time off! But because of the stupid American mind set, I think that’s unlikely to happen. So I’ll have to keep hoarding my PTO. I would also pay more taxes to have a better, public health insurance option, like my family in Canada. I don’t need money to buy more crap what I need is my physical and mental health and time to enjoy life! ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-too-productive/514910/26 "2009-10-26T22:56:54Z")
What if it’s too late? What if they’ve fucked things up so permanently that we _have_ to stay on the hamster wheel or _everybody_ starves? What if kicking back and taking time to enjoy life were actually _more selfish_ than working your ass off to keep The Man on top? What a fine ironic moral victory he’ll have then. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-too-productive/514910.md?page=1)