Europeans get more vacation and live better.

[mac2]

According to Lou Dobbs, Europeans have at least a month vacation. They also have National Health Care. Their dollar worth more than ours yet we work ourselves into Diabeties and Heart Disease...Cancer.

I don't want to hear our Congress and business leaders say we need to do more. We have gone to re-train, be more productive (work longer hours than any developed country), cut back our wages, etc. yet they don't look after our best interests. They have now bankrupted our treasury and economy. They look after everyone elses interests since NAFTA.

NAFTA has to go. They are destroying our country for their own profit and the loss of our power and wealth. Get your own slaves.

DC we tell you what you can and can't do under our laws and Consitution not the other way around. You are lawless and might I say even treasonous with your illegal wars and economic bad management.

[NC_Nurse]

1. Maybe it's time to move.

:think:

[Hannah Bell]

46. Move quick -

There's been a take-back going on all over Europe for the last 10 years, still on-going.

[mac2]

67. The open EU borders are to poor countries for cheap labor

there also. They want to remove the high standard of living of the developed democratic nations.

It is a power grab by the few elite for a Plantation like world. World "disorder" Government by the elite few (Bilderberg Groups, PNAC, CFR, etc.). A bunch of European royals are once again doing Empire Building. This time our leaders are joining them instead of going against it.

American and our democracy for sale!

[pbca]

2. It has nothing to do with NAFTA

The Europeans have alot of free trade agreements. It is because for the last several decades they have had high taxes (including very high gas taxes) to pay for infrastucture, education, environmental and social programs, universal heath care (note that is not what either of the Dems is proposing) - in other words tax and spend, or put more accurately tax and invest. It's lead to a healthy, well educated society with low crime and clean, well built cities.

[mac2]

21. Ya...and our corporation and banks to help pay for those programs.

Citizens have to have jobs that are more than mim. wage so they can pay taxes.

[Celtic_88]

3. I agree

With all you said.

I was just in a Hospital in Texas and came out worse than I went in! My doctor said we are catching up to the " national health sevice " I went Ballistic , I have had better treatment From NHS than I ever had in this Hospital, $12 for one Aleve wont tell me what the overdose of Morphine will cost my Insurance.

The trucks from Nafta ( Mexico ) go right by on I-35W and they should Not be on thne road.

DC. we tell you what you can and can't do under our laws and Consitution not the other way around. You are lawless and might I say even treasonous with your illegal wars and economic bad management.

That Statement is very True.

[Fresh_Start]

4. Europe is more 'free trade" than NAFTA

think EU for example.

How about health care, education, socialism..... and other factors which are way more significant

US Corporatism is much more the issue
BTW, if you work for a multinational...they pay for better benefits for your European coworkers.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

17. While Europe is more "free trade," they don't have "free trade" with any

Third World countries.

The living standards of the Western European countries are pretty close, and even the Eastern European are starting to catch up.

That's not the same as having "free" trade with...Mexico.

[SoCalDem]

24. and free trade only works when your trading partners can AFFORD to buy YOUR stuff

and WANT to buy it..

and what DO we make anymore??

[Lydia Leftcoast]

25. Another thing about free trade in Europe

It includes free movement of people. With few exceptions, anyone in an EU member country can work and live in any other EU country, almost as easily as we can move from one state to another. We already know how a lot of Americans feel about "free movement" of Mexicans into this country, and last time I checked, Americans couldn't just up and move to Canada or Mexico without a lot of red tape, if they can do it at all.

[SoCalDem]

26. Yes.. that's a big part of their success..and since they ALL have decent benefits

people are truly "free".. and CAN start businesses and change jobs and live anywhere they want..

For all our bluster, we are little more than serfs..serfs who are tied to mortgages & leases we cannot afford, and tied to jobs we cannot afford to leave..or even take a vacation from..

[Rosemary2205]

53. We seem to be pretty good at making widows and orphans in other countries.

sigh.

[muriel_volestrangler]

27. GDP per capita of Mexico, Bulgaria, and Romania:

Mexico $ 12,500
Bulgaria $ 11,800
Romania $ 11,100

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2004rank.html

Even Poland is just $16,200.

[JDPriestly]

42. GDP per capita does not tell you much.

It does not tell you how the money is allocated to various sectors of society. It does not tell you about how land is owned or shared. It does not tell you to what extent people raise their own food, barter services and have other ways of getting what they need outside the economy that those who figure the GDP see. A lot of Europeans, even city dwellers, have their own little garden plots where they grow fresh produce. Our GDP is blown up because we trade money for most things. Because of the tax system, Europeans try to get what they want in ways that don't show up in the GDP. Americans are not very resourceful in this regard. I realize that a lot of small town and rural Americans raise their own vegetables or even fruit, but most Americans do not. This is likely to change in the next years.

[muriel_volestrangler]

52. But this was about Mexico, Bulgaria and Romania's GDP, not the USA (nt)

[JDPriestly]

57. I'm criticizing the whole GDP calculation method.

It does not and cannot quantify quality of life which is far more important than just how often money is passed from one hand to another.

[muriel_volestrangler]

60. Maybe, but this is about trade

when a purely monetary calculation is more relevant to whether a product is manufactured in one country and exported to another than the quality of life of the workers involved.

[malaise]

78. I agree 100%

I use the human development index (HDI). UNDP has great stats.

[muriel_volestrangler]

81. Not that much difference

52 Mexico 0.829
53 Bulgaria 0.824

60 Romania 0.813

http://hdrstats.undp.org/indicators/1.html

[Lydia Leftcoast]

44. GDP doesn't measure income inequality

The Mexican figure includes the fabulously wealthy, who live luxurious First World lives, and the poorest peasants, who are illiterate, starving, and unhealthy.

One of the legacies of forty-plus years of Communism in Eastern Europe is that average educational levels are much higher than in Mexico, and while people are poor on average, the income gap isn't as large as it is in Mexico. By and large, these are people with middle-class educations and attitudes, just no money.

When I was in the UK in 2006 and 2007, I couldn't help noticing the large number of Polish workers. Now, I understand, a noticeable number are going back.

Also, my understanding is that the UK is NOT going to allow free entry to Bulgarians and Romanians for the time being.

[muriel_volestrangler]

51. Bulgarian and Romanians can still work in the UK easier than Mexicans in the US, I'd say

Up to 20,000 will be allowed to take low-skilled jobs in agriculture or food processing, high-skilled workers will be able to apply for work permits to perform a skilled job, and students will be able to work part-time. Self-employed people from Bulgaria and Romania are already allowed to work in the UK, and this will continue.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3513889.stm

And some EU countries are freer still. And that's flow of workers - trade is completely free between the countries. But the GDP per capita figure still gives an idea of what's involved, and given that Bulgaria and Romania are both less than Mexico, I'd say that roughly makes up for Mexico's greater inequality. I'd say the situations of NATFA and the EU are comparable.

[mac2]

63. The aim is for the world to become on big slave zone.

The few elite are plantation owners. Do you envy them? "Free trade" mantra and propaganda is slavery and destruction of human rights, etc.

That's the aim of international corporate leaders for their Fascist World Order Government. It's not a "good thing". The EU is killing us regarding their NAFTA rule and laws. It's Empire Building called "free trade".

Bury Italian nuclear waste in Nevada?

[muriel_volestrangler]

82. I'm not sure what you're saying

Do I envy the rich? Well, a bit more money would be nice, but it wouldn't buy happiness, as they say. I don't think free trade is either slavery or destruction of human rights (but it doesn't do anything to get rid of slavery or similar, or to help human rights, either).

I honestly don't know what the EU's "NAFTA rule and laws" are. Nor what Italian nuclear waste has to do with the EU. The EU doesn't tell the member countries what to do with nuclear waste.

[JDPriestly]

5. Agreed mac2. Americans work longer and more but not as efficiently

as Europeans.

Americans' lives are out of balance. People are working 50-60 hour weeks. You can do that until you keel over, but, unless you really, really enjoy your work, you will be a zombie before long. And zombies are not good workers.

We need to institute a 30-hour week, so that we can feel self-righteous if we work 40-45 hours. And face it, the real reason we work so much is that we want to feel self-righteous. Oh, look how hard-working we are. If you don't work "hard" meaning long hours, you don't deserve a good life. But in fact, working 50 hours a week, week after week makes people nervous and tired and ruins life. It leaves no time for family life and results in near-orphaned children and causes health problems.

Europeans do great things with their spare time. They buy fresh vegetables and cook real food. They walk and take public transportation to work. They travel. They spend time with family and friends. They enjoy their culture.

And Americans work, work, work, work, work. What fools we are. We don't allow ourselves the time to live. And the irony is that we don't really have a higher living standard than Europeans. It's just different. We buy a lot more junk. That's the main difference.

I'm American, 100% American. But, we need to try the 30-hour week. Overtime should include anything over 30 hours. Then, maybe, we would get some balance in our lives.

[madrchsod]

7. the only people who are more efficient than the us workers

are the irish. they work less hours to produce the same amount as the us worker. the us workers are the most productive workers in the world and we work more hours than anyone else. we produce more money per hour than anyone...yup we are the best but we do`t get shit for our toil

[davekriss]

34. That's not my understanding

On an hour worked basis, several countries in Europe and UK are as productive or more productive than the same hour worked in the U.S. The difference is they choose to work less hours in the workweek than we do. So for a unit of pay (weekly salary without overtime), the U.S. worker is more "productive". As I have to run off to one of those high hour, salary without overtime jobs, I can't now dig up cites.

Belief that we are the most productive workforce is one of those "American Exceptionalism" urban myths. We were once, maybe we've become again, but it is not cut and dried.

[mac2]

18. When I worked in the medical field I was against nurses

and interns working long hours. You can't get good care.

Nurses would by choice work 12 hours four days and then take off three. It sounds good but had a stress on their lives and health. I don't want them working so long when I'm a patient in their 11th hour. That's a long day. Sometimes 8 hour shifts are long when you're on your feet and busy.

Some did form unions for better hours. Today they hire foreign nurses to get cheaper labor. I'm not happy about that. How do we know what type training they had?

[mac2]

31. These long hours cause stress resulting in more divorce and disease

[BB1]

38. You're right.

I work five days a month. That's it. I own virtually nothing, I don't own electrical equipment to speak of, except a radio and a computer. I do my shopping (groceries are still more nutricious and less expensive in this part of the world - europe) and my own cooking. I ride a bike and use public transport to get around.

I work five days, get payed 500 euros per day. After taxes, that's 250. Say some 1400 euros a month. Been doing it for five years now, and I'm quite a happy guy. Never have to visit a doctor, allthough I pay up to 140 euros/month on health insurance.

Efficiency might be the magic word. That, and obesitas.

[comtec]

40. WHAT the HELL do you DO!?!?!?

IF I could get away with 5 days a MONTH I surely would!
WHO Do you sleep with and are they taking new comers!? LOL

[BB1]

48. It's quite complicated.

I won the first Big Brother series (ever, worldwide, in the Netherlands) which made me a bit of a celebrity. Nowadays (eight years after) I 'preach' traffic safety in high schools. I also practice what I preach:)

They pay me 500 euros a day to do this. I have to entertain 300 kids (age 14-16) in 4.5 hours about freakin' traffic safety. here's the site: http://www.kruispuntdebat.nl/

the guy doing the interviewing in the video (top right) is me.


(no, they're not taking anyone, unless you're willing to move 5000 miles...)

edit: just read your profile. You're no more than 100 kilometres away!!!! I live in Utrecht...

[comtec]

58. I live in zwolle :)

*staps on kneepads* OK.. what do I have to do? :)

[BB1]

61. hop on the train

tomorrow there's a meeting with some dutch expats. we're beginning a new political party. 17.00, NH hotel. ask for V en V.

[Name removed]

64. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Lorien]

39. I sure as heck don't work 60 hours a week to feel "self righteous"

I work that many hours because my clients want everything yesterday, and because I have over thirty grand in medical debt. I'm self employed and have no other choice. My clients are in NYC, Florida, and LA/ Glendale. I'm expected to be here working from 9am-9pm every day, with extra hours on the weekends (my clients are also in their offices over the weekends). If I can't manage the hours they'll take their business elsewhere. It beats working where I used to-in a film studio that often demanded 80 hours a week or more. But still, I haven't had a vacation since 2000....

It's the European attitude towards life that we need to adopt; the ultimate goal shouldn't be riches, it should be happiness.

[Rosemary2205]

55. Please consider yourself smacked upside the head.

I have to tell you, everyone I know (mostly lower middle to "upper" lower class) who works 60 70 80 hrs a week does so to keep even a minimal roof over their family's head and basic food on the table. We certainly don't do it for some sort of twisted need for self righteousness.

[mac2]

65. Smacked aside of the head with an umbrella by those women

who went on strike at the New England umbrella factory because they worked long hours with little pay or health benefits. The unions are the reason for weekends off, etc. Slavery is not a good way to run any business and have a balanced life. The plantation owners like it though.

[spooky3]

79. macroeconomic stats. contradict that, for the most part

Americans are very productive but the gains from increased productivity are no longer be shared with employees. The ratio of American executive comp. to average worker comp is nearly 600 to 1.

Although there are many individual differences, on the whole, Europeans in professional jobs tend to be paid less for the same work as Americans, but they do get better benefits and have shorter hours. Europeans don't buy as much "stuff" as Americans; they live more simply, even in the cities, and they don't demand 3000 square foot houses.

[TooBigaTent]

6. Not only do they get more vaca time, but many (most) European employers

actually give a bonus of one month's salary so that the worker on vacation can really enjoy their time off.

Free health care and education and everything else clearly shows what can be achieved if the cons and their corporate owners are not toally in charge.

Doubt that this kind of better society can ever exist here.

[WritersBlock]

13. Really? What part of Europe is that?

We're living in the wrong part, obviously.

[JDPriestly]

15. Maybe things have changed, but it was that way when

I lived in Europe. Austria is one of the countries in which these things were required by law.

[JDPriestly]

14. It's not that employers are more generous, they just have to

follow the laws regarding work hours, health care, education and the 13th month salary. At least that is the way it was when I lived there.

[mac2]

32. In my last job I worked a year and a half without any

vacation. Then I only got a week since the new assistant couldn't function on her own. It was in a hospital so the results were critical to the doctors. I was pretty run down by then.

[davekriss]

36. Halelluea (or however that's spelled)!

Businesses forced to play by the rules of the game democratically determined by the broad citizenry! Just as it should be.

[comtec]

41. I have that!

My year consists of 13 months! :)
It's a bonus you can give to employees to boost their income w/o putting them in the next tax bracket, it's complicated.
I'm in the Netherlands and I understand this is normal.
I also get 350e a month to cover my travel costs, and I use nearly all of that. My rail pass is 307 Euros and my bus costs are 41 Euros. Thankfully that is added AFTER my taxes are calculated. I need to ask my accountant if I can still deduct my travel cards if I am paid bulk for travel (not itemized by the company)

yes I have a guy do our taxes, because the down side, is the tax system is CRAZY COMPLICATED! For what we pay him, we get more back at the end of the year, so it's a worth while investment.

Month 13 is actually a Xmas bonus that is taxed at 50% as I understand it (thus outside the normal tax system). Additionally I get money for vacation which is released in the summer (also taxed at 50%).

On paper it looks like a lot of "free money" but after taxes there is very little left LOL!

But yes I get 25 days of vacation a year. I accrue 4 hours a week, and I can spend no more than 3 weeks at a time (boo hoo).

I really did not know what I was missing in the rat race in the states, but I don't know if I ever want to return, because it is a great bit of pressure that has been taken off my shoulders. There is still plenty to complain about, but I at least feel like the government has tried to not screw me in this particular way.

[BB1]

62. Vakantiegeld!

Money for holidays. It's the law: your employer has to give you 8% of your year wages, so you can take a holiday. With the money, you get 25-35 days off. Paid.

[madrchsod]

8. you forgot the paid sick leave

my wife and daughter are both sick with what ever that crap is this year. my daughter took off 4 days last week,went to work monday,off tuesday, she may go into today but i think she`s coming down with pneumonia. my wife works with mentally disabled and i`d say it`s an epidemic condition where she works. she`s been on and off work for the last 5 days...none of this is paid and all these days off lead to dismissal.

my kin came here from sweden in the 1870`s and times like these i wish i would have moved back in the 1970`s

[RB TexLa]

9. I choose how much vacation time I take myself and would choose none

if my wife didn't make me go on at least a week worth of business days on trips with her. And I live fine.

[JDPriestly]

16. That's because you love your work. If you didn't you would

not live fine working that steadily. Most Americans are working for the money. Very few have the luxury of working at something they really enjoy doing that much. They will tell you they like their work, but they will also tell you they need time for other things.

[mac2]

29. A balance in life is important to our quality and length of life.

[mac2]

20. Your hours and work amount is probably determined by

you also. Try working on your feet with stress for eight hours when you are 50-60 years old. You'd want to go and lay around somewhere for a period.

I heard Bob Novak saying he never takes vacations and those government workers are a lazy bunch. His Democratic opposite stated that it was strange since he had run into him at a resort not too long ago. The point being Novak did take vacations and was lying (what else is new).

[davekriss]

37. Rah rah for you. you lucky capitalist! ;)

[Freddie Stubbs]

10. Life expectancy in the US is about the same as the EU average

European Union 78.70

United States 78.00

In fact, our life expectancy is higher than Denmark, Iceland, Portugal, and Ireland.

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0934746.html

[Doctor Cynic]

11. Are you sure those aren't massaging numbers?

Don't forget that half of what is now the EU were under Soviet governments just 20 years ago. Most spent the 1990s wallowing in reforms that were more painful than the Great Depression. Borat was shot in some hole in rural Romania. There's simply a huge inequality within Europe since the Cold War ended so recently.

A more accurate comparison would be between the US and the EU15, which excludes the post-Soviet nations. Even then, you have to remember that Spain, Portugal, and Greece were ruled by right-wing military dictatorships just one generation ago. The comparison simply doesn't hold.

[NOLALady]

49. It's less than that for Black Americans.

[supernova]

12. Makes me wish I could live there

:-(

At least for a little while, and get a reprieve from the Dickensian nightmare that we have descended into.

[mac2]

19. Europe is not a "Santuary Union" for illegal Americans.

They follow their laws.

[supernova]

35. You misread me

Didn't say anything about being "illegal" in the EU. If I went, I'd do it the normal way: job, etc.

Why would you assume I'd be thinking otherwise? :shrug:

[mac2]

66. Just teasing you.

[margotb822]

22. Denmark is the happiest place on Earth

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/5224306.stm

Maybe it's because they don't have to worry about their basic needs; they have a government that actually takes care of them...

I wrote my own personal views on this situation in America Check it out

[mac2]

28. Can't remember if they are a member of the EU.

Those benefits will soon be removed if the EU leaders have anything to say about it.

[Quantess]

23. This isn't news.

Well, maybe it's news to some people. Thanks for posting it.

[mac2]

30. News might be that Denmark is a Social Democracy.

When we try that here...the Neo Cons scream Communism. We don't call any EU country Communist who have social programs.

[Thothmes]

33. One reason the Western Europeans live better

Is that most of their tax monies go toward their citizens. The do not maintain large standing armed forces which suck up money and do little to advance the welfare of the citizenry. The U.S. Naval Base at Norfolk had more ships assigned there than all of the ships of the European Navies Combined. I am not sure but I believe that we have more combat brigades in Iraq than all of the Western Europeans can muster in their armies. There are more fighter aircraft at Langley AFB in Virginia than any single nation in Europe has in their inventory.

[JDPriestly]

43. Good point.

Also, when we were there, the Europeans had mandatory national service -- either military or volunteer -- for all young men.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

45. As a Norwegian once explained to me,

they pay whopping huge taxes, but they get health care and kindergarten through university education at no additional charge, child rearing allowances, generous vacations and family leaves, and generous old-age pensions, i.e. no seniors eating cat food.

[Thothmes]

54. Amazing what you can do if you don't spend nearly half your

annual budget on the Department of Defense

[kcwayne]

71. Its really the Department of Offense

The expenditures of trillions of dollars on the military budget is to project American force throughout the world. Its only function is to kill and destroy foreign lands and people while minimizing loss of American soldiers. This is an offensive mission, not defensive. With the exception of WWII, we have never invaded a foreign country where there was even the remotest possibility of that country launching an attack on the US mainland. But we have killed millions of people in the last 60 years. And millions is not an exaggeration.

As a defensive force, the US military it is useless against what the government itself claims is our primary enemy, which is terrorism. Look what about $20,000 in airline tickets, hotel bills, car rentals, food, and box cutters did for Osama. A bunch of Saudis attack the US killing 3000+ people and cause massive destruction, and set off the potential of serious economic collapse of the US, while raising the value of their key commodity, oil, by 100%. And the US, in retaliation, invades and occupies their neighbor, completely destroying the oil industry in Iraq, allowing for the Saudis to prosper enormously.

[The2ndWheel]

70. Which is why the US military is the global police force

The Europe-centered empires had their wars, they eventually lost to the US machine, were integrated into the same global socio-economic system, and no longer had to acquire the resources they needed themselves. That's why Europe is as free as they are to spend so much of their tax money on the citizens, in my view.

The issue with all that is that even though the US, Europe, northern Asia are part of the same economic system, they don't all pay to keep it going. It's like our problems with the health industry. Europe gives land for bases, and Asia makes a good portion of the military hardware, but they're not sending actual people into that global force. Groups of Americans pay for our insurance, but we're not all paying into the same healthcare system.

Why did nobody stop the US Government from going in Iraq? Because they can't. A) They don't have much of a military. B) They're not sending anyone(or very small amounts) to these places where the military goes, so who are they to tell the US machine that it can't go here or there?

To make this whole thing work, you're going to need the EU to actually happen, completely. That way you'll have the 3rd largest population in the world making up the EU, the US has the 4th largest, with China and India obviously taking the top two spots. Then you have to get X amount of people from each country to really make up that global force that can go in where it needs to and integrate the rest of the planet into the socio-economic system. Then South America eventually becomes like the US, the EU, etc. Africa unites, and it becomes like the US, and EU, etc. Then they both contribute to the same system.

That's about the only way to lessen the burden on the US taxpayer. Until that happens, we will be paying a ton for the military. The US military is the only reason anyone listens to international law, if anyone listens. International law needs force behind it, and as you said, nobody else really maintains a large standing army.

[mac2]

85. No one else needs a military because we die and pay for it.

Our national guard is over there and can't even protect or help during a national disaster. Smaller military was a goal to dismatle ours at home so they could control us with foreign police. Those protest and riot police are foreign ones on our soil. Seems to me that is treason and violates our laws (ones Bush dismantled for his own power grap).

"International law needs force behind it, and as you said, nobody else really maintains a large standing army."

Why should they...we do it. We are their mercenaries and pay for it. The European royals control us through those secret groups (Bilderberg Group, CFR, etc.), They strip us of our resources and drive us into poverty. The EU is really the beneficiary of NAFTA. The headquarters for most that power is in Brussels. DA!

Our "puppet leaders" try to leave office with as much plunder as they can. It is now a elite world crime gang (or World Order Government). Empire building not for us but everyone else in the world.

[KansDem]

47. Yeah, but you gotta speak one of those foreign languages!

Not me...I'm speaking only 'Murikan! :crazy:

[joe_sixpack]

50. Damn! The closest we have to that

is working in the Post Office.

[femrap]

56. Greedy Corporations are the Root of ALL EVIL!!!!

These are the ones to blame....It's the Rothschild/Rockefellers, stupid!

[kenny blankenship]

59. Wow, he's starting to turn into Michael Moore!

Now if he just loses weight, and stops hating Mexicans, the transformation will be complete!

[leftofthedial]

68. this is true

six weeks of vacation is more the norm than a month; nearly all have universal health care.

there is a capitalist attempt (starting with the EU's existence itself) to destroy EU economies and standards of living as they have done so successfully in the USA, but unlike here, people over there riot when their rights are attacked.


We need to destroy corporatism and the oligarchy that owns it. Destroy. Utterly.

[mac2]

69. We are in the streets but our media doesn't carry it.

Nor do our leaders care about it. Their power is not from the people but big money.

[leftofthedial]

72. sometimes true, but not like, say, France,

where even a minor attempted diminution of paid holidays results in a general strike and widespread demonstrations.

[mac2]

73. Yes..our media covered it.

France is a small country (size of Texas maybe) compared to the US. We are much bigger and spread out. Our media more restrictive.

[leftofthedial]

74. definitely what demostrations there are here

are not covered

we need a good general strike to let the capitalists know the workers aren't all asleep.

[mac2]

75. Aren't you shocked and angered that our national unions

didn't strike against NAFTA, CAFTA, etc.? It removed our laws and borders.

[leftofthedial]

76. by and large the unions are dead

they don't represent workers anymore, they just represent their own institutional integrity and the interests of their leaders.

convincing the workers to hate and distrust unions was as big a victory for the oligarchy as was the creation out of whole cloth of a "liberal" media.

[mac2]

83. Millions have been in the streets here and around the

world protesting the Iraq occupation yet the media and our Congress ignore it talking "terrorism" like Iraq had a lot to do with it.

In September they were in the streets...500,000 yet that is not enough in one city to stop the war? For years they have been protesting...five or more.

http://pdamerica.org/contact_thanks.php

Frankly our leaders have power and don't give a crap about those dying on foreign soil (and disabled for life). They support the troops to battle for profit and power.

[Amaya]

77. Yes , they do

My husband is German and subcontracts for a German company here in the states.
He actually gets 6 weeks of vacation a year.

[JBoy]

80. I think the root cause is income disparity.

Here's a map showing income disparity (Gini coefficient) by country. Low numbers represent more equitable distribution of income, high numbers a greater spread between the haves and have-nots.

[mac2]

84. The have and the have nots widen for corporate profit.

It's a plantation type plan.

[WeCanWorkItOut]

86. 200 hours more leisure in 1970, before major health cost inflation set in

I suppose that translates to four or five weeks more vacation and days off,
in the sixties, before the beginning of the era of major fee increases
by hospitals and doctors.

(In those days insurance was not so much an issue)

Then as fees went up, people started giving away vacation time for more
health coverage.

Are overwork and lack of vacations connected to the rise in diabetes and heart disease?
I'm sure they are. After all, for many of us it's natural to put on four or five pounds a year.
But a good annual hiking-camping trip would help take the weight off again.
After ten years without decent vacations, however, there we are (many of us)
45 pounds overweight, pre-diabetic, heading for trouble.

I'm so glad you brought this topic up. I wish some politicians would.

*I think got the "200 hours" figure from Ezra Klein. (Now off to work)