It's remarkable that so few think to ask why everyone else can't work less, like they do in Europe.
With the massive unemployment, especially among the young in many "Old Europe" countries, I'm not so sure theirs is a model that should be followed. This is not to say that the issue isn't ripe for discussion, just that we shouldn't look across the pond for guidance from our socialist "allies".
Wasn't chiding you NYCed, just being a bore by repeating my mantra. Do it so often I feel like I'm imitating Sean Hannity. No offense meant.
My one quibble is the feeling that if we could elect enough left wing pols things would be okay. And as RBE points out the guys pushing these reforms are not the Sam Waltons and H.L. Hunts of yesterday, but the Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Lou Gesterners of today. I know they rarely contribute to any pol I'd be likley to vote for.
It's not even limited to what is referred to as "working people" Ask the 10,000s of small business owners and entrepeneurs how they feel at the end of the work day.how many vacation days they have and how they feel when a Walmart moves in selling the products of Communist China at cost plus 5%.
I can't predict the future, but my little girl is a senior in college this Fall, and I am fearful of the America she will inherit.. Trouble is, she will be aware of it as she actually had an education where she was taught to thinkl.
XK,
My little girl is a bit younger than yours, but I'm just as concerned as you are. And I agree, too, that democrats are not a magic bullet or anything. I've only recently come to that conclusion, but I should have known long ago.
A new movement for educational "reform" calls itself dems for educational reform or something like that.
Starting a business is certainly all-consuming, and I agree it must be much more of a challenge when competing with the likes of Walmart.
1) I thought the other wealthy countries such as those in W. Europe all had longer school years than ours, and that this longer-class-size movement was one of the rare times conservatives were imitating W. Europe.
2) Unemployment is arguably not at all higher in Europe. The official US unemployment rate is artificially low since anyone who can't find a job in a certain amount of time is excluded, as is our largest-in-the-world prison population (one of the main gov't responses to poverty). Also not counted is anyone working part-time because they can't find a full-time job, far less common in countries with less "flexible" labor laws. Laid-off women with children are also often categorized as "homemakers" and weeded out. Besides, being unemployed is less heinous over in W. Europe thanks to the benefits.
The German unions have a vote on the board of directors...can you imagine it...teachers getting a vote on Klienberg's policies...oh wait...Randi already messed that up.
The Sweeds get 4 weeks off a year, and they get their college education paid for. Oh to be a Sweed
We visited a town in northwest Spain in Galicia where the principal was elected to a 3 year term by teachers, parents and even students. He seemed to be a perfect choice - was a teacher in the building and had the respect of people. But it was funny to attend a brief faculty conference and see teachers just as bored there as they are here at these meetings.
Great post. Didn’t occur to me that there may be a correlation between less holidays and longer days for students and longer working hours for adults. When you see it written down it seems so obvious and makes sense.
NYC Math Teacher: ‘…we shouldn't look across the pond for guidance from our socialist "allies".’
It must take amazing levels of propaganda to think that Blair/Brown, Chirac/Sarkozy, or Merkel for that matter are socialists. Believe me, we in England work the longest hours of our European neighbours and our society is still based on Thatcherite economic as much as your country is still in the grip of Reaganomics despite what the right has to say about the Clinton years. The party may bear the name labour but only has the interests of corporations and big business at heart. In many ways we – especially here in Britain – are aping you.
J,
The UE rates in Europe are sky high, especially for yong workers (and in France for young Muslim men in particular; those suburban Paris riots weren't fun at all). The great UE benefits that make UE "less heinous" are, in fact, part of the problem.
UE stats (2006 estimates):
France: 8.7% (see: https://www.cia.gov/library/publi...s/
fr.html#Econ)
Italy: 7% (see: https://www.cia.gov/library/publi...s/
it.html#Econ)
Germany: 7.1% (see: https://www.cia.gov/library/publi...s/
gm.html#Econ)
U.S.A.: 4.8% (see: https://www.cia.gov/library/publi...s/
us.html#Econ)
I'm not going to make this a debate on unemployment statistics, but just want to make the point that you completely missed what I wrote. The official statistics are wide apart, but the gap narrows considerably when you take into account all the jobless in the US excluded through narrow definitions of unemployment and imprisonment. Being in prison for a non-violent drug-related offense, by the way, is no fun, either.
They've been screwing w/ the economic stats for so long that you just can't trust them.
As TeacherJ points out, the unemployment numbers are completely bogus. They don't count people who stop looking for work because they can't find any (or can't find any that pays near their old salaries) as unemployed.
And don't forget, we also don't take into account the downsized white collar workers and middle aged layoffs who are forced to take jobs at much lower salaries and the older people who continue to work because they can't afford to retire.
My generation (I'm turning 40 this year) looks like it will be the first generation in America in a long, long time that won't do as well financially as it's parents. They can spin the stats anyway they want, but the reality is we have to work longer, work harder and work more to bring home less than our parents did (adjusted for inflation.)
J,
Do you have a citation for wht you claim? My point is that 3+ percentage points is a lot (when we're dealing with millions of people), even for the differences you claim, but I'm game to check it out.
The unemployment rate is calculated as the share of the labor force that is unemployed. The federal government uses what is known as the Current Population Survey, a monthly survey of 60,000 households across the nation, to determine who is in the labor force and whether they are employed or unemployed. To be considered in the labor force, someone has to be employed, or available for work and has to have actively looked for work in the preceding four-week period. Those who may want to work but are so discouraged about their chances of finding a suitable job that they haven’t actively sought one in the preceding four weeks are not counted among the labor force. Consequently, they are not considered to be unemployed.
http://www.gothamgazette.com/print/2180
Thanks, NYCE...but what about how it is measured abroad? I wonder if it is markedly different -- and enough so to make up for the 3+ percent difference.
Good question but I haven't got the answer. I had heard about how US figures were calculated, though, and I knew it either had to be written somewhere or I'd been fantasizing about entirely bizarre topics.
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