No government check, no union check on excessive work as in Europe. Misguided culture of overwork.

[TalkingDog]

http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2010/08/25/german_usa_working_life_ext2010

Aren’t we at least more productive by virtue of the amount of time we’re putting in?

No. Look at their productivity rates. They’re like ours. I think we understate our hours and they overstate them, because they take so much time off and sneak off early from work. If the productivity rates being reported are officially the same, and if they’re understating and we’re overstating, they’re probably working more efficiently than we are, and maybe the fact that they’re taking time off has something to do with that.

Why is it useful to compare ourselves to the Germans?

Germany has the highest degree of worker control on the planet since the collapse of the Soviet Union. When I saw German labor minister Günther Horzetzky in April of 2009, he said "Our biggest export now is co-determination." He meant that other European countries were coming up with versions of it.

[boppers]

1. Excel and Powerpoint

Get rid of those two abominations and work productivity across most business sectors could drastically increase, as we currently waste *massive* amounts of labor on frivolity that does nothing to increase product output.

[TalkingDog]

2. I think a better idea is to go with an idea Kellogg promoted in the early 1900's

The 4 day work week. We could put a lot of unemployed people to work if everybody got one extra day on the weekends.

More people working fewer hours.

The next thing would be introducing a living wage.......