Economics Stimuluous

2 Pages 475 Words

The following reaction paper is base don the article, “The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure”, by Juliet Schor.
Americans have undoubtedly experienced a decrease in leisure time. Over time, our leisure time has decreased in direct relation to the increase in the capitalistic economy we live in. Up until the 1940’s, work-time had been declining. Perhaps due to the Industrial Revolution our country experienced in the mid 19th century. The virtually abrupt increase in productivity created a work-force that although extremely poor, had job flexibility and were able to find jobs easily. This allowed for much “time-off” between jobs and leisure time for the typical worker. As our productivity base increased in this country, workers were being force to work longer hours to meet the demands of an expanding global economy. The extra time that workers were putting into their jobs did boost our economy, creating a larger more productive economy with a greater array of goods and services for the consumer. This increase in affordable consumer goods and services, formally limited to the rich, created a change in the spending habits of the typical American. We adopted the notion that more was better. And our insatiable desire for “stuff” causes us to work longer hours at work just to obtain them. Like the article states, More and more Americans have to work longer hours just to keep up with their spending habits. The increasing consumer debt in this country is evidence of our our materialistic views forcing us to live way beyond our means. The greater productivity in this country has been reaped by many corporations, but the typical worker has reaped this fruit in the form of more money, not much needed time off for his extraneous workday. The great Capitalism that has brought us a “greater” quality of life, has also been the culprit for many of the societal problems we face in our country today....