if Americans are working so hard, why isn't America working?

we have the world's largest economy. you define that as not working?

We're not working? Bloody farking hell, nobody told me. I would have SO slept in this morning.

Tigger: I believe that labor productivity per person is actually lower than a lot of Europe, plus we work farking long hours comparatively

All aboard! The Failboat leaves now (new window)

salient language extracted for the link lazy:

Only part of the U.S. productivity growth, which has outpaced that of many other developed economies, can be explained by the longer hours Americans are putting in, the ILO said.

The U.S., according to the report, also beats all 27 nations in the European Union, Japan and Switzerland in the amount of wealth created per hour of work - a second key measure of productivity.

Because the "40-hour work week" is a joke in your town.

Too busy farking?

Because as my advisor has always said, "Sometimes you have to work hard, but overall the goal is for you to work smarter, not harder."

This is why we outsource.

Cost of Living, period. Housing costs, gas, groceries... Don't tell me that there is no inflation.

Something that cost $1 in 1950 costs $8.53 in 2007.

Dollar Value Calculator (new window)

America is working fine where I am.

Real wages, anyone?

FTA: '... the concept is mute'

uh, that would be 'moot'.

This kind of shiatty-assed writing is coming up more and more in the major outlets. I weep for the children.

I was going to say

MOOT

say it with me MOOT.

Damn "journalists".

Then I saw Farking Zardwarks already mentioned it.

So I'll just say
Farking Zardwarks: FTA: '... the concept is mute'

uh, that would be 'moot'.

This kind of shiatty-assed writing is coming up more and more in the major outlets. I weep for the children.

THIS

instead. That will be more succinct.

Farking Zardwarks 2007-09-10 07:57:39 PM
FTA: '... the concept is mute'

uh, that would be 'moot'.

This kind of shiatty-assed writing is coming up more and more in the major outlets. I weep for the children.

This is why I never read the articles anymore, just the threads.

I'd rather get my poorly written and ill-though-out opinions from people just as lame as myself.

This thread is mute

I am writing this letter purely in the spirit of uplifting and sharing, as corny and dated as those sentiments may sound in the fast-moving and ever-evolving modern techno-plastic times in which we live. Primarily, I want to share with you my view that I have nothing more to say on that issue. I begin with critical semantic clarifications. First, I'm not a deluded person. I'd like nothing more than to extend my hand in friendship to Lazy American Mutes's adherents and convey my hope that in the days to come we can work together to convince jackbooted conspiracy theorists to stop supporting Lazy American Mutes and tolerating its fulminations. Unfortunately, knowing them, they'd rather set up dissident groups and individuals for conspiracy charges and then carry out searches and seizures on flimsy pretexts because that's what Lazy American Mutes wants. Lazy American Mutes asserts that it is a perpetual victim of injustice. Most reasonable people, however, recognize such assertions as nothing more than baseless, if wishful, claims unsupported by concrete evidence. Without a doubt, however, I must admit that I've read only a small fraction of Lazy American Mutes's writings. (As a well-known aphorism states, it is not necessary to eat all of an apple to learn that it is rotten.) Nevertheless, I've read enough of Lazy American Mutes's writings to know that I cannot simply sit idly by while unsavory, adversarial backbiters call for ritualistic invocations of needlessly formal rules. Get that straight, please. Any other thinking is blame-shoving or responsibility-dodging. Furthermore, the only effective and responsible course of action is to enable adversaries to meet each other and establish direct personal bonds which contradict the stereotypes they rely upon to power their virulent diatribes -- an often frustrating prescription, to be sure. That's something you won't find in your local newspaper because it's the news that just doesn't fit.

It should be stressed that Lazy American Mutes has OD'd on nonrepresentationalism. Of that I am certain, because if natural selection indeed works by removing the weakest and most genetically unfit members of a species, then Lazy American Mutes is clearly going to be the first to go. Lazy American Mutes's methods of interpretation present us with a riddle: Why does it always have to be such a party pooper? It would take days to give the complete answer to that question but the gist of it is that when Lazy American Mutes's neo-hotheaded utterances are translated into plain, words-mean-things English, it appears to be saying that the laws of nature don't apply to it. For me, this untrustworthy, maledicent moonshine serves only to emphasize how some of us have an opportunity to come in contact with what I call vitriolic gutter-dwellers on a regular basis at work or in school. We, therefore, may be able to gain some insight into the way they think, into their values; we may be able to understand why they want to galvanize a supercilious hysteria, a large-scale version of the churlish mentality that can abuse science by using it as a mechanism of ideology. You've never heard Lazy American Mutes announce that it plans to descend to character assassination and name calling? Well, Lazy American Mutes has repeatedly enunciated such a plan, but in its typically convoluted way. Lazy American Mutes presents one face to the public, a face that tells people what they want to hear. Then, in private, it devises new schemes to inflict untold misery, suffering, and distress. Now that I've been exposed to Lazy American Mutes's invectives, I must admit that I don't completely understand them. Perhaps I need to get out more. Or perhaps Lazy American Mutes's fairy tales are like a Hydra. They continually acquire new heads and new strength. The only way to stunt their growth is to debunk the nonsense spouted by its yes-men. The only way to destroy its Hydra entirely is to provide more people with the knowledge that if we take Lazy American Mutes's hypnopompic insights to their logical conclusion, we see that when you least expect it, Lazy American Mutes will prevent us from getting in touch with our feelings.

It has been said that anyone willing to study and ponder my position on most current matters will undeniably find that we can't let diabolic yahoos ram Lazy American Mutes's conjectures down our throats. I believe that to be true. I also believe that its opinion is that it is a model organization. Of course, opinions are like sphincters: we all have them. So let me tell you my opinion. My opinion is that whatever your age, you now have only one choice. That choice is between a democratic, peace-loving regime that, you hope, may indicate in a rough and approximate way the two garrulous tendencies that I believe are the main driving force of modern fanaticism and, as the alternative, the unpatriotic and short-sighted dirigisme currently being forced upon us by Lazy American Mutes. Choose carefully, because if a cogent, logical argument entered Lazy American Mutes's brain, no doubt a concussion would result. I will not say what is right and what is wrong when it comes to Lazy American Mutes's bromides. But I will say one thing: Lazy American Mutes has, at times, called me "bumptious" or "cynical". Such contemptuous name-calling has passed far beyond the stage of being infantile but harmless. It has the capacity to shame my name. At the risk of belaboring the obvious, Lazy American Mutes's polyloquent slogans can be quite educational. By studying them, students can observe firsthand the consequences of having an organization consumed with paranoia, fear, hatred, and ignorance.

Now stay with me a moment here; I am making a point. Specifically, throughout history, there has been a clash between those who wish to maintain social tranquillity and those who wish to glamorize drug usage. Naturally, Lazy American Mutes belongs to the latter category. In many ways, I hate it when people get their facts entirely wrong. For instance, whenever I hear some corporate fat cat make noises about how Lazy American Mutes should be a given a direct pipeline to the National Treasury, I can't help but think that Lazy American Mutes has frequently been spotted making nicey-nice with manipulative malcontents. Is this because it needs their help to destroy the natural beauty of our parks and forests? If you need help in answering that question, you may note that this is not Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia, where the state would be eager to establish tacit boundaries and ground rules for the permissible spectrum of opinion. Not yet, at least. But it occasionally shows what appears to be warmth, joy, love, or compassion. You should realize, however, that these positive expressions are more feigned than experienced and invariably serve an ulterior motive, such as to attack everyone else's beliefs.

Imagine people everywhere embracing Lazy American Mutes's claim that cultural tradition has never contributed a single thing to the advancement of knowledge or understanding. The idea defies the imagination. As for the lies and exaggerations, I want to analyze Lazy American Mutes's strictures in the manner of sociological studies of mass communication and persuasion. But first, let me pose an abstract question. Will peeling back the onion of Lazy American Mutes's infantile complaints cause Lazy American Mutes to shed tears or will it merely enhance its desire to defile the present and destroy the future? My answer is, as always, a model of clarity and the soul of wit: I don't know. However, I do know that its victims have been speaking out for years. Unfortunately, their voices have long been silenced by the roar and thunder of Lazy American Mutes's vassals, who loudly proclaim that censorship could benefit us. Regardless of those rapacious proclamations, the truth is that the acid test for its "kinder, gentler" new pleas should be, "Do they still pander to the worst kinds of gloomy politicos there are?" If the answer is yes, then we can conclude that Lazy American Mutes insists that it is the ultimate authority on what's right and what's wrong. How can it be so blind? Very easily. Basically, if you intend to challenge someone's assertions, you need to present a counterargument. Lazy American Mutes provides none. I have begged Lazy American Mutes's cheerleaders to step forth and challenge the present and enrich the future. To date, not a single soul has agreed to help in this fashion. Are they worried about how Lazy American Mutes might retaliate? My best guess, for what it may be worth, is based on two key observations. The first observation is that Lazy American Mutes is consistently inconsistent. The second, more telling, observation is that it has delivered exactly the opposite of what it had previously promised us. Most notably, Lazy American Mutes's vows of liberation turned out to be masks for oppression and domination. And, almost as troubling, its vows of equality did little more than convince people that it has compiled an impressive list of grievances against me. Not only are all of these grievances completely fictitious, but we can divide Lazy American Mutes's sentiments into three categories: pharisaical, frightful, and sexist.

This march into demented absolutism is not happening by mere chance. It is not, as many misguided carpers insist, the result of the natural, inevitable course of things. It is happening as a direct result of Lazy American Mutes's unreasonable dissertations. The best advice I can give to a group is to exemplify the principles of honor, duty, loyalty, and courage, but I guess nobody ever explained that to Lazy American Mutes's bedfellows. Similarly, Lazy American Mutes believes that sin is good for the soul. That's just wrong. It further believes that the best way to reduce cognitive dissonance and restore homeostasis to one's psyche is to contaminate or cut off our cities' water supply. Wrong again!

One indication of this is the fact that before long, Lazy American Mutes's poison will infect us, sicken us, and destroy us. Now that that's cleared up, I'll continue with what I was saying before, that it's its belief that my letters demonstrate a desire to utilize legal, above-ground organizing in combination with illegal, underground tactics to assuage the hungers of its sympathizers with servings of fresh scapegoats. I can't understand how anyone could go from anything I ever wrote to such a self-centered idea. In fact, my letters generally make the diametrically opposite claim, that I want to thank Lazy American Mutes for its harangues. They give me an excellent opportunity to illustrate just how litigious Lazy American Mutes can be. Statements like, "Society should recognize that I assert that people who work with Lazy American Mutes's companions discredit themselves" accurately express the feelings of most of us here. Lazy American Mutes's allies believe a conspiracy of unimaginative stumblebums control banking, foreign policy, and the media. I'll probably devote a separate letter to that topic alone, but for now, I'll simply summarize by stating that when Lazy American Mutes was first found trying to have more impact on Earth's biological, geological, and chemical systems during our lifetime and our children's than all preceding human generations had together, I was scared. I was scared not only for my personal safety; I was scared for the people I love. And now that Lazy American Mutes is planning to trample into the mud all that is fine and noble and beautiful, I'm downright terrified. I alluded to this earlier, but Lazy American Mutes, already oppressive with its disloyal equivocations, will perhaps be the ultimate exterminator of our human species -- if separate species we be -- for its reserve of unguessed horrors could never be borne by mortal brains if loosed upon the world. If you think that that's a frightening thought, then consider that the time is always right to do what is right. That's why we must provide some balance to Lazy American Mutes's one-sided prank phone calls. The first step in that process is to realize that one difference between its flunkies and other dark forces of anarchy and hatred is that the former intend to exhibit a deep disdain for all people who are not charlatanism-oriented drongos. Sad, but true. And it'll only get worse if Lazy American Mutes finds a way to reconstitute society on the basis of arrested development and envious malevolence.

Lazy American Mutes thinks it's good that its initiatives create a system of neopaganism characterized by confidential files, closed courts, gag orders, and statutory immunity. It is difficult to know how to respond to such monumentally misplaced values, but let's try this: It constantly insists that there is something intellectually provocative in the tired rehashing of homicidal stereotypes. But it contradicts itself when it says that everyone and everything discriminates against it -- including the writing on the bathroom stalls. A central fault line runs through each of Lazy American Mutes's announcements. Specifically, obdurate quidnuncs like Lazy American Mutes are not born -- they are excreted. However unsavory that metaphor may be, Lazy American Mutes's intent is to prevent us from asking questions. It doesn't want the details checked. It doesn't want anyone looking for any facts other than the official facts it presents to us. I wonder if this is because most of its "facts" are false. Call me old-fashioned, but Lazy American Mutes is absolutely determined to believe that character development is not a matter of "strength through adversity" but rather, "entitlement through victimization", and it's not about to let facts or reason get in its way. We must do something about the continuing -- make that the escalating -- effort on Lazy American Mutes's part to siphon off scarce international capital intended for underdeveloped countries. Only then can a society free of its aberrent, drossy ravings blossom forth from the roots of the past. And only then will people come to understand that compassion and moral principle are not the main motives for its actions. What's my problem, then? Allow me to present it in the form of a question: What demons possessed it to put hopeless thoughts in our children's minds? As you ponder the answer to that question, consider that the central paradox of its principles, the twist that makes its calumnies so irresistible to two-faced warmongers, is that these people truly believe that black is white and night is day. Lazy American Mutes may be sincere, but it is also sincerely delirious. Lazy American Mutes has the nerve to call those of us who view the realms of racialism and boosterism not as two opposing poles, but as two continua, "conspiracy theorists". No, we're "conspiracy revealers" because we reveal that Lazy American Mutes recently claimed that honesty and responsibility have no cash value and are therefore worthless. I would have found this comment shocking had I not heard similar garbage from it a hundred times before.

Often, the lure of an articulate new pundit, a well-financed attention-getting program, an effective audience generator, hot new "inside" information, or a professionally produced exposé is irresistible to spleeny dunces who want to pursue a twofold credo of collectivism and militarism. There is no inconsistency here; Lazy American Mutes has for a long time been arguing that the rules don't apply to it. Had it instead been arguing that whenever it is presented with the truth, it cringes like a vampire from a cross, I might cede it its point. As it stands, the leap of faith required to bridge the logical gap in Lazy American Mutes's arguments is simply too terrifying for me to contemplate. What I do often contemplate, however, is how its fantasy is to destroy the heart and fabric of our nation. It dreams of a world that grants it such a freedom with no strings attached. Welcome to the world of clericalism! In that nightmare world it has long since been forgotten that teenagers who want to shock their parents sometimes maintain -- with a straight face -- that courtesy and manners don't count for anything. Fortunately, most parents don't fall for this fraud because they know that in a rather infamous speech, Lazy American Mutes exclaimed that it could do a gentler and fairer job of running the world than anyone else. (I edited out the rest of what it said because, well, it didn't really say anything.) I have two words to say about Lazy American Mutes's views: revolting poppycock. There are some truths that are so obvious that for this very reason they are not seen, or at least not recognized, by ordinary people. One noteworthy example is the truism that I can no longer get very excited about any revelation of Lazy American Mutes's hypocrisy or crookedness. It's what I've come to expect by now. There's a time to keep silent and a time to speak. There's a time to love and a time to hate. There's a time for war and a time for peace. And, I feel, there's a time to reverse the devolutionary course Lazy American Mutes has set for us. Or, to put it less poetically, if you can go more than a minute without hearing Lazy American Mutes talk about obstructionism, you're either deaf, dumb, or in a serious case of denial.

The essential point, however, is the following: Lazy American Mutes maintains that violence and prejudice are funny. This is hardly the case. Rather, there is growing evidence that says, to the contrary, that its cause is not glorious. It is not wonderful. It is not good. Because of Lazy American Mutes's newsgroup postings, our schools simply do not teach the basics anymore. Instead, they preach the theology of doctrinaire, bloodthirsty neocolonialism. Do you understand the implications of what I have been telling you? Are you awake? Then you probably realize that I am convinced that there will be a strong effort on Lazy American Mutes's part to herald the death of intelligent discourse on college campuses in the blink of an eye. This effort will be disguised, of course. It will be cloaked in deceit, as such efforts always are. That's why I'm informing you that Lazy American Mutes's ideological colors may have changed over the years. Nevertheless, its core principle has remained the same: to trivialize the issue. If you don't believe me, then note that it would be wrong to imply that Lazy American Mutes is involved in some kind of conspiracy to feed on the politics of resentment, alienation, frustration, anger, and fear. It would be wrong because its credos are far beyond the conspiracy stage. Not only that, but I certainly wouldn't want to marginalize and eventually even outlaw responsible critics of cantankerous control freaks. I would, on the other hand, love to make the world safe for democracy. But, hey, I'm already doing that with this letter. From the fog and mist of Lazy American Mutes's orations rises the leering grimace of deconstructionism. And that's all I have to say.

As my Mexican in-laws would corroborate, Americans have forgotten how to work to live. Instead, we've been conditioned to live to work.

OMFG SOCIALIST

We'll be Europe lite in 20 - 30 years. Once the majority of boomers realize they can't pay for healthcare and housing into their 90's, they'll become socialist pro-worker types in a heartbeat.

Hellen Keller is a mute I would have hit.

Confabulat
Again, I drink heavily, have unlimited access to pot, live alone and enjoy my high speed internet every day.

And I haven't had a job in months. I have no savings either. Everything I have, you sucker worker ants are paying for.

It's good to be the king!

Newsletter?

Imagine America is a single human being, hard at work.

Now imagine about 2/3 of all politicians and about 3/4 of all corporations as vampires, lined up to suck that person's blood.

MajorQ_Qer
The average American income after taxes is 11k higher than it was in 2001

Let's see some stats. I assume, of course, median and mean have been accounted for.

MajorQ_Q'er: By the way, for those of you that say "but but but but but the wages wah wah wah, our salaries are not growing", the average American income after taxes is 11k higher than it was in 2001. So if you are actually poorer than 2001, you are a loser.

Umm, no. The income increasing 11k doesn't mean shiat when it isn't adjusted for inflation. Of course inflation doesn't include housing and energy costs which is retarded.

It's Tolstoy, it's meth, its........

Link (new window)

spaten: Cost of Living, period. Housing costs, gas, groceries... Don't tell me that there is no inflation.

Only the most ignorant fool would claim there's no inflation.

Similarly, only the most ignorant fool would claim that wages haven't kept up with inflation over that same time period.

MajorQ_Q'er: By the way, for those of you that say "but but but but but the wages wah wah wah, our salaries are not growing", the average American income after taxes is 11k higher than it was in 2001. So if you are actually poorer than 2001, you are a loser.

one billionaire + 9,999 unemployed people = an average income of $100,000. Yay average income is 6 digits! Things are getting better! Thanks!

Yeah, don't factor in inflation or cost of living increases since 2001, either. Things are so looking up!

I believe that labor productivity per person is actually lower than a lot of Europe, plus we work farking long hours comparatively.

In Europe they don't spend 6 hours of every work day reading Fark.com.

poot_rootbeer 2007-09-10 11:01:26 PM

In Europe they don't spend 6 hours of every work day reading Fark.com.

I noticed that when we were working with European suppliers. When they were there, they weren't f*cking around. But God help you if you needed anything done in August or Late December. Overall I think they were doing a whole shiatload more work when they're on the clock. No "looking busy" bullshiat.

4 to 6 weeks of vacation per year will do that for a person, though.

If The United States of America is wrong I don't want to be right.

Here's a good table to compare national economies.

http://stats.oecd.org/WBOS/

IF we're talking GDP / hours worked, France & Holland are higher, Germany Italy Spain & UK are lower.

But notice that Norway is much higher. That's oil, not hard work.

chunksmediocrites: MajorQ_Q'er: By the way, for those of you that say "but but but but but the wages wah wah wah, our salaries are not growing", the average American income after taxes is 11k higher than it was in 2001. So if you are actually poorer than 2001, you are a loser.

one billionaire + 9,999 unemployed people = an average income of $100,000. Yay average income is 6 digits! Things are getting better! Thanks!

Yeah, don't factor in inflation or cost of living increases since 2001, either. Things are so looking up!

Average income has gone up since 2000, but median income has fallen slightly.

Goetz: ...Wow. Just, wow. I think you've just invented a new art form, somewhat similar to Obfuscated Coding competitions - that where one attempts to write as long a passage as possible without communicating any information whatsoever. You, sir, are a God amongst men.

ilambiquated

Average income has gone up since 2000, but median income has fallen slightly.

Which was my point to MajorQ_Q'er. Average income can easily give a skewed picture (new window) of how an economy is doing. Here's another link (new window) to an article which discusses stagnating real wages for the majority, while corporate profits and the top .01% are at record levels.

Bonzo_1116: I'd rather get my poorly written and ill-though-out opinions from people just as lame as myself.

too goddamn true. you don't need a communications degree for that.

The economy is great. I make two and a half times as much as I did in 2000. Bush didn't have shiat to do with any of it. I simply got fed up and moved on to the greener side of the hill... Now I work less, get paid more, and the benefits are through the roof. No College degrees...etc. I aint driving an Ashton Martin, but I live comfotable in my small sphere and enjoy a touch of celebrity as well.

Bush, Clinton, they have/ had no bearing on the economy. If your job sucks, it's probably not their fault. It's just you're a lazy dumbass with no self esteem and confidence issues. You can grow a pair, actualize your self worth and get better compensated... or you can go sit in a dark corner crying and cutting yourself.

Who says America isn't working? The short commute down 635 west across Dallas implies that everybody and their goddamn grandmother are on their way to work.

/Sitting on my ass and drawing pictures is hardly work anyway.
//Use to be liberal, but now that I'm making so much money, I had to become a Republican, it's the law in Texas.

Rarely is the question asked: Is our Americans working?

Because the truth is when a person, a culture, or even a country is passionate and inspired about what it does, it's not "work" at all, it's doing what you love and believe in.

No, you're working at Initech because that question is bullshiat to begin with. If everyone listened to her, there'd be no janitors, because no one would clean shiat up if they had a million dollars.

MajorQ_Q'er
Look it up shiat for brains, it is easy to go on to the government website and figure it out. If you are poorer than 2001, you are a total piece of trash. You guys just want to say the economy is bad because of bush and say that God Clinton was better.

I see you are uninterested in actually converting people to your point of view, but are interested merely in spewing vitriol.

Angry people like you make easy converts for folks like Osama bin Laden.

MajorQ_Q'er: By the way, for those of you that say "but but but but but the wages wah wah wah, our salaries are not growing", the average American income after taxes is 11k higher than it was in 2001. So if you are actually poorer than 2001, you are a loser.

The average height of me and Michael Jordan standing together in a room is five feet four inches. The average Canadian has one testicle.

Just sayin'.