Worked to Death: Addicted to Growth in America
Mark Cramer (author of Old Man on a Green Bike and Urban Everesting)
This work begins with keeping our economy growing, and I encourage you all to go shopping more.” George W. Bush
As the economy re-opens some Americans, despite needing income and being anxious to work, might consider not returning to the unsatisfying job they had, even if it means less shopping in their post-Covid life.
Stung by France’s failure to support his Iraq war, former president George W. Bush struck back by attacking France for its low-growth economic policies. Numbers-crunchers who value gross domestic product (the total monetary value of goods and services) could claim that Bush was right. For decades the American GDP has doubled that of France.
Baseball is a revealing clinical source for learning how cumulative statistics, such as GDP, can mislead and distort. GDP is equivalent to runs scored in baseball. In the 1960 World Series the Yankees outscored the Pirates by 55 to 27, but the Pirates won the seven-game series, thanks to a more efficient output.
During the slice of time between 2017 and 2019, French people on average worked 311 fewer hours per year than Americans.
Back in 2005 George W. Bush philosophized that working three jobs is “uniquely American.” No wonder that in the USA, the most-repeated phrase I hear is “I never have enough time!” The answer should be simple. Time-impoverished Americans should be able to work fewer hours.
What could they get in exchange? How about 4 more years of life? Yes, research from the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development) tells us that the French have a life expectancy four years longer than Americans!
Work less, live longer! How’s that for a slogan?
To work less we’d have to consume less. By needing less we’d liberate our time for things we really value: like a day with the family or that adventurous hiking expedition we keep postponing. How about hanging out with friends for unproductive hours in a café, yeah, the way the French do it.
We’d have to disregard the sermons of mainstream economists: preachers of the GDP religion. Maybe stop electing people of both political parties who tell us to “go shopping” to help the economy, as in this stirring performance by George W. Bush.
Higher GDP in industrialized nations may also correlate with greater inequality. The Gini Index measures inequality. The higher the number, the greater the inequality. In World Bank Gini calculations, France gets a reasonable 31.6 while the USA is up into obscenity territory, with a 41.4. Norway produces a more reasonable level, at 27.5.
Norway’s stats, comparable to those of France, confirm that France is not an outlier. Just as with France, the USA doubles Norway in GDP, yet Norwegians live four years longer than Americans while working 360 hours fewer per year. “Hey Bush, why are you picking on us?” asked a French economics student. “Go pick on Norway!”
France:
Hours worked per year: 1472 (OECD)
GDP: 1.3%
Gini index: 31.6 (World Bank, lower # means less inequality)
Life Expectancy: 82.6 (OECD)
Paid Vacation: 30 (days per year) (OECD)
USA:
Hours worked per year: 1783 (300+ more than France and Norway)
GDP: 2.3% (double France and Norway)
Gini index: 41.4 (significantly higher inequality than France/Norway)
Life Expectancy: 78.6 (four years less than France/Norway)
Paid Vacation: 10 days (paltry compared to France/Norway)
Norway:
Hours worked per year: 1424
GDP: 1.2%
Gini: 27.5
Life Expectancy: 82.7
Paid Vacation: 25 days
We’d love to hear your comments on these stats. Note that France and the USA have similar percentages of ethnic-racial minority populations, so we’re not comparing apples to oranges. The extent to which racial inequalities may be exacerbated by unbridled growth is worthy of separate coverage. The U.S. growth model is inextricably tied to the exploitative labor of brown and black peoples around the world, from low-income maquiladoras in Mexico that subsidize our car ownership to the brutally exploited tantalium miners in the Democratic Republic of Congo who subsidize the cost of our cell phones.
One key question for a follow-up article: how is it possible that France and Norway, with fewer work hours and lower GDP, can provide universal health care to their populations?
Both “The Kid and the Modern American Growth Scam” and this article provide the background for subsequent analysis on growth at levels of personal choice and public policy.
Footnote: I was stimulated to do research for this article after having listened to the podcast: Planet of the Humans Sequel Webinar Part 2, produced by Growth Busters, World Population Balance and Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy.
