Nation of Freeloaders?

[ottohauser1977]

Have you heard this? Seriously....the hardest working people in the world, and they are now being labeled moochers.

Say what you will about Americans off the job, but on the clock, we work our asses off, at least by European standards.

 

[sr71plt]

Have you heard this? Seriously....the hardest working people in the world, and they are now being labeled moochers.

Say what you will about Americans off the job, but on the clock, we work our asses off, at least by European standards.

By European standards -- yep, Americans are hard workers.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Have you heard this? Seriously....the hardest working people in the world, and they are now being labeled moochers.

Say what you will about Americans off the job, but on the clock, we work our asses off, at least by European standards.

The US has NEVER been a nation of freeloaders. There are a few looking for a handout, of course but, generally speaking, perserverance and diligence and ambition are much admired traits, and sloth might be the most despised.

ETA: Hopefully, Obama's policies won't change this.

 

[rgraham666]

And who enjoys life more? Americans or Europeans?

I think Europeans. Americans still suffer from the Puritanism of their past. They don't work because they enjoy it, or because it accomplishes anything. They work because they're supposed to. It's what the faithful do.

 

[ottohauser1977]

The US has NEVER been a nation of freeloaders. There are a few looking for a handout, of course but, generally speaking, perserverance and diligence and ambition are much admired traits, and sloth might be the most despised.

And yet some right-wingers are determined to dismiss the masses as moochers and whiners, as my state's former Senator Phil Gramm once claimed.

 

[starrkers]

Have you heard this? Seriously....the hardest working people in the world, and they are now being labeled moochers.

Say what you will about Americans off the job, but on the clock, we work our asses off, at least by European standards.

I think you're getting confused with Australians. We're the original bludgers, just ask Rupert Murdoch

 

[voluptuary_manque]

It was a blow to the national self-esteem for Japan when studies showed that the most efficient workers in the world were the Americans. This was after a decade or so of them preening their industrial superiority. Then Mercedes opened a plant here to get better quality . . .

 

[trysail]

Unfortunately, we— aided and abetted by our leaders— have also become expert at both spending more than the income derived from our labor and shifting that spending onto the backs of those who are less profligate and (temporarily) willing to fund it.

 

[rgraham666]

I think you're getting confused with Australians. We're the original bludgers, just ask Rupert Murdoch

Which brings up another point.

Most often you hear the 'lazy bastards' line from people who are really saying, "Damn it. Why don't you 'lazy bastards' work for free so I can keep all the money I pay you."

 

[sr71plt]

And who enjoys life more? Americans or Europeans?

My observation while living in Europe? Europeans. (They also seem to require fewer expensive toys.)

 

[ottohauser1977]

My point, of course, is that those who claim that America elected Obama out of a desire to sponge off the public dole do the people a grave disservice.

 

[rgraham666]

My point, of course, is that those who claim that America elected Obama out of a desire to sponge off the public dole do the people a grave disservice.

Ah. Got you now.

Those people fall into the "Why don't you 'lazy bastards' work for free so I can keep the money I pay you," category.

Or the "What else can you expect from n****rs and n****r lovers?" category.

 

[Boxlicker101]

And yet some right-wingers are determined to dismiss the masses as moochers and whiners, as my state's former Senator Phil Gramm once claimed.

Those right-wingers are looking at the few and taking them to be the many. And, there are a relative few who try to mooch off the government or friends and relatives.

 

[ottohauser1977]

Those ight-wingers are looking at the few and taking them to be the many. And, there are a relative few who try to mooch off the government or friends and relatives.

Yes, but that's universal and knows no political persuasion. I have a co-worker who is a Republican and has no compunctions about "time-frauding", as they call it.

 

[ottohauser1977]

Ah. Got you now.

Those people fall into the "Why don't you 'lazy bastards' work for free so I can keep the money I pay you," category.

Or the "What else can you expect from n****rs and n****r lovers?" category.

In other words, the "blacks are all criminals or welfare recipients" crowd.

There's a lot of my neighbors who actually believe that.

 

[ottohauser1977]

Another favorite Republican stereotype seems to be the "limousine liberal". The notion being that rich white liberals want to hike everyone's taxes to pay for their sense of guilt for being rich.

Just how accurate is this? Yes, I know that Warren Buffett and George Soros are rich white liberals, but is this due to guilt or simply selfless sacrifice?

 

[TheeGoatPig]

Those right-wingers are looking at the few and taking them to be the many.

Ah, the FCC. "We got three complaints, so that means that three hundred million people are upset!"

 

[ottohauser1977]

Ah, the FCC. "We got three complaints, so that means that three hundred million people are upset!"

Yes, and they're probably 3 nuns complaining about Howard Stern about hearing him for the first time.

 

[trysail]

Ultimately, of course, Say's Law dictates that savings must equal investment and Americans haven't demonstrated any acquaintence with that concept for forty years. The providers of the funds that have permitted Americans to live far beyond their means possess neither inexhaustible resources nor infinite patience.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Say's_Law

 

[TheeGoatPig]

Yes, and they're probably 3 nuns complaining about Howard Stern about hearing him for the first time.

There was a group of about 200 people with a letterhead that they mass produced to complain about him as if they were thousands of people. But still, thousands of people complaining when he had tens of millions of listeners is just ridiculous.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

There was a group of about 200 people with a letterhead that they mass produced to complain about him as if they were thousands of people. But still, thousands of people complaining when he had tens of millions of listeners is just ridiculous.

And when he tried to take them to satellite radio, they went somewhere else. His studio guests, so I read, are now down the 'C' list celebs. How the mighty have fallen . . .

 

[TheeGoatPig]

And when he tried to take them to satellite radio, they went somewhere else. His studio guests, so I read, are now down the 'C' list celebs. How the mighty have fallen . . .

He still has around two million listeners (I'm not one of them anymore, I went to XM when he went to Sirius ), which is a hell of a lot. And he knew that it wouldn't be easy, and that he might lose all of his popularity. But if you listened to his last year on terrestrial radio, it sounded like the constant fighting with his producers was killing him, cutting everything to pieces and leaving him feeling defeated on a daily basis. From what I can tell, he sounds like a happier person inside than he was before, and I congratulate him on finding that peace.

 

[Boxlicker101]

He still has around two million listeners (I'm not one of them anymore, I went to XM when he went to Sirius ), which is a hell of a lot. And he knew that it wouldn't be easy, and that he might lose all of his popularity. But if you listened to his last year on terrestrial radio, it sounded like the constant fighting with his producers was killing him, cutting everything to pieces and leaving him feeling defeated on a daily basis. From what I can tell, he sounds like a happier person inside than he was before, and I congratulate him on finding that peace.

I used to watch Stern sometimes on TV. As far as I was concerned, the only talent he displayed was the ability to induce hot women to take off their clothing so he and his cohorts could ogle and fondle them. Not that I wouldn't love to have that talent, but I can't see any point in listening to it on the radio.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

I used to watch Stern sometimes on TV. As far as I was concerned, the only talent he displayed was the ability to induce hot women to take off their clothing so he and his cohorts could ogle and fondle them. Not that I wouldn't love to have that talent, but I can't see any point in listening to it on the radio.

He's actually a great interviewer. He got so many people to talk about so many subjects on his show. Yes, he is a total idiot sometimes, with his head up his ass on so many subjects it isn't funny sometimes. But when the only rock station in the area has him on in the morning, and every other radio station makes you want to vomit, you sit and listen every once and a while...

 

[xssve]

Ultimately, of course, Say's Law dictates that savings must equal investment and Americans haven't demonstrated any acquaintence with that concept for forty years. The providers of the funds that have permitted Americans to live far beyond their means possess neither inexhaustible resources nor infinite patience.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Say's_Law

Um, trysail? All capital is either surplus labor or natural resources, extracted by labor. The providers of those funds, surplus labor in the form of capital, did so because they hope to extract even more of that surplus labor in the form of interest.

So you can save the portentous tones for your buddies at the yacht club when you're trying to avoid mentioning how you've screwed the pooch.

It's also my understanding that Europeans are more productive on an hour for hour basis, Americans have higher productivity because they work more hours than anybody else.

Same reason "family incomes" went up in the Eighties, a favorite Reagan republican meme - while wages declined: people were working more hours, a lot of them working two part time jobs because nobody will give you 40 hours in service industry jobs so they won't have to provide benefits like health care.