We don't need no stinking work/life balance!!

[boedicca]

Are any of you aware that for some people, this is what they want out of life.

• Find a job
• Buy a house
• Fall in love, get married
• Have kids
• Raise kids
• Have kids be able to pick you out of a lineup
• Retire comfortably

That's all past-tense. No longer an option. And I'm glad that's fine with you? But you're not the norm.

Nowhere near.

You're missing the causes.

Since the 1950s, the total tax burden on families has doubled as a % of their income. Most now pay more in Taxes than they do for Shelter, Clothing, and Food combined. In the 1960s, the government started paying teenage girls to have children out of wedlock. Children raised by single mothers by and large do not do as well in school, work and life as those who are raised by two parents. Add to that the recent phenomena of the Federal government colluding with corrupt universities to load up gullible students with a lifetime of debt payments for worthless degrees and the Obama administration's destruction of full time job creation via the ACA.

These are why the American Dream is not achievable for a growing share of the population.

 

[Skull Pilot]

Are any of you aware that for some people, this is what they want out of life.

• Find a job
• Buy a house
• Fall in love, get married
• Have kids
• Raise kids
• Have kids be able to pick you out of a lineup
• Retire comfortably

That's all past-tense. No longer an option. And I'm glad that's fine with you? But you're not the norm.

Nowhere near.

Funny. I have a house (2 actually)

I own a business

I chose not to have kids

I have all the time and money i need to do whatever i want

And I got there by working harder than the next guy and giving up vacations and working 60 or 70 hour weeks for a few years

It's this new thing called sacrifice along with this other new thing called planning ahead.

You should try them sometimes.

I own two houses

I have two sons

I have all the time and money I need to do what I want

I never worked more than 40 hours a week

I always took off at least three weeks vacation every year

My retirement includes medical for life

I retired at age 57 with 32 years service

Since I retired my wife and I have been to 40 States, Europe, Mexico, Central America, South America and Canada.

I'm part owner of SF Giants Season Tickets and part owner of SF 49er Season tickets

And yes, I planned ahead.

You needed someone to plan for you.

Obviously not.

You assume I don't take vacations or travel that's your problem.

It didn't take me 32 years as a wage slave to get where I am I did it in 7. Seems to me you went the long way.

 

[NLT]

One thing you'll notice, BDBoop, is that a lot of men will bash you for saying this. That's because while they may work an extra hour or two here or there, when they come home they sit around like kings and get waited on. While their wife, who also worked a full day cooks the meals, washes the dishes, does the laundry, cleans the house...

Now some men are going to reply by saying they cook, or they clean or they whatever. And, yeah, sure, they mow the lawn once in a while or something like that. But MOST men sit around on their asses at home or partake in some activity that's fun for them. While the women work their asses off.
That old adage is true..."Men may work from dusk to dawn, but a woman's work is never done."

Still true today, no matter how hard people try to believe it isn't.

wow, that's some straight up sexism right there.

mmm, hypocrassy

How is it hypocrisy? I've never been one to deny the many differences, physical or mental between the sexes. It would only be hypocrisy if I was always insisting that men and women are totally equal and the same. Right?

Quit your pissing and moaning, just because you picked a lazy husband doesnt mean all men are lazy. My wife & I shared cooking, cleaning & child care duties, when she worked. She has not had to work in over 10 years, her decision not mine, so when I get home, the house is clean, laundry is done and dinner is in the oven. I work my ass off for her on the weekend honey do list.

 

[Darkwind]

Are any of you aware that for some people, this is what they want out of life.

• Find a job
• Buy a house
• Fall in love, get married
• Have kids
• Raise kids
• Have kids be able to pick you out of a lineup
• Retire comfortably

That's all past-tense. No longer an option. And I'm glad that's fine with you? But you're not the norm.

Nowhere near.

All of that goes on to this very day. I"m not sure what it is you are talking about.

In order to have the things you want, you have to find a way to pay for them. This means work, or entrepreneurship....

How much or how little you work is fully dependent upon your own goals in life. If you don't care for anything more than two meals a day, a cot in a friends house, and all the video games you can play, then a job is kind of a 2 hour a day thing...unless you sell soemthing that brings you in thousands of dollars a day, then you don't have to work at all.

Which reminds Me. People rail about the rich, but it is the rich that have this life balance...they chase after their dreams because they no longer need to finance those dreams, they have the money for it.

That, is what I call, a motivating factor.

 

[Swagger]

President Chirac was a keen opponent of his country's working hours, and realised that the French economy was stagnating while its citizens worked from nine 'til three. He raised awareness and gradually French companies began adjusting their working schedule in line with that of Germany and the UK. Opinion polls have revealed that today's France accepts that working thirty hour weeks was against their interests.

Although I own a successful company, I still work, on average, a fifty hour week. Sometimes, usually at the beginning of a contract, I have to work seventy hours a week because it eats into my weekend.

I really couldn't give a shit what hours people are working, just so long as they are working and contributing to society.

 

[Ropey]

All of our children own their own houses and are financially sound. We've been downsizing in the last five years. I work when I want to work and all of our children have long term professional employment.

My first 'real' (full time) job was working in a hide & hoof processing plant.

To this day, it was the dirtiest and smelliest work I've ever done. Catching chickens was cleaner.

Anyway, from then it was all up.

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

Some Countries Realize You Have A Life Outside Work. The U.S. Isn't One Of Them.

Working in the U.S. ain't what it used to be.

While other countries are coming up with new ways to promote work-life balance, such as France's latest move to limit after-hours email, the U.S. seems to be falling behind. It's been some time since the nation once responsible for creating weekends and the 40-hour work week made any sweeping changes to improve the working lives of its greatest living resource: people.

And it's not just because Americans are workaholics. Instead, it might have to with what has been called the productivity squeeze or speedup. High unemployment in the wake of the Great Recession has enabled companies to squeeze more out of fewer workers, all while paying them roughly the same amount. It's great for corporate profits -- which hit a record high last year -- but not so much for workers.

But the consequences may be beginning to show. A 2012 poll found that less than half of American workers are totally satisfied with their jobs. Meanwhile, protests over wages and working conditions for low-wage employees have spread throughout the U.S. since 2012.

And as always, what gets me is that most of the people who will attack me over this post are working 9-5 just like me.

And as always, those same people will make ignorant, irrelevant references to "socialism."

 

[Wry Catcher]

Funny. I have a house (2 actually)

I own a business

I chose not to have kids

I have all the time and money i need to do whatever i want

And I got there by working harder than the next guy and giving up vacations and working 60 or 70 hour weeks for a few years

It's this new thing called sacrifice along with this other new thing called planning ahead.

You should try them sometimes.

I own two houses

I have two sons

I have all the time and money I need to do what I want

I never worked more than 40 hours a week

I always took off at least three weeks vacation every year

My retirement includes medical for life

I retired at age 57 with 32 years service

Since I retired my wife and I have been to 40 States, Europe, Mexico, Central America, South America and Canada.

I'm part owner of SF Giants Season Tickets and part owner of SF 49er Season tickets

And yes, I planned ahead.

You needed someone to plan for you.

Obviously not.

You assume I don't take vacations or travel that's your problem.

It didn't take me 32 years as a wage slave to get where I am I did it in 7. Seems to me you went the long way.

Well, I guess I didn't plan so well, seven years huh, want to share you secret (was it legal)?

 

[rightwinger]

My child arrived just the other day
He came to the world in the usual way
But there were planes to catch and bills to pay
He learned to walk while I was away
And he was talkin' 'fore I knew it, and as he grew
He'd say "I'm gonna be like you, Dad
You know I'm gonna be like you"

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man on the moon
When you comin' home, Dad
I don't know when, but we'll get together then
You know we'll have a good time then

My son turned ten just the other day
He said, "Thanks for the ball, Dad, come on let's play
Can you teach me to throw", I said "Not today
I got a lot to do", he said, "That's ok
And he walked away but his smile never dimmed
And said, "I'm gonna be like him, yeah
You know I'm gonna be like him"

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man on the moon
When you comin' home, Dad
I don't know when, but we'll get together then
You know we'll have a good time then

Well, he came from college just the other day
So much like a man I just had to say
"Son, I'm proud of you, can you sit for a while"
He shook his head and said with a smile
"What I'd really like, Dad, is to borrow the car keys
See you later, can I have them please"

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man on the moon
When you comin' home son
I don't know when, but we'll get together then, Dad
You know we'll have a good time then

I've long since retired, my son's moved away
I called him up just the other day
I said, "I'd like to see you if you don't mind"
He said, "I'd love to, Dad, if I can find the time
You see my new job's a hassle and kids have the flu
But it's sure nice talking to you, Dad
It's been sure nice talking to you"

And as I hung up the phone it occurred to me
He'd grown up just like me
My boy was just like me

 

[BDBoop]

Some Countries Realize You Have A Life Outside Work. The U.S. Isn't One Of Them.

Working in the U.S. ain't what it used to be.

While other countries are coming up with new ways to promote work-life balance, such as France's latest move to limit after-hours email, the U.S. seems to be falling behind. It's been some time since the nation once responsible for creating weekends and the 40-hour work week made any sweeping changes to improve the working lives of its greatest living resource: people.

And it's not just because Americans are workaholics. Instead, it might have to with what has been called the productivity squeeze or speedup. High unemployment in the wake of the Great Recession has enabled companies to squeeze more out of fewer workers, all while paying them roughly the same amount. It's great for corporate profits -- which hit a record high last year -- but not so much for workers.

But the consequences may be beginning to show. A 2012 poll found that less than half of American workers are totally satisfied with their jobs. Meanwhile, protests over wages and working conditions for low-wage employees have spread throughout the U.S. since 2012.

And as always, what gets me is that most of the people who will attack me over this post are working 9-5 just like me.

And as always, those same people will make ignorant, irrelevant references to "socialism."

Yup. One would almost think they get their talking points from FOX "News."

 

[Shrimpbox]

First I want to complement Jeremiah on such a civil and pertinent post. It is on page three and I would recommend it to anyone as an example of what USMB could use more of. Secondly, B.D. Should consider herself lucky to have a caring and compassionate friend like J. To be her champion.


Let's return to the op and admit that we are talking about a culture question. Jeremiah we agree on more than you think. I am no advocate of conspicuous consumption or McMansions or careers at the total expense of family, or especially keeping up with the Jones. I wouldn't live where I do if that was the case.

But the opening sentence of the op is about how GOVERNMENTS in Europe are deciding what is a good balance between work and leisure. Jeremiah your complaints are about how we have become so disconnected from each other in our lives. Our disagreement is that I blame a more liberal agenda for this and you and b.d. Blame a rapacious, greedy, and man eating American capitalist system for this outcome. There is no need for me to explain your point of view so I will explain mine.

We are disconnected because of video games, cell phones, dearth of manners, attacks on the family and family values, entitlements, vacuous TV programming, abdication of responsibilities, decay of education,failure to teach history, failure to travel, failure to empower, failure to expect more, lack of honor, laziness, and a dearth of pride. These are attributes that are being bred into us by the liberal agenda.

The stereotype of the workers dying in the saddle don't apply as they might have fifty years ago. Are corporations squeezing more out of people for the same pay? Yeah, but some job is better than no job, and if you don't like it do something about it, don't wring your hands. The internet is a gateway to infinite possibilities and opportunities. Become a welder and you will have jobs for life, they need 50,000 of em just in Chicago area and can't find em. What we need to solve these problems is more old fashioned America which we know works and less new age socialism which we know does not work. The opportunity to work and work as much as you want is the bedrock of the American dream and should never be compromised.

What can working like a dog get you. The chance to take your whole large family( from ninety year old great Grama to newborns) to the mountains for ten days. The chance to take you grandkids on a six week trip out west to explore this great country and see the magnificent redwoods. A chance for me and my wife to escape to New Orleans, our favorite American city for a long weekend, or maybe a chance for our grandkids to go to a school that provides a real education. Have we been blessed? Absolutely. But it was America that gave us the opportunity to create this outcome and we took the bull by the horns. My mission, if I choose to accept it, is to make sure that those who come after me have the same opportunities.

 

[Jarlaxle]

One thing you'll notice, BDBoop, is that a lot of men will bash you for saying this. That's because while they may work an extra hour or two here or there, when they come home they sit around like kings and get waited on. While their wife, who also worked a full day cooks the meals, washes the dishes, does the laundry, cleans the house...

Now some men are going to reply by saying they cook, or they clean or they whatever. And, yeah, sure, they mow the lawn once in a while or something like that. But MOST men sit around on their asses at home or partake in some activity that's fun for them. While the women work their asses off.

That old adage is true..."Men may work from dusk to dawn, but a woman's work is never done."

Still true today, no matter how hard people try to believe it isn't.

Sounds like a personal problem, dude. I do as much housework as Liz...I put laundry in a few minutes ago, in fact. Only thing I don't do is vacuum...Liz won't let me, because every time I do, it kills my back.

 

[DriftingSand]

Two things you'll never hear a dying man say:

1. I shouldn't have fucked all those women.

and

2. I should have spent more time at the office.

I disagree. I bet there are a lot of dying men who truly wish they had spent their lives in a more productive way. You may simply be projecting your own future sentiments - but that's just a guess.