Rep. Bernard Sanders (Independent-VT): "I mentioned earlier that a recent report indicated that the typical married couple in the united States is currently working 247 more hours in 1996 than in 1989. Now tell me when we talk about the economic boom, and the economy being so great, I know that in my state, it is not uncommon for people to be working 50, 60 sometimes 70 hours a week. Women are working etc. At the beginning of this century, as you will remember -- I know you were an historian -- workers said, 'We want a 40 hour week. We don't want to work 50 to 60 hours.' A 100 years have come and gone, new technology, all this so-called progress [but] people are working huge hours. What do you think, how can we lower the work week so people have more time for their kids, can relax, and not be so stressed out?"
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Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan: "Well, you know that one of the interesting things, Congressman, is the fact that there was a very dramatic and protracted decline in the average work week for a number of years -- and it stopped. And it's an interesting issue which I don't know the answer to ... " -Semi-annual Humphrey Hawkins testimony. Day 2 to House Banking Committee, CNBC, 24 Feb 1999, ~11:47:51 AM EST 918_clip1

Well, DUUHH!!!

The American Academy of Sciences believes there are far more "working poor" than previously admitted because essential living expenses, health payments made by workers, and TAXES should be subtracted from gross income before making that determination. -NBC News, 30 April 1995, 10:46:50 AM [emphasis added] 918_clip2

"In 1950, American families sent 1 of 50 of their hard-earned dollars to Washington: Today it is 1 in 4." -Rep. John Ensign R-NEV, C-SPAN I, 4 April 1995, 11:03 AM EST 918_clip3

An American making $45,000 now pays 43.3% of his income in taxes just to Social Security and the Income Tax alone. This 43.3% figure DOESN'T include state income tax or any other taxes. [sales taxes, hidden taxes, etc.] -Senator Donald L. Nickles (R-OK), ABC THIS WEEK, 14 Feb 1999, ~11:35 AM EST 918_clip4

A study by Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), a non-partisan Washington DC anti-tax group, has calculated that these hidden taxes raise the cost of goods and services by a wallet-stinging 26% to 75%.
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Some examples: taxes account for 31% of the cost of a loaf of bread; 28% of the cost of a restaurant meal; 38% of the cost of a pizza; 46% of the cost of a firearm; 43% of the cost of a beer; 72% of the cost of liquor; 40% of the cost of an airline ticket; 54% of the cost of gasoline; and 26% of the cost of electricity.
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Think about that the next time you pay $12 for a pizza that should cost you only $7.45. Or $17,000 for a car that, without invisible taxes, would cost you only $9,350. -ATF, as reported by Bill Winters in Libertarian Party News. 918_clip5

QUESTION: How long did Americans work to pay taxes in 1995? ANSWER: January 1 to July 9, 1995. [1] -CNN Factoid, 15 April 1996 ~12:20 PM 918_clip6

...when promoting social security reform with 'regular' citizens in Omaha, Nebraska, President [GW] Bush walked into an awkward unscripted moment ... the president met Mary Mornin, a woman in her late fifties who told the president she was a divorced mother of three ...
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MS. MORNIN: ...I work three jobs and I feel like I contribute.
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THE PRESIDENT: You work three jobs?
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MS. MORNIN: Three jobs, yes.
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THE PRESIDENT: Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that. (Applause.) Get any sleep? (Laughter.) -BUSH: HOLDING THREE JOBS 'UNIQUELY AMERICAN', www.drudgereport.com, Tues Feb 8 2005 9:27:01 ET 918_clip7

"The least egalitarian countries are those that have tried hardest to redistribute income: the Soviet Union; [2] the United States; Great Britain." -Peter F. Drucker, Post-Capitalist Society, (New York: HarperBusiness 1993), p. 164. 918_clip8

"The Index of Social Well-Being," prepared annually by Fordham University, largely based on how a society treats its most vulnerable members such as children, shows that America's social well-being, as measured by government figures, dropped from a high of 77.5 in 1973, and has been falling ever since, to a low of 37.5 in 1994. The index shows a consistent decline of well-being extending through both Republican and Democratic administrations. -Synopsis of presentation by Dr. Marc Miringoff of Fordham University, CNN Today, Oct. 14, 1996, ~14:17 918_clip9

And since then [1971 after Nixon "closed the gold window"] the average American worker has been losing ground. Family income has gone up, which is the statistic most politicians point to but it now takes two workers in each family to make that income, whereas in 1971 it took just one. -Joel Kurtzman, THE DEATH OF MONEY, (New York, NY: SIMON & SCHUSTER 1993), p. 70 918_clip10

The reason there is a breakdown in family values is that there is no parent at home. The reason there is no parent at home is that one parent works to support the family and the other to support the government. -Representative from Family Research Council, CNN & COMPANY 918_clip11

More than half of juvenile crime takes place between about 3 PM and 6 PM when children are out of school but parents aren't home yet. -President Bill Clinton, Juvenile Crime Intiiative, Boston, CNN Live, 19 Feb 1997 918_clip12

The average teen hasn't had an uninterrupted ten minute conversation with either parent in the last month. Half have used tobacco, two thirds have used alcohol, and one third "illegal" drugs. -CNN & COMPANY, 19 Oct 1995 918_clip13

NEW: A typical working [British] parent spends just 19 minutes a day looking after their children, official figures revealed yesterday. ...With less than 20 minutes spent with their parents every day, this is only enough time to eat a quick breakfast together or have a couple of bed-time stories. ...
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Official figures show that 12.6 million women have a job, compared to just 8.5 million in the 1970s. ... A typical father whose youngest child is under four gets less than eight hours sleep a night and does more than three hours of domestic chores every day. ...
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A woman will spend 8.3 hours asleep, 2.4 hours watching television, DVDs or videos and 2.2 hours working. A man will spend eight hours alseep, 2.8 hours watching television, DVDs or videos and 3.5 hours working. -19 minutes - how long working parents give their children, BECKY BARROW, Daily Mail 22:00pm 19th July 2006 918_clip14

23 million Americans, approximately 12% of the population, suffer from anxiety disorder. -CNBC, 1 Mar 1999, ~1:37:57 PM EST 918_clip15

Modern kids say they're stressed out. ... One third of kids under 13 have panic attacks. -Georgia Witkin, PhD, FNC, 27 Feb 1999, ~12:44:08 PM EST 918_clip16

75 million Americans [27 percent of the population] are reported to be taking psychoactive drugs, particularly Prozac and other anti-depressants. -FEB, MARCH 2004 918_clip17

By way of contrast:

"Despite the theories traditionally taught in high school social studies," pointed out anthropologist Peter Farb, "the truth is, the more primitive the society, the more leisured its way of life." *43 [Peter Farb, Man's Rise to Civilization (New York: Avon, 1969), 49-50] -James W. Loewen, LIES MY TEACHER TOLD ME, (New York, NY: Touchstone 1996), p. 266 [Estimates from several sources suggest "primitive" people spent only about ten hours a week taking care of the necessities of life. -lrw] 918_clip18

NOTES:

[1] Check out "Tax Freedom Day" -- watch out, though: Some sites are now calculating how long you work to pay taxes as if you worked every day beginning Jan. 1 and had no weekends or holidays. This makes it seem as if tax freedom Day is sooner. THIS is a good site for Americans. And, Canadian tax freedom day , New Zealand tax freedom day , UK tax freedom day . return

[2] On another page, Drucker elaborates: The clearest case is the Soviet Union. Officially dedicated to equality, it established a very large nomenklatura of privileged functionaries who enjoyed income levels way beyond anything even the rich enjoyed under the tsars. ...But the United States is also a good example. As long as American productivity increased, until the late 1960s or early 1970s, equality of income distribution increased steadily. While the rich were still getting richer, the poor were getting richer much faster, and the middle class got richer faster still. As soon as the productivity increases dropped or disappeared--that is, beginning with the Vietnam War--income inequality began to increase steadily, regardless of taxation. -Peter Drucker, POST-CAITALIST SOCIETY pg. 131 return

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