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The stone cold truth about full time jobs

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I was recently reading the Book "Affluenza". The book talks about a number of different subjects including things such as social and natural costs of goods we buy etc but what really caught my attention was a break down of the United State's GDP, worker efficiency and vacation time vs. The European union's GDP, worker efficiency and vacation time. During WWII, the EU was only able to produce 70% of the United States GDP. Since WWII the EU has dramatically increased worker faÃ¯ence, it is currently 91% of United states worker efficiency, but The overall GDP of the EU has only increased to 72%. What happened? What did they do with the dramatic increase in worker efficiency? They decided to take extra time off! The average American worker has two or three weeks off a year, take into consideration the average worker gives back three days to stay caught up on work, while the average EU worker has nine weeks of paid vacation! The full time work week in the united states is normally 40 hours, the EU has adopted a 35 hour work week and there is no overtime, if you cant get it done in 35 hours then the employer is asking to much of you, an insane thought for many Americans who work based on salary, if you are given a project then it has to be done whether you work 40 hours or 60 hours.

Now even while working ridiculous hours, barely taking a moment to breathe, never mind relaxing! We are presented with the cold hard truth that are suffering is in vain. The United States may produce 28% more goods than the EU but we spend 18% more of it on health care than they do! We work for 6 weeks extra a year, working at least five hours extra a week and all for a measly 10% of our pay. We endure extreme stress, delay doctor visits, give up time with our families, and sacrifice our sanity all for 10% of our pay. Who believes all the extra pain and suffering is worth it?