Eh, that statistic is a lie. Or a half truth. Because what doesn't take into account is the health (physically and mentally) of the American Worker. Stress related problems are up, as is dissatifaction.

The reality is, Companies are still gettin g thw work done, they're just eating through human beings rapidly and because of the job market, there's always more human beings to replace them.

It's like the whole country is now full of sweat shops with email and coffee machines and you have to wear a tie. But you're expected to work obscene hours and accomplish huge workloads because if you don't, there's someone itching for a job that will happily take you paycheck till they get beaten down too.

Um...not that I'm bitter about the American work ethic or anything.

Naaaah, it's not redundant. Yer agreeing. :D

And (about) half of us that vote will vote for George W. Bush.

Interestingly, with jobs gone out of the economy, productivity would not decline, quite the opposite, productivity increases because the rest of us have to do their work as well as the stuff we were already doing. Its not that those jobs weren't needed, but that others are being forced to do more with the same pay. This happens in every recession, people are fired and those left would rather work harder than get fired themselves. Working extra hours, or through lunch and skipping breaks will increase anyones productivity, as well as possibly shorten their life and cause stress related illnesses to rise.