It's a shame you can't sublet your job, bring in someone cheap and young as your "assistant" and make them do tasks for you that you don't feel like doing. That's American business!

My employed friends are all very overworked. One is so stressed out, he told me that I'm 'lucky' I don't have a job.

I wanted to bang my head against the wall, but I had to remind myself how incoherent too much work can make you.

I wonder how much unemployment could be reduced, and how much stress could be eliminated, by more job sharing. Seriously, enforce maximum working hours. Hire more staff, even as casuals. This cuts each persons pre-tax wages, but since unemployment should also fall, there might be room to trim tax. Life would be better.

I have just realized I am a polymath. It's bittersweet. I'm still unemployed but at least there's a name for what I've got...

What is this maximum hours of which you speak?

Economists have been asking the same question for some time now - from a different perspective. American productivity is at an all time high.

How much longer can the few working people be pushed so hard? Unfortunately, we know from history that severe recessions created by fiscal mismanagement cause the longest unemployment after a recession's end.

This type of recession creates most fear among employers. Restoration of confidence takes years. Employers tend to push fewer employees harder. Productivity increases. Nothing new. The worst type of recession (created at the highest levels of mismanagement) creates that much fear. We are just beginning to see confidence (and 'help wanted' signs) return.

Always learn from history. Never forget what happened in 1968/1970. And what happened in mid-2000s. Mismanagement at highest levels caused employee hardship for how long? About a decade. Welcome to trickle down economics and other money games based in economic myths. Ie. war creates an economic 'boom'.

A better description was economic 'bang' - as in destruction

I'm sure there was a typo in that source, tw. It most likely read "American economists are at an all time high."

Seriously, what are they smoking and why isn't it mandatory for all US citizens to be smoking it too?

I seriously doubt that after all the jobs that were sent overseas and to mexico that we are producing more of anything but unemployed people/

Does not matter how many jobs go overseas. What only matters is what existing jobs are doing.

Productivity in American is at an all time high. Obviously. If only ten people are working and 200 million are unemployed, that 200 million does not affect productivity. Because economics only measures what the ten employed people are doing.

Since employers are demanding so much from their fewer employees, American productivity is at an all time high.

Productivity and unemployment have no relationship. However, productivity can be lowered by employing more people to do the same work. Then both unemployment and productivity decrease.

I must be at an all time high. I understood that and agree with it.

We need to. Last month we had a meeting because our per copy income is down. It is my opinion that it is at least partiallly a result of the ridiculous amount of time that elapses between when a customer agrees to buy, and the time they sit down in my office. For many reasons.... Mostly though, that is because they have "come out of the ether."

So, i have been bringing them in as soon as i have reviewed the deal, and do the 15-20 minutes of preparations (loading the info into the computer, calling it in to the bank, preparing the menu of aftersale items, issuing the T Tag and service rewards card, logging same, resolving identity verification red flags, noting missing items like trade titles etc, printing up the documents, et fucking cetera) with them at my desk instead of out in the showroom cooling their heels and wondering what the ever living fuck is taking me so long.

Monday, they decided that finance should issue the inspection stickers for new cars now.:facepalm:

I'd like to rent out about 20 hours of my job every week. Someone want my unpaid hours?

Ditto. That explains a lot.

Continuing with what Griff mentioned, I wonder how much of that production is altered by the increasing hours the remaining workers are doing and additionally how self employed contractors, whose numbers are ever increasing, factor into it.

My son Lee got promoted to finance while still selling cars. I'm amazed at the load of paperwork that comes with each card when you figure in loan, insurance, and extended warranties.

is he covering the day off of the F&I manager or something? That's how I got my foot in the door. The knowledge he gains will help him in selling.... as long as he doesn't give the customer TOO much information and cause analysis paralysis....!

tell him congrats from me... and if he ever gets stuck or needs advice, or how to do NJ tags or leases or whatever... to give me a holla. Where's he working?