"Why do we work so damn much?"

My professor prephased this question with, "One of the things we much be able to answer about the labor market is...", following with a chuckle as he put a page with two tables on the overhead. The information on the tables wasn't new, but it did make me think. The tables measured American work ethic in two different ways, one in average number of hours worked in a year, the other being average days of vacation, or mandated days of vacation, depending on the country. They show that we work more than 200 hours more than the average other indulstrialized country in Europe a year(almost 2000 hrs. a year compared to an average of about 1750 for other countries), and only take about 2 weeks of vacation, compared to 3-4 weeks in other countries. It made me sit back and wonder, "Why do we work so damn much?".

We in the US of course have more money, probably a slightly higher standard of living than those other countries, certainly produce more and is much more economically productive, but so what? Maybe I'm just lazy, but I certainly wouldn't mind a couple more weeks a year on vacation, a few hundred less hours of work, even if it ment a little lower standard of living, since it's not like people in those countries are living in huts or something.

I'm not saying it's bad that we work so much or anything, I just find it interesting that we do work so much, when obviously an economy can operate without everyone working so much. I guess that's just part of the American Spirit we hear so much about.

I think I may move to Sweden(1500 hours a year, and more than 30 days off), because I'm pretty sure that I a don't have the American spirit, and am just lazy.