Posts: 4,336
Threads: 7
Joined: Jul 2016
(08-15-2019, 04:27 PM)beechnut79 Wrote: This is a story I found over on LinkedIn. Thought we could create a thoughtful discussion here. Shouldn't we be feeling as though we just need some space, to get away from the torrid rat race. Many people I believe no longer take vacations not only due to cost but the frantic reality of today's work environment seems to foster the belief that we have to defend or justify our feelings for needing to do so.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...a-vacation
The sad part of that: even the corporate leaders of companies that make vacation nearly impossible argue that everyone needs to recharge occasionally, or they become much less effective employees. Then, they go off and make actually taking vacation seem like slacking.
Intelligence is not knowledge and knowledge is not wisdom, but they all play well together.
Posts: 546
Threads: 59
Joined: Nov 2016
(08-15-2019, 04:27 PM)beechnut79 Wrote: This is a story I found over on LinkedIn. Thought we could create a thoughtful discussion here. Shouldn't we be feeling as though we just need some space, to get away from the torrid rat race. Many people I believe no longer take vacations not only due to cost but the frantic reality of today's work environment seems to foster the belief that we have to defend or justify our feelings for needing to do so.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...a-vacation
This is why it's the "Netflix and chill" era. All the relaxation and entertainment you need for $10/month.
Steve Barrera
[A]lthough one would like to change today's world back to the spirit of one hundred years or more ago, it cannot be done. Thus it is important to make the best out of every generation. - Hagakure
Saecular Pages
Posts: 10,465
Threads: 197
Joined: May 2016
(08-15-2019, 05:56 PM)sbarrera Wrote: (08-15-2019, 04:27 PM)beechnut79 Wrote: This is a story I found over on LinkedIn. Thought we could create a thoughtful discussion here. Shouldn't we be feeling as though we just need some space, to get away from the torrid rat race. Many people I believe no longer take vacations not only due to cost but the frantic reality of today's work environment seems to foster the belief that we have to defend or justify our feelings for needing to do so.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...a-vacation
This is why it's the "Netflix and chill" era. All the relaxation and entertainment you need for $10/month.
Mass low entertainment is the opiate of the masses.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
Posts: 683
Threads: 41
Joined: May 2016
(08-16-2019, 05:45 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: (08-15-2019, 05:56 PM)sbarrera Wrote: (08-15-2019, 04:27 PM)beechnut79 Wrote: This is a story I found over on LinkedIn. Thought we could create a thoughtful discussion here. Shouldn't we be feeling as though we just need some space, to get away from the torrid rat race. Many people I believe no longer take vacations not only due to cost but the frantic reality of today's work environment seems to foster the belief that we have to defend or justify our feelings for needing to do so.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...a-vacation
This is why it's the "Netflix and chill" era. All the relaxation and entertainment you need for $10/month.
Mass low entertainment is the opiate of the masses.
On what is traditionally the final weekend of prime vacation season, there are no doubt many who again this year did not take a real vacation. It seems that most folks may have a lot of irons in the fire at the moment, yet at the same time it may feel like nothing is happening, at least on the plus side of the ledger. We may want to take a breather and just relax, but more often not the so-called to-do list won't let us. There is a group called Take Back Your Time (don't know if that is still the name of it) that has set the wheels in motion for a much needed policy change. I believe they are seeking a mandate allowing at least two weeks of paid vacation. I think it should be three, and that would still be only meeting European nations half way.
The link to the site is below. After you look through it you just may come to see that now it's time to see what materializes after all our hard work. As many of you on this forum have indicated, we have gained tremendous in productivity of the past 30+ years yet for most it didn't translate into any increase in vacation or other leisure time except when it was force through actions such as layoffs.
http://www.takebackyourtime.org/
Posts: 10,465
Threads: 197
Joined: May 2016
(08-31-2019, 02:34 PM)beechnut79 Wrote: (08-16-2019, 05:45 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: (08-15-2019, 05:56 PM)sbarrera Wrote: (08-15-2019, 04:27 PM)beechnut79 Wrote: This is a story I found over on LinkedIn. Thought we could create a thoughtful discussion here. Shouldn't we be feeling as though we just need some space, to get away from the torrid rat race. Many people I believe no longer take vacations not only due to cost but the frantic reality of today's work environment seems to foster the belief that we have to defend or justify our feelings for needing to do so.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...a-vacation
This is why it's the "Netflix and chill" era. All the relaxation and entertainment you need for $10/month.
Mass low entertainment is the opiate of the masses.
On what is traditionally the final weekend of prime vacation season, there are no doubt many who again this year did not take a real vacation. It seems that most folks may have a lot of irons in the fire at the moment, yet at the same time it may feel like nothing is happening, at least on the plus side of the ledger. We may want to take a breather and just relax, but more often not the so-called to-do list won't let us. There is a group called Take Back Your Time (don't know if that is still the name of it) that has set the wheels in motion for a much needed policy change. I believe they are seeking a mandate allowing at least two weeks of paid vacation. I think it should be three, and that would still be only meeting European nations half way.
The link to the site is below. After you look through it you just may come to see that now it's time to see what materializes after all our hard work. As many of you on this forum have indicated, we have gained tremendous in productivity of the past 30+ years yet for most it didn't translate into any increase in vacation or other leisure time except when it was force through actions such as layoffs.
http://www.takebackyourtime.org/
The next liberal era in American politics will repudiate the 3T idea that workers are nothing more than machines of toil devoid of any right to seek happiness. In view of the rise of the Millennial generation, such is sure. We are going to see a revaluation of the lives of children, and we will recognize the need to enrich their lives in experiences instead of stuff.
People do not generally use layoffs for leisure. They are more likely to use them, if the job pays badly, to seek something else. Americans have been brainwashed into believing that being overworked and underpaid creates job security. It creates only misery.
Good ideas:
1. Reducing the regional concentration of the economy. America would be better (and less costly to live in) if economically-ravaged places such as Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, and St. Louis got to experience revitalization.
2. Strengthening labor unions. Workers have more stake in their jobs if they see their jobs paying well.
3. (This is happening) -- more sponsorship by employers of college education. Firms that have typically had high turnover (retailing and restaurants) may find that if they are to keep talent around long enough to consider what have been lousy, low-paying "throw-away' jobs as possible careers -- in which they are better workers who deserve above-average pay within the industry.
4. Reducing the normal workweek to accommodate the gains in productivity. Much of the 40-hour workweek is in fact make-work that has no connection to any meaningful activity -- like office politics and pointless meetings.
5. Rediscovery of the liberal arts as the appropriate objective of undergraduate education. The liberal arts school may not have taught specific skills, but it taught people what was important, what made society human, how to write coherently, and how to do rational thought.
6. Progressive taxation. When taxes were most progressive, small business flourished to the extent that even banking, retailing, and even manufacturing were often cottage industries. Low taxes on the rich have fostered monopolization, vertical integration, and the rise of a Soviet-style nomenklatura among administrative elites. Count on this: all economic elites -- even the nomenklatura of the allegedly classless society of the Soviet Union and related "socialist" states -- have tended to pass the means of elite wealth through inheritance. Anyone who wishes to support capitalism as a norm must recognize the small-scale entrepreneur as the real hero of capitalism. The small-scale entrepreneur cannot exploit in the same way as tycoons, big landowners, and executive elites.
7. a New Deal for the 21st century. The first one transformed the Tennessee Valley from Third World to First World and brought unprecedented prosperity to the Columbia and Colorado River valleys. America has plenty of areas that economic modernity has either never been (like the Mississippi Delta), always was precarious (West Virginia), or has been lost.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
Posts: 469
Threads: 2
Joined: Dec 2017
09-04-2019, 10:32 AM
(This post was last modified: 09-04-2019, 10:39 AM by Tim Randal Walker.)
Finally did a day-trip. Yesterday a friend and I drove to Leavenworth, Washington from Seattle. A colorful town.
https://leavenworth.com
So far haven't gone any place else this year.
Posts: 128
Threads: 2
Joined: May 2016
I so can't relate to this thread. This year I've been to California, Greece, camping a couple of hours away, and will be visiting with family in British Columbia next month. (I'm Canadian).
"But there's a difference between error and dishonesty, and it's not a trivial difference." - Ben Greenman
"Relax, it'll be all right, and by that I mean it will first get worse."
"How was I supposed to know that there'd be consequences for my actions?" - Gina Linetti
Posts: 4,336
Threads: 7
Joined: Jul 2016
(09-04-2019, 11:56 AM)tg63 Wrote: I so can't relate to this thread. This year I've been to California, Greece, camping a couple of hours away, and will be visiting with family in British Columbia next month. (I'm Canadian).
I'm retired so this doesn't affect me personally, but the US is still the tip of the Gilded Spear. Workers are jabbed on a daily basis. Until there is a real break from the top-down, do-it-or-else business culture, that's not going to change. I'm glad that you have a more sane environment there. It's a Canadian export we would welcome with open arms. 
Intelligence is not knowledge and knowledge is not wisdom, but they all play well together.
Posts: 469
Threads: 2
Joined: Dec 2017
A family reunion was scheduled for June. It will probably be cancelled.
Posts: 546
Threads: 59
Joined: Nov 2016
(03-28-2020, 11:57 AM)Tim Randal Walker Wrote: A family reunion was scheduled for June. It will probably be cancelled.
Are we all on no-vacation, or is it an endless staycation?
Steve Barrera
[A]lthough one would like to change today's world back to the spirit of one hundred years or more ago, it cannot be done. Thus it is important to make the best out of every generation. - Hagakure
Saecular Pages
Posts: 10,465
Threads: 197
Joined: May 2016
Staycation, to which I say... I'd rather work.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
Posts: 469
Threads: 2
Joined: Dec 2017
04-01-2020, 03:06 PM
(This post was last modified: 04-01-2020, 03:14 PM by Tim Randal Walker.)
No staycation for me-I work in healthcare (homecare cases), but not on the frontline.
Looked at the web site for the National Park Service (USA). It indicated that most events and facilities are closed, but with parks still being accessible.
State parks in Washington state are closed. City parks in Seattle are still accessible, though their parking lots are closed.
People are still walking their dogs in my neighborhood. I exercise by taking a brisk walk around the neighborhood..
Other than work I have no place to go.
Posts: 546
Threads: 59
Joined: Nov 2016
I'm working from home (lucky me) but making myself go for a walk each day. Don't see too many people, but do see lots of cars driving through town. But I live in one of those small Pennsylvania towns that everyone drives through to get to somewhere else.
Steve Barrera
[A]lthough one would like to change today's world back to the spirit of one hundred years or more ago, it cannot be done. Thus it is important to make the best out of every generation. - Hagakure
Saecular Pages
Posts: 469
Threads: 2
Joined: Dec 2017
BTW, the family reunion was cancelled awhile back.
Posts: 683
Threads: 41
Joined: May 2016
Somewhat on the same topic, here is an article which recently published that highlights something I have been discussing quite a bit over recent years. The next to last paragraph, IMO, clearly illustrates the perfect storm facing most of those not in the top 20 percent income wise.
https://inthesetimes.com/article/labor-d...if-you-die
Posts: 10,465
Threads: 197
Joined: May 2016
After forty years of dominance in politics and especially the culture of sadistic greed that is American capitalism, work is more productive yet less rewarding. Elite power, indulgence, and gain are everything. That must end.
We need more people milking cows than we need corporate attorneys. We need more people to repair and maintain vehicles than we need college professors. We need more janitors than we need opera singers. We need more fast-food workers than we need writers. This said, nothing says that the people who do the real work must suffer for those whose work is 'softer'.
Nobody better promotes a class struggle than does Donald Trump. I would be satisfied with capitalism with a human face. We have a monstrosity that must go before it turns most of us into serfs.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
Posts: 683
Threads: 41
Joined: May 2016
Real-life version of the Wicked Witch of the East?
Posts: 10,465
Threads: 197
Joined: May 2016
(09-20-2020, 03:47 PM)beechnut79 Wrote: Real-life version of the Wicked Witch of the East?
A Crisis often shows what is unnecessary and hurtful and that out of necessity people find what they must do without. Outrageous compensation to economic elites that go with mass poverty and miserable lives for most will prove inimical to building a workable society.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
Posts: 469
Threads: 2
Joined: Dec 2017
Last October I revisted Chelan in eastern Washington. A resort area on a lake, surrounded by vineyards. First real vacation I had had in years.
|
