[toomuchtodo]

Underlying problem is that productivity increases are not tied to work hours per week. As the world gets more productive, we should be ratcheting work hours down. Kudos to those doing their parts to ensure employee quality of life.

[thfuran]

Why should we not increase total productivity where practical?

[toomuchtodo]

We should, but not at the expense of labor. We measure GDP; an excellent measure of how much productivity is being squeezed and consumed by capital owners/shareholders. We should be measuring for happiness/quality of life, and optimizing for that.

[st3v3r]

Because then we don't get to enjoy the benefits of that productivity. We are exponentially more productive than we were back 50 years ago. Yet, we still have to work 40+ hours a week. We could be working 20-30 hours a week, and still be far more productive than we were back then. But more productivity meant more profit for the company, so they didn't want to do it.