Friday, August 10, 2012

Robert Reich Haiku

Tim Worstall gives a nice paraphrase of Robert Reich's view of the world.

I was just disappointed that Tim didn't realize that he had very nearly written a Reich haiku.  So I finished it for him.  Enjoy, Tim!

RR Haiku

I like time off, see?
So millions must take time off
To be more like me

5 comments:

kebko said...

This cries out for grand game status! I'm playing:

"Studies show workers who take time off are more productive after their batteries are recharged. They have higher morale, and are less likely to mentally check out on the job."

Well, I've got a study for you, dumbass. It's a longitudinal study involving about 300 million workers over about 2 1/2 centuries.

....my favorite part, though, was what came next:

"This means more output per worker — enough to compensate employers for the cost of hiring additional workers to cover for everyone’s three weeks’ vacation time.
It’s also a win for the economy, because these additional workers would bring down the level of unemployment and put more money into more people’s pockets. This extra purchasing power would boost the economy overall."

My head just exploded. If workers are so much more productive that you'd have enough additional output to compensate additional workers to cover for vacations, why would you need the additional workers? Never mind. Needing more people to do the same amount of stuff lower's unemployment! It's a win-win-win!

Tim Worstall said...

Enjoy indeed.

Although what really worries me is that Reich is at least supposed to be an economist. And since when did anyone decide that preferences were homogenous?

Michael said...

Good catch Kebko.

Robert Reich is a little kid who breaks into your house and rebuilds all your Legos so YOU can have more fun.

Nate said...

Totally makes sense. If three weeks off with pay would result in that much greatness, imagine what it would be like for the economy if everyone had 52 weeks off!

And he didn't think that Obama had, as yet, had done anything about this. Over the last 4 years, more and more Americans every month have gone on 52+ week vacations with pay and the economy has obviously flourished.

kebko said...

First, I'd like to retract the use of 'dumbass'. I meant it jokingly, but it's probably uncalled for. I noticed that RR uses the phrase 'a modest proposal'. Does he know that this is usually meant to signal a self-evidently absurd idea? It doesn't seem like he does. I retract my name calling until it can be verified that he understands the joke.