People and Other Commodities 1: Why Bother Catching Up?

"Unions defend Quebecers' work ethic after Bouchard comments"
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2006/10/18/bouchard-quebecworkethic.html

It seems that our former premier is telling us that we’re “falling behind” Ontario and the United States because we work fewer hours.

Sounds like the mentality of someone for whom “productivity” is all. But what is productivity for? What do we gain by more productivity? Possibly more money to pour into the health care system to treat those who haven’t been taking care of themselves ‘cos they’ve been too busy making money. More economic activity does not automatically translate into a better quality of life. Some forms of economic activity do the opposite. If we really want to be efficient, let's have "efficient" growth- growth that does not increase our toll upon the planet, that does not make unreasonable demands on the time and energy of people, and that actually makes for a better quality of life in our communities.