American economic dominance

[Pelado]

We bought five pounds of ground beef today.

Damn! Save some beef for the rest of us!

[Bo Diddley]

Americans work so much because they have to ... lol that GDP ain't really doing much to help offset the cost of living

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money...g/88306961007/

We bought five pounds of ground beef today.

[tooblue]

Yeah, I agree it is probably necessary. The stereotypes are that americans work too hard and europeans enjoy a more relaxed work-life balance. But the flip side of that is we are kicking their butts on productivity, innovation, etc. As the German chancellor correctly noted, super lax time-off policies are contributing to their lagging competitiveness.

Americans work so much because they have to ... lol that GDP ain't really doing much to help offset the cost of living

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2026/01/25/paychecks-not-keeping-up-with-cost-of-living/88306961007/

[tooblue]

[QUOTE=Jeff Lebowski;n2368997]

Probably a bowl of gruel.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Ha! That guy's response reads like a Babylon Bee article. The requirement isn't to submit a doctor note on day one. You basically get three days before you have to submit a note. That's fairly practical and is pretty standard practice at large companies that I've worked at...although since most companies I've worked for only give PTO and not sick leave, most people just work at home when they are sick.

I work extensively with employees in Europe, many of which report into me or into my department. It's a big issue for competitiveness to have them take extensive leave. One country allows for people to get a month off for stress leave just by requesting it. They can get another month off by providing a doctor's note saying they are stressed. We generally have 5% of the workforce on leave for this or some other reason that isn't exactly typical for the USA or the UK. It's great for the workers but not for the company and is a huge holdback for further investment in Europe. I could give a lot more details but will just say that the Europe is basically living on borrowed time when it comes to investment and innovation. There are pockets of Europe that still makes sense for business (Ireland, Switzerland, etc.) but many countries are horrible (France, Germany, Denmark, etc.).

Yeah, I agree it is probably necessary. The stereotypes are that americans work too hard and europeans enjoy a more relaxed work-life balance. But the flip side of that is we are kicking their butts on productivity, innovation, etc. As the German chancellor correctly noted, super lax time-off policies are contributing to their lagging competitiveness.

[wally]

Probably a bowl of gruel.

Meanwhile, the europoors in germany have to get a real doctor note to take a sick day.

Seems completely unworkable.

LOL! this is so funny. One time on a job where there was some equipment sourced from Germany, we had to emergency order and ship a component. It was soooo painful to go back and forth with them, all while trying to convey the urgency on our end while met on theirs with almost complete ambivalence. They knew exactly how to do everything, how to get the airbill ready for shipping and all of those details, so I know they had emergency-shipped materials before; it was just that they didn't really care at all. After that experience, we just decided that we would treat another component replacement as "aftermarket" and work with local fab shops to build the part because we didn't care now if we voided the warranty, lol!

[frank ryan]

Ha! That guy's response reads like a Babylon Bee article. The requirement isn't to submit a doctor note on day one. You basically get three days before you have to submit a note. That's fairly practical and is pretty standard practice at large companies that I've worked at...although since most companies I've worked for only give PTO and not sick leave, most people just work at home when they are sick.

I work extensively with employees in Europe, many of which report into me or into my department. It's a big issue for competitiveness to have them take extensive leave. One country allows for people to get a month off for stress leave just by requesting it. They can get another month off by providing a doctor's note saying they are stressed. We generally have 5% of the workforce on leave for this or some other reason that isn't exactly typical for the USA or the UK. It's great for the workers but not for the company and is a huge holdback for further investment in Europe. I could give a lot more details but will just say that the Europe is basically living on borrowed time when it comes to investment and innovation. There are pockets of Europe that still makes sense for business (Ireland, Switzerland, etc.) but many countries are horrible (France, Germany, Denmark, etc.).

Don't get me wrong, I'd love it but Europe has those ridiculous vacation times. I imagine that factors into doing business with them.

Have you dealt with staff in Ireland?

[Moliere]

Ha! That guy's response reads like a Babylon Bee article. The requirement isn't to submit a doctor note on day one. You basically get three days before you have to submit a note. That's fairly practical and is pretty standard practice at large companies that I've worked at...although since most companies I've worked for only give PTO and not sick leave, most people just work at home when they are sick.

I work extensively with employees in Europe, many of which report into me or into my department. It's a big issue for competitiveness to have them take extensive leave. One country allows for people to get a month off for stress leave just by requesting it. They can get another month off by providing a doctor's note saying they are stressed. We generally have 5% of the workforce on leave for this or some other reason that isn't exactly typical for the USA or the UK. It's great for the workers but not for the company and is a huge holdback for further investment in Europe. I could give a lot more details but will just say that the Europe is basically living on borrowed time when it comes to investment and innovation. There are pockets of Europe that still makes sense for business (Ireland, Switzerland, etc.) but many countries are horrible (France, Germany, Denmark, etc.).

[Jeff Lebowski]

is that your dinner? #canadapoor

Probably a bowl of gruel.

Meanwhile, the europoors in germany have to get a real doctor note to take a sick day.

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Seems completely unworkable.

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[tooblue]

is that your dinner? #canadapoor

Mmmmm frog legs and turtle soup!

[Green Monstah]

And frogs croak, and turtles turtle?

frogs.jpg

paintedturtle.jpg

#canadapoor

is that your dinner? #canadapoor

[tooblue]

I'm so poor, Omaha is wealthy like Andrew Carnegie and Lebowski is wealthy like John Hunstman!

[Jeff Lebowski]

Shot loons flutter.

[tooblue]

Shot loons flutter.

And frogs croak, and turtles turtle?

frogs.jpg

paintedturtle.jpg

#canadapoor

[tooblue]

Do you not have enough money to buy a house? All these pictures are from outside and it makes you look homeless.

Winter can feel like it is 9 months of the year. The heat dome finally arrived this week. We are glamping and when the weather is nice, hot and humid, you stay outside in the water and play and then catch turtles and frogs. It is glorious.

#canadapoor

But here you go—the aftermath of our Canada Day. We only had fifteen people up from the city (usually 20 -30). Today we will just lounge around and bake in the sun and cool off in the lake periodically:

exterior.jpg

interior.jpg