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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KyrosL who wrote (151803)	11/17/2004 1:56:08 PM
From: KyrosL	Respond to of 281500

Here is the table of hours worked and productivity for the US and selected European countries that can be found in the following Wall Stree Journal article: Weekly Working Hours Annual Working Hours Productivity Quality of Life Country Hours by Regulation Weekly Hours Annual hours change 1991-2003 GDP/Hour as % of US GDP/Person as % of U.S. Annual Paid Leave Unemployment Rates FRANCE 35 37.7 1431 -10.6% 103 88 25 9.4% GERMANY Legal max. 48 39.9 1446 -6.2% 101 80 20 9.6% U.K. Legal max. 48 43.3 1673 -5.4% 79 74 20 5% U.S. No legal max. 42.9 1792 -1.3% 100 100 0 6% online.wsj.com

To: KyrosL who wrote (151803)	11/17/2004 4:58:18 PM
From: Michael Watkins	Respond to of 281500

The US eeks out more GDP per capita than other advanced European economies, but requires a disproportionate (double) amount of energy per capita to do so. Just imagine where the comparisons would stand if the US suddenly had to budget the same amount of energy per capita as say France or Germany. To put this simply and bluntly for other folks, where would the US economy be, relative to the rest of the world, if tomorrow the US had to make do with only 1/2 of the energy (oil, etc) it consumes today? I bet everyone can picture depression-like scenarios. Perhaps we may all live to see such a day. (Edit: Nuking some country in the middle east would seem, to me, to be a sure way of ensuring that day happens)