… the Occupy Wall Street crowd comes to mind when one reads his latest TIME column:

Here are things I’m too lazy to do: fax, send mail, read questions on medical forms before answering them, talk on the phone, wash lettuce, punish my kid, wear a tie, click on a link, open an orange-juice carton using the built-in flap, press Save, go back to the car to get my reusable shopping bags after I forget them, make my own hot beverage, finish a book, wear glasses, call that guy to fix that thing, get clothes dry-cleaned, shop in a store, use the bathroom hand dryer instead of paper towels, read your entire e-mail.

And America is following my lead. A bunch of studies that I didn’t read show that Americans’ work ethic is plummeting. In 1955 about 80% of Americans said they’d keep working if they won the lottery; in 2006 that number was down to 70.3%. I’m so lazy, I can’t believe anyone made the effort to ask that question. Of course I would quit, and I have the easiest job in the world now that Andy Rooney has retired. How evil do you have to be to win the lottery and then go to work and pretend you’re worried about meeting a deadline? “Can I get an extra hour on this, Mike, if I, say, buy the company?”

It’s not the recession that’s getting us down–just hard work.