Editors at National Review Online target the latest bad idea from socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Senator Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) wants everyone to get paid the same for doing less work. Many entrepreneurs throughout human history have wanted this same goal. In fact, they set their sights higher, wanting everyone to get paid more for doing less work. So they invented various labor-saving devices that allow humans to get more done in less time. …
… In many cases, you can do all this work that your ancestors wouldn’t even recognize as such while listening to music from any period of human history. You can do it in the comfort of air-conditioning, which follows you even while moving from place to place because you own a car that allows you to travel over long distances whenever you want. …
… So what is Sanders’s plan to contribute to the great human endeavor of becoming wealthier while working less? Does he have an idea for the next automobile, a better management strategy, or the power loom for the 22nd century?
No, Sanders wants to write words on a page and have a couple hundred people vote for it. He has introduced a bill to mandate a 32-hour work week “with no loss in pay.” It would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to reduce the definition of full-time work from 40 hours per week to 32 hours. Pay wouldn’t go down because the bill says employers “may not reduce the total workweek compensation rate.”
That’s Sanders’s idea of progress. Pass a law that says everyone gets paid the same for doing less work, and then it happens. Done. Easy. The only reason it doesn’t happen is the greedy corporations. …
… Never mind that, according to a study published in 2018 in the Harvard Business Review, the super-wealthy CEOs working for major companies work 62.5 hours per week on average and work on 79 percent of weekend days and 70 percent of vacation days. If it’s really true that all we need to do to work less is pass a law, why is Sanders stopping at 32 hours?
If we only worked 30 hours a week for the same pay, we’d have even more time for birthday parties and little-league games.