The 120% Solution
Reprinted with permission from Jason's email list
Many intelligent people I've been speaking with believe that the economic crisis facing our country today is our biggest challenge since America's inception. Intelligent folks can argue the relative risks we faced when confronted with the Civil War, Great Depression, Vietnam, two World Wars and the New Millennium Economic Crisis (what I'm calling what we're going through today), but there is no debating that the current situation is dire.
Extremely dire.
Huge companies are closing or imploding and layoffs are skyrocketing; debt levels and savings are hitting new highs and lows, respectively. It's so bad that even the most intelligent economic minds in the world can't explain what is happening, and almost everything our government does seems ineffective. We're deep into uncharted waters and we don't have a navigator.
Oh yeah, it's going to get worse.
I've been thinking a lot of what got us into this mess and how we might be able to get out of it. What follows are my extremely basic thoughts on what has caused the problem and what the solution might be. These ideas are simple, but problems and solutions typically are. Truth be told, knowing what went wrong and how to fix it is the easy part -- it's implementing the solution that's hard.
There is no silver bullet and my hope here is not to convince you I have one. Instead, my hope is that this missive starts a discussion amongst considered people about how we move our country forward.
The 20% Problem
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When I first learned of Google's 20% time, hours reserved for engineers to pursue technology projects they find personally rewarding, I thought to myself: "Gosh, that's brilliantly self-indulgent." Google's 20% time has served as a way for the company to recruit and inspire some of the greatest minds in our industry.
It has served them well. Who wouldn't want to work for a company that essentially says "do what ever you want every Friday!" However, using 20% of your resources to pursue random projects is highly inefficient. While it it might work well for a company like Google, with absurd margins and free cash flow, it's a fairly crazy strategy for any normal company -- or country -- to employ.*
Well, our entire country has been taking 20% time for at least the past five years. It's time for us, just as The Mighty Google did recently according to the Wall Street Journal, to reconsider.
We've overspent, taken expensive vacations, built absurd homes (in both scale and quantity), run our savings into the ground and skyrocketed our debt to record levels. Our addiction to consumption and our sense of entitlement have killed us. Sure, many of us have lived conservatively, working hard without debt. But, on average, we've:
- Spent well over 20% more than we should have on the price of homes.
- Built homes that are well over 20% larger than they need to be.
- Purchased 20% more consumer electronics than we needed. (In my case, 300%).
- Extended home ownership rates 20% beyond where they should be (to the mid-to-high risk credit folks).
- Gotten 20% fatter than we should be.
The orgy of overspending is over and it's time to move on.
Who's to blame for all this?
Was it the greedy Wall Street Bankers who engineered this huge mess? Yes.
Was it the mid-level mortgage broker pushing high-risk mortgages on clients who should have never had a mortgage to begin with? Yes.
Was it the over-reaching consumer who got in over her head and didn't research and question the mortgage she was signing? Yes.
Was it the government that didn't regulate all the bad actors in this tragedy? Yes.
There's plenty of blame to go around, but we've got to get past the blame stage and into the solution phase. (Holding the folks responsible who behaved criminally, of course. I predict there will be
many white-collar perp walks on CNBC next year, just as there were in 2002.)
* Note: I'm not saying Google's is to blame for any of this, or that 20% time was a bad idea for them. Their 20% time is simply what lead me to thinking about what's wrong with our country. I think Google's a brilliant company, filled with brilliant people who have done brilliant things. That being said, they do need to get more focused -- and they clearly are.
The 120% Solution
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If we're going to have any chance of bringing America back to greatness, we're all going to have to work 20% more than we have been.
I'm suggesting that, until America takes care of its debt, untangles the housing mess and gets unemployment under control, we all commit to working six days a week. Yep, move the standard 35-40 hour work week right up to 48 hours.
For me and my team, this is a non-issue, since we only hire folks who are looking to absolutely kill it, love what they do and don't consider it a job. Of course, positions at a startup company, where stock options make for a great reward if we hit a home run, have certain advantages over normal day jobs. In the technology industry, a 48 hour work week would be, for most, a vacation.
It was our collective sloth, consumption and sense of entitlement that got us into this mess, and the only thing that will get us out of will be lots of hard work.
If you've got a good job, you should bust your butt to make your company as successful and profitable as possible. That way, salaries can increase, jobs can be created and your products and services become so world class, the phrase "Made in America" will come to mean something other than "not worth buying."
If you're working at a government job, you should be putting in extra hours to reduce government spending. Come in this weekend and make the government more efficient. (Yes, I just told a government worker to come in on Saturday.)
If you've got credit card debt, pay it down if you can.
If you've got a mortgage, pay it off if you can.
If you work in the service industry, try to work 20% faster and come up with ideas to make your team more efficient. (Side note: I was in Japan recently and was amazed at the personal productivity of each
individual when compared to the U.S. workers.)
If you're a rich person looking to take a couple of years off, don't. Instead, start a company that creates an amazingly innovative product that the world -- not just the United States -- needs. Set the goal of
trying to employ 100 Americans.
Seriously, the affluent folks in this country should start businesses now. Drag your ass out of bed and try to make this country great again. It's this country that made you affluent. Yeah, you're rich and you don't need to work, we know. Who cares? Your country needs you right now! Sell your second or third home and start a company!
If you're affluent and you can't start a company then angel invest in a bunch of smart, hard working folks at the very least.
If you're a college student thinking of getting trashed this weekend, or taking a year off, don't. Instead, take an extra class or two, do an internship at a company or get a graduate degree in engineering.
If you're in high school, go work at your parents office or start an online business. (You would be surprised at how many high school students email me every week to share with me their online businesses that make $2-3k a month.)
If you're a lazy and bitter worker who has been screwed by the system, swallow your pride and stop trying to stick it to everyone. Double down and take pride in your work effort, even if your boss is a
complete jerk.
If you're the complete jerk of a boss, check yourself and realize that the folks working for you need the job, and that if everyone doesn't get their act together, we're all going to be out of work. (This is directed specifically at the dysfunctional automakers and airlines, which seem to spend more effort fighting their customers and each other than they do taking on their global competitors!)
Everyone must step up, and we've got to do it now. I've been traveling around the world the past two years, and I can tell you that the work ethic, attitude and productivity of American workers -- white and blue collar -- is half of what I've seen in countries like Japan, China, and Korea.
We're not going to get our asses kicked. We're in the process of getting our asses kicked!
Good debt vs. Bad debt
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One quick point of clarification around debt: While I am advocating everyone pay down-and, in fact, stop-the debt associated with unnecessary consumption, I'm very much in favor of investment in new companies, ideas and eduction. If we're going to take on any more debt, it should into things that pay back at least two dollars for every one dollar invested.
Investment in new technology, technical training, new companies, energy independence, mass transit, high-speed trains, cheap broadband and education are critical in getting us out of this mess.
I'm not against debt; I'm against debt that is wasted. Let's invest in our future.
In summary
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What made America great was our ability to innovate and create world-class products, ideas and services that people around the globe fell in love with and wanted for themselves.
From health care to human rights, from democracy to dishwashers, from windshield wipers to the World Wide Web, from search engines to soda pop, we've accomplished so much by dreaming and rolling up our sleeves.
We need to put down the remote, cut our credit cards in half and start new companies with new ideas. Our entrepreneurial spirit and hard work will get us out of this mess. All we need to do is release them.
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Most working class people work so they are not homeless. In jobs that provide them with no identity or real satisfaction. Your asking these people to show up for an extra day, like most of them are not already, for less money than they can make ends meet on. The problem is the country has been mismanaged from the top. This is an incredibly misguided article. Take the blinkers off.
Dude, I'm already working 6 days per week. Where've you been?
Here's some trickle down for you: The folks at the top need to set the example and do with less. Much less! The difference needs to be forked over to those below who're actually doing the work.
Get some resources into the hands of the masses. How hard is this? Duh! People with money are people out of debt, investing, and spending on goods and services.
Don't stress about this article. Typical right wing idiology. There is no question that mass consumerism and glutony is a problem here. But to immediately shift the solution (and therefore imply the blame) onto working people is just propaganda. Like the right wingers trying to blame the failure of GM on the unions. After all: ""we're all not putting in enough hours at work and our demand of health insurance and a pension is what is destroying this country""
True, true. Just getting into the day, and having a "solution" like this to start the morning... Grrr...
The right better get it together. Between tactics of fear and outrage, they're going to put the average working man in the grave from stress.
I wonder what the solution for that will look like?
This is soooo wrong! With rising unemployment we should be moving to a 32 hour work week and bringing all the people who've dropped out of the workforce back into the fold. And workaholics... ever try spending any time with your kids? It actually reduces rates of teen pregnancy and drug abuse, both costly drains on the economy. Oh, and maybe if people had lives outside their jobs - read a book now and again - they'd have a little perspective on life and could shed the materialistic addictions that lead to unethical and unsustainable business practices and over-consumption.
Yea, we shouldn't worry about the opinions of this right winger. It is like all the other typical right wing propaganda that we hear all the time. They think the workers are at fault for everything. "All the workers are just too lazy" is their answer to every problem. They complain about this of course while sitting in the mansion, drinking expensive wine that was served to them by their butler.
This is like the typical argument they have for the failure of GM. "" it is all the unions fault. they ask for too much money, they demand healthcare and pensions"" Their answer for everything is work more pay less. Never mind all the statistics and facts are messed up. Never mind that American industry has failed because of their greed in management.
Gosh, now I feel guilty.
Maybe I haven't been working hard enough to teach my very-reluctant High School English students
to get higher scores on multiple-choice achievement tests instead of wasting their time teaching how to recognize propaganda techniques, how to make sense of Media themes, political ideas,
social-issue arguments, persusasion, etc. You know, all that useless stuff.
Don't worry--I'll get back to those multiple choice activities again. Yep---
That's good 'ole No Child Left Behind.
Forget teaching real knowledge and skills.
Just make sure all the kids know what a "grapheme" is so they can get the term right on the Spring test and make the school look good so it won't be taken over by a FOR-PROFIT outfit and converted
into a Charter School.
Forget real knowledge.
Got to make those administrators and politicians smile.
THAT is NCLB's real goal.
So OK--I'll try to work 20% harder to achieve those admirable goals.
Work an extra day and help to move the unemployed and underemployed to the ranks of the homeless.
Not a good idea.
When France moved to 35 hour work week, right wingers said that the economy would tank. It didn't. All the statistics later showed it helped and didn't lower productivity at all.
You haven't been fired, laid off or had your hours cut? You are fortunate.
No, his BIO says he is a business owner. So, of course this is what he believes. ""Work 20% more for the same pay"". Why is that surprising?
Went to my local car dealer for a bad battery replacement yesterday and sat in the waiting room (for too long) watching the sales people on the floor playing cards and watching tv. They can show up and work all the hours they want, they aren't going to make any more money because consumers can't show up. I'm sorry, there is no "simple" solution to this at all.
Jeez! You work a standard 40 hour week? We should be so lucky! Why on earth didn't we move over to the US when we had the chance, I ask myself? A 40 HOUR WEEK? Oh how I wish my husband could work that - he is working 62 this week, and worked 54 last, will work 59 next week! Good money in TV but it''s not recession-proof - and no pension or sick leave!
Feel lucky! 40 hours? I once worked that - bliss.
Yes, exactly. I don't remember the last time I worked 40 hour weeks. It has been years and years. My last 5 jobs over the last 15 years have all been opportunities to work extra, or the job demanded it. Of course people work more when given opportunity or the situation demands it.
The only people I know that work less than 40 hours (anywhere) are all people with really crappy low level jobs that don't involve any real work or real pay and wealthy executives and business owners. I have a few in my family. They get to work about 10am, take a 2 hour lunch at 1130, to home to their mansion about 330 to beat traffic. Everyone else I know works their butts off.
Where are these mythical lazy people that should work an extra shift? I hope he isn't talking about burger flipping jobs, because that isn't going to fix our economy.
What he is saying is work 20% more with the same pay. His BIO says he is a business owner. So, why are we surprised he wants 20% more at the same price? This is always their answer for everything. They live by the mantra that human beings are lazy and should be whipped into shape.
What may be good for the country as a whole is not necessarily good for individuals acting in their own self-interest. My days of being a workaholic are long over.
While this sounds nice in theory, I think your ideas do not take into account those of us who are already working two jobs to make ends meet.
What about wages that have really remained stagnant for years because of health care costs?
I'm a college professor, tenured, with 10 years experience. My gross salary is $55,000, but my net has remained stagnant for years -- any raise is lost to the increasing cost of my health insurance.
Actually complex problems often need complex solutions. Too many of us are already giving over 120% for 80% wages, neglecting our communities, our families and our own lives to punch a timecard to survive. This problem is everyone's problem. I don't own a house, have any debt, or work less than 50 hours a week, but that doesn't protect me from the fallout of this crisis any more than someone who does. But just telling everyone to work harder is one of the most naïve things I have ever heard.
How about we work 20% less and spend that extra 20% devoted to community? Would our country improve if people spent a day a week working on a community garden, helping the local charities and reconnecting with our families? Would Americans still need to replace what's missing in their lives with empty consumption? Workers with healthy and happy lives are better workers. Running people into the ground isn't going to make us stronger and making employed people work 6 days a week isn't going to resolve unemployment.
Google's idea is actually great, if your best and brightest are grinding themselves into the ground just to rack up more hours when does innovation happen? Sitting at the top and blaming the proles below is not realistic and it lacks any compassion for already overburdened workers who deserve a complex solution that's a little better thought out than "work harder". What's next, cutting workers pay and corporate tax cuts to improve production?
This is exactly what I was going to post! Instead of working 20% more how much better would our time be if we volunteered and logged time for charities and improving our communities. And I doubly applaud your thoughts on the gardening.
My only additional comments in regards to the article is that:
1) The hardest belt-tightening will be for workers to realize that we may need to forego merit raises. Things cost more and we'd love to get higher pay but it seems quite unrealistic for the majority of companies to afford it.
2) This is a good time for families and friends to take a look at their living arrangements. My father grew up during WW2 and it was a no-brainer that he lived with his aunts and grandmother while the men were at war. If someone's friend or relative is facing tough times, invite them to live with you. We won't get through the crisis if we stand alone. This is a time to pool our resources...same as the way our country has rationed during wars.
and then there are those of us already working 7 days a week at 2 full time jobs just trying to keep our heads above water. No, I don't own an over-priced McMansion I'm trying to pay the mortgage on. No, I do not have credit card debt. No, I do not have a $40,000 auto I'm making payments on.
Rather, I am an average US citizen who has been down-sized so many times over the past few years it is absurd. My spouse is ill and I am the sole wage earner in the household.
How dare you presume that most of us can just work a bit harder. If this 50 year old works much harder, it will be right into her own grave.
Better yet, why don't you come spend a month or two in my shoes and see how your lofty ideas look then.
Is the author serious??? Where have you been hanging out these past several years?
Most professionals I know work 60 or more hours every week for a 40 hour check. Most hourly workers have to scrape and plead for minimal wage increases, while the price of everything they need to live soars depending on where the "hot investment" on Wall Street might be. Do you think I ASKED for oil to surge when the big investment houses felt it was the best place to put institutional "bets" earlier this year? Did I have anything to do with policy that placed a premium on misguided ethanol purchases while my food bills shot through the roof?
You may think you've stumbled onto a fascinating idea to save the world, but you're way late on an old idea. The extra efforts and "productivity" of the American worker have been the pillar of what little economic "progress" we've made over the past decade. Have you forgotten how forcefully we were prompted to spend and buy by a government that didn't want us to realize just yet how fictitious our economy had become? How much of our future we were mortgaging overseas and to greedy money managers at home in the name of free markets?
Good luck to you if you have an unexpected illness with most peoples' health care "benefits" today. You think we're all just sitting here refusing to pay down debt and build financial security for ourselves? Get real...
WRONG. Wake up. The problem is that the Federal Reserve has devalued our currency by 97% since 1913. The problem is that we were taken completely off the gold standard in 1971, and now, 37 years later, THE PIPER IS AT THE DOOR. Empires run on fiat currency have ALWAYS FAILED, and the U.S. will be no exception. STOP IGNORING THE BIG WHITE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM. The United States government over the last century decided, systematically, that it was not going to be bound by anything, that it was going to print all the money it wanted, whenever it wanted—and now we're going to be DESTROYED by that decision. Sorry. Working 20 percent more isn't going to do a damn thing.
Go back to the gold standard? Your in the wrong century sir. Modern economies could not feasibly operate on this premise. Do a little study of modern economic theory,and put away those childish beliefs you are holding on to.
Why couldn't they operate feasibly on this premise? Be specific. Which "modern economic theory" are you talking about?
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