Jeb Bush wants Americans to work even more than they are now. That doesn’t sit well with his chief rival, Hillary Clinton – or most Americans.
In an extensive interview with the Manchester, New Hampshire newspaper Union-Leader, Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush said he believes Americans “need to work longer hours.”
That isn’t sitting well with a great many Americans, since, unlike most other industrialized countries, Americans already work far more, that far less vacation, and even when we take time off we’re still working via laptops and smart phones.
Governor Bush, by the way, left office as Florida’s governor in January of 2007, and has spent much of that time raking in $29 million in speaking fees and payments to sit on the boards of mostly health industry corporations. That’s a little over $4 million per year, on average. By comparison, the average American makes about $27,519 per year.Â
Talking Points Memo notes that “numerous public opinion surveys and economic studies have shown that US workers log more hours than workers in any other industrial economy. The majority of Americans already work more than 40 hours a week. In fact, a 2014 Gallup poll found that 40% currently work more than 50 hours a week. The average American worked 11 hours per week more in 2006 than they or the equivalent worker did in 1979.”
Bush’s comments, widely panned, were picked up and attacked by Hillary Clinton via Twitter, starting something of a back-and-forth battle between the two top presidential candidates:
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Image by Michael Vadon via Flickr and a CC license