Time to Invest in Netflix Stock
Matt Richtel in The New York Times reports:
Even as layoffs are reaching historic levels, some employers have found an alternative to slashing their work force. They’re nipping and tucking it instead.
A growing number of employers, hoping to avoid or limit layoffs, are introducing four-day workweeks, unpaid vacations and voluntary or enforced furloughs, along with wage freezes, pension cuts and flexible work schedules. These employers are still cutting labor costs, but hanging onto the labor.
People in these circumstances will still have most of their income, and also a lot of additional free time. A potential economic boon for firms offering inexpensive entertainments. Similarly, I suppose we’ll see people shifting from things that save time but cost money (prepared meals) to things that take time but save money (cooking at home).
This is also a reminder that American workers pull longer hours than do workers in most other rich countries (a lot of middle-income countries’ workforces work longer than ours) as seen in this chart of aggregate annual hours worked:
The recession, obviously, is not a good thing. But I think it might be a good thing if when we pull out of it, we switch to a different equilibrium in which people work somewhat less and earn somewhat less. There’s a lot of evidence to suggest it would make people happier, and some good reason to think it would be better for the environment.
30 Responses to “Time to Invest in Netflix Stock”
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December 22nd, 2008 at 8:46 am
But that’s not one of the precepts of the Three-Fold Paths supported by the Third Way and its First Lady Wizard.
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:46 am
How would it be better for the environment? People would use less fuel commuting, or offices would turn off lighting and computers earlier?
That being said, I’m all for a shorter work week and the same pay.
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:47 am
A soothing blog post, in keeping with Palmieri’s soporific style. Nice one.
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:47 am
Yet another horrible graph from Lord Yglesias. Learn how to graph axis titles. Also learn how to create a caption where you explain WTF your axis titles mean.
Does aggregate annual hours work reflect the unemployed, or those underemployed? Does it reflect the retired and young? Or is it just aggregated over the workforce? Also remember to cite, cite, cite. You obviously didn’t conduct surveys in each country so please cite the author or organization where you got the #’s from - otherwise its plagiarism.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:04 am
So is Netflix represented by the Podesta group? You gotta ask these questions now..
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:08 am
Is investing in NetFlix advice that Jennifer Palmieri and the Center for American Progress Action Fund officially support? Are you trying to manipulate the stock price? If we had an SEC they might investigate.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:09 am
Learn how to graph axis titles. Also learn how to create a caption where you explain WTF your axis titles mean.
Alternatively, Sliciver Twist, learn to fucking read, rather than just looking at the pictures and whining. Or, if not, spend your time here, you silly child.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:13 am
Yeah, I’ll second JimboSlice on citations and labelling the graph. It’d be nice to have some titles on that graph. What’s 1800? 40 hrs/week at 50 weeks/year comes out to 2000, so I’m assuming 200 hours, or 25 workdays, are official holidays? I’m presuming this is the cultural understanding of a full-time job’s weekly hour requirements.
I have to say I’m pretty shocked Japan’s lower than the US and Italy, based on my anecdotal experience. Does overtime and unpaid work factor into this? Korea should be on here too. From what I hear, they have (had?) the longest hours worked of any country.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:13 am
Yeah, Matt, seriously, I just woke up, fixed my oatmeal, and logged in, wondering, “Gee, I wonder what Matt’s said about Jennifer Palmieri’s interference on his blog.”
Ruh-roh, he hasn’t said anything. Time for damage control, Matt. Either it’s your blog or it isn’t.
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:17 am
Matt seems to be laboring under the delusion that the European system of extended paid vacations and other benefits is the same as working stiffs accepting a pay cut of up to 20% (assuming one of five days off, unpaid). Is that really sound economics, when fiscal stimulus is supposed to get spending going? Is that anything remotely like equity, in an economy where the gap between rich and poor was already soaring and in which people are struggling to make ends meet? Has it anything at all to do with liberal or progressive politics? What is this, the trust-fund baby speaks?
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:44 am
We here at Think Progress appreciate the blogging that Matt does. We also have a very good relationship with workaholics and have partnered with them on many occasions. We wish to make it clear that comments made by Matt do not reflect the opinion of the Think Progress management, or that of our affiliate partners.
Thank You
- The Management
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:49 am
Italians work harder than us? Good Christ almight.
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:30 am
So can we infer that Third Way has invested in Netflix stock?
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:32 am
Seriously, the Italians? Doesn’t pass the laugh test. If someone came up to me and said, “The Japanese work hard, the Americans work harder. But you know who works the hardest–the ITALIANS!” I would honestly not only laugh in their face, but retell the story later over drinks. Can we get some factual backup on this rather, uh, counterintuitive claim?
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:09 pm
I suspect Lord Ygelsias got his data from here:
http://stats.oecd.org/WBOS/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=ANHRS
In their explanation of the statisticial population the OECD says:
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:18 pm
I worked at a place that cut our hours by one day a week - trust me cutting your pay by 20% is not fun. FActor in that your employer at that point doesn’t have to give you benefits anymore because you aren’t technically full time. Yay - poor and without healthcare.
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Do we really think that the salaried people having their hours cut will actually end up working less? They’re already working more hours than they’re paid for. They will just get paid less.
December 22nd, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Matt I disagree.
Research and history prove that raising wages stimulates the economy.
If people do not have money they cannot pay their bills, mortgages, loans, etc. muchless spend it on goods and services. So what good does it do when businesses cut their work force, pay lower wages, take away paid vacations and pensions? While yielding a larger profit enables companies to reinvest, but with fewer paying customers profit margin gains are less likely and ultimately won’t matter one whit.
Apparently we are caught in an endless loop.
Iam not an economist nor do I know the answer, but cutting wages and benefits would be counterproductive IMHO.
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:40 pm
As someone who has had direct experience with layoffs, I can tell you for sure that being slightly underemployed is WAY better than being unemployed.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:03 pm
For some people, being slightly underemployed - say, 35 or even 30 hours a week instead of forty - could be an overall economic net gain. Suddenly you’ve got more time to cook instead of buying prepared food, to exercise (which statistically does decrease healthcare costs), to hobby (both for mental health and profit, to bargain hunt, etc.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Something worth noting is that the movie industry boomed during the Great Depression as people sought out cheap entertainment options.
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:50 pm
You’ve left out one really important implication of these sort of labor trimming devices.
Employees who get their hours cut become part-time employees, and lose benefits for the future, such as paid vacations and pensions (beyond what’s already cut by the employer straight out)and, most important, health insurance.
This strategy has, in the long term, the effect of increasing the number of people in this country who don’t have health insurance.
December 23rd, 2008 at 1:20 am
How does it necessarily make you happier? Check out the “hedonic treadmill,” which has shown that things thought to make you happy, like winning the lottery or maybe working less, may work in the short term but in the end, we all will revert to our baseline of pre-ordained (by our genes) happiness. This even works for parents who have lost children or other tragedies.
It’s a nice thought that working less will result in happier Americans, but it doesn’t hold up to current science.
December 23rd, 2008 at 10:21 am
According to http://www.marketresearchworld.net “The work life balance of the Dutch, Swiss, Swedes, Belgians and Italians is more or less 50-50.”
As an American of Italian descent, I will say this to those who have posted earlier…my father always put family first and work second. We knew that as an undeniable fact as children, as teens and now as adults with out own families. He would tell us that he chose the life of a “sideman” playing locally in order to have a family. He could very well have toured throughout the U.S. and Europe, but he purposefully chose not to, so he could be an active participant in our lives. My mother insisted that we have an unrushed dinner as an entire family at 6 pm, we read or sang with him accompanying us out of “fake books” and learned hundreds of songs I will never forget; we did things together on the weekend (maintaining our vegetable and flower gardens or biking), and we planned an annual vacation together with a map laid out on the kitchen table. Once a month, my father would take my mother out dancing and for a nice dinner; he’d order Chinese food for us and “sample it” with us to make certain it was “safe.” We felt like we had a royal taste tester and that too demonstrated love.
It’s a doggone shame we have to have an economic crisis to cut back on work to enjoy family, friends, church, neighbors, volunteering, and so forth. I’d personally like to see dancing to a live band make a BIG come-back rather than Netflix and couch potato-itis to a generation grossly overweight.
Sometimes it takes this “wake up call” however to get us back on track. For “type A’s…. this is your wake up call!
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