>>You offered this in context of a Harvard fund-raising effort. Since I'm not certain what this had to do with the discussion of mandatory time-off, I decided to toss out a quick rejoinder.

I raised Harvard because of recent assertions that the US has dropped the ball on the innovations that underpinned its dominance in the information age. Numerous commentators say that science is headed for the doldrums in the US, though it still does very well in the patent department. The Harvards and Stanfords may succeed at keeping the US up front but unless it translates to jobs and social benefits, how is that of use to Joe Average American?

>>There's more to "passing us by" than simply mandating more and declaring it better. To focus on Germany and Switzerland would be to improperly assess the effects of mandatory time-off on employment.

Tamar was responding to assertions that US labor rules are advantageous. I understood that you sought to rebut by connecting generous conditions to unemployment rates - but in that case it's improper only to review the basket cases rather than Germany and Switzerland.

As an exercise, consider that Joe Average American might aspire to a standard of living equivalent to a similar employee in Switzerland. What are the differences? What is comparable? Whether Greece is a basket case has little bearing on this.