CNN: Americans ‘Work More Than Medieval Peasants’

June 11th, 2007 7:10 PM

In the You-Can’t-Make-This-Up Department, ‘In the Money’ show reporter Polly Labarre complained employees don’t get enough time off. We’ve got it so darn bad, according to the folks at CNN, “we work more than medieval peasants used to work.”

Ordinarily, I’d debunk that June 9 report, pointing out that peasants had to work dawn to dusk eking out a living little better than slaves. But it’s so ridiculous, why bother?

Like so much in the media, this little nugget comes from another goofy group that the media miraculously fail to ignore. It’s called the “Take Back Your Time” movement. The group has a long list of demands of more time off for Americans and Canadians.

The group’s site complains that “On average, we work nearly nine full weeks (350 hours) LONGER per year than our peers in Western Europe do.”

Good. Great even. No wonder America kicks butt instead of groveling like a bunch of medieval peasants.

And if that image doesn’t invoke enough Monty Python for you, then this might. The June 11 CNN “American Morning” crowd was amused by Burger King plans to include Spam in breakfast meals in Hawaii. Anchor John Roberts even burst into song, singing: “Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam.”