American Business practices, I

One way a business can be sure to make a bigger profit, at least for awhile, is to fire a lot of their workers and tell the rest to work harder. That's partly why we have had good economic news for the last few months with little impact on the unemployment figures. The result, as report in the Economist via The Week:

Since the recession began, the average "job footprint" - a measure of what a worker is expected to produce - had increased by a third, says the Corporate Leadership Council, while pay has stagnated. A separate survey found that 63 percent of workers feel their bosses do not appreciate their extra effort.

No, they don't. And that contributes to the anger, frustration, and lack of faith in institutions that seem to be defining the zeitgeist right about now.