European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 20, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse Monday january 20, 1992 the stars and stripes a Page 13 commentary Andrew j. Glass our presidential outs still have role to play despite his hold the brie pass the pork rinds pitch to the voters it looks As if the president s political Stock is in free fall a the same status he ascribes to the Economy. As a result you can get fair Odds in Washington that come next year. George Bush could be signing a Book contract for his memoirs. Indeed it s possible that in 1993 Well have As Many As five living former . Presidents a each with enough Money staff aides guards and Library space to make for a cozy life. And what the taxpayers wont buy a corporate Board or perhaps the japanese will. Yet what most of our former leaders truly crave is a Chance to continue playing an Active role in policy debates. Richard Nixon the first in line of the formers writes Book after Book All aimed at winning Back some part of his lost Honor. Gerald r. Ford drops by Washington annually to speech Ify while handing out the $5,000 prizes awarded by his eponymous foundation to encourage better reporting on the presidency and National defense. Even Ronald Reagan has had a Book out. To say nothing of earning a $2 million speaking fee in Tokyo. Georgia s Jimmy Carter As a catalyst for peace and Equality has done the most to deserve his Post White House approval ratings. But As a Man of principle he must regret having trekked far and wide aboard the Plush Boeing 727 Jet once owned by the Bank of credit and Commerce International which has since become infamous. Still for All our faults americans seem to do better in providing for their former leaders than do the British who Are familiar with this sphere and the russians who must begin from scratch. England s Margaret Thatcher the for Mer prime minister spends lots of time passing the plate among Rich foreigners. She wants to raise a Kitty for a think tank in London to beam a firm Thatcher it Eye on the world. Oyer in Moscow it s said that Mikhail s. Gorbachev the communist without a country is tank thinking along the same lines. He even had the world s prime Quot former person Quot Henry a. Kissin Ger. Roll into town to give his new tank its first dram of Gas. We be come a Long Way since the 0s0s when Hatty Truman during a visit to new Haven once said he could t teach at Yale because he lacked a College diploma. As a self made Man i Ruman could dip easily into the vast lore of ins Lory. This kept him from making some mistakes that have since snared his successors. A Harvard study has yet to yield a smooth transition Between administrations. In fact such changes neatly always Are handled poorly. In too Many cases too much political blood is spilled too Many jealousies aroused to let the new and the old crowd work Well in tandem. Maybe presidents further Back in the Chain could do a better Job for the outs in helping the ins avoid making the same errors. Or we could give each sex president a non voting seat in the Senate. The Senate has 100 desks. It could easily absorb a few More. This would not Only offer them a suitable forum for speeches but also keep them in closer touch with the younger people who follow in their Wake. John Quincy Adams the nation s sixth president lived his last 17 years As a respected member of the House. Since then the How has run Only from the Capitol to the White House. But Pennsylvania Avenue remains a two Way Street. C Cox nows Soryu o Alice Steinbach americans in need of a 40-hour workweek maybe you saw it too on a recent television news show a japanese business executive explaining to an american newsman that increasingly in Japan americans Are perceived As falling behind economically because of a laziness Quot and a decline of the work ethic. Actually it is a popular theory Here in America As Well a the Assumption that american workers have become Quot Lazy Quot and Are no longer willing to put in the hard work and Long hours necessary for economic Success. A popular Assumption but As it turns out a wrong one. The truth is that millions of working americans a those Lucky enough to have a Job in these recessionary times a Are spending More hours at their jobs than Ever before. In tact Over the last 20 years the amount of time spent on the Job has risen by an average of nine hours per year. Which Means that we now work about a month More than we did in 1972 yes just when you thought it might be True that american workers have become soft and self indulgent along comes Harvard economist Juliet Schor with evidence to the contrary. In her new Book the overworked american i he unexpected decline of Leisure schors research shows that while americans work Tower hours than the japanese koreans and taiwanese we nonetheless work Many More hours than almost anyone else in the world. And the trend toward More work hours says Schor is not confined to selective groups but alte cts the vast majority of working americans. Quot hours have risen for men As Well As women Lor those in the working class As Well As professionals Quot she writes. So what Are americans doing with All the extra Money earned from the extra work Surprise. There Isnit any. In fact Schor calculates that a just to reach their 1970 Standard of living americans must work 245 More hours or six plus extra weeks a and about 24 percent of the 88 million americans with full time jobs Are now approaching the 50-hour workweek. With schedules like that it seems fair to say you can forget about the concept of spending Quot Quality time with the family. After factoring in housework and child care says Schor the average american is left with Only i6i/2 hours of Leisure time per week. That is about two hours a Day. And More than Likely those two hours tall at the end of a very very Long Day. Is it any wonder then that everyone seems tired and while we Are not yet faced with the american equivalent of the japanese phenomenon called Kayoshi a literally a death by overwork a there is no doubt that the frenetic work Pace is having a negative effect on family life in America. A recent newspaper article headlined Quot sign of the 90s overworked parents pointed out some of the problems facing parents a in both single Parent and two Parent families a who work. The parents feel exhausted and guilty. The children said one Mother were Quot needy Quot and Quot Clingy and a did no to have the resilience i thought they should said one child researcher Quot what kids want lion their parents is More time and what they really is their parents not to come Home from work so Reading that i remembered the Days when my own children were Young. I remembered How often they got the Short end of the stick when i came Home from work tired and preoccupied. And 1 thought about the chaos that could occur around such Normal events As a snowstorm that closed school or a baby Sitter who did t show up. Now looking Back i see i said Quot hurry up a too Many times a and a Tell me what a happening to you too few times. But it was not Only my children who lost something because of my frenetic Pace. I was a loser too. Of course one of the big ironies accompanying the phenomenon of the Quot overworked american is the View that All this extra work a which leaves us so Little time for family and self is not benefiting our Economy. Quot working longer and harder is not the same As working smarter Quot is the Way Jerome m. Rossow presi Dent of the work in America Institute put it in a news paper article on the growing workweek. There is another irony Tot in America through some combination of economic societal and personal circumstances we now seem either to work too hard or not work at All. What we need of course is a work life that Falls somewhere Between no work at All and Aaros a. What we need at the very least is to bring Back the 40-hour workweek. Ii i Ulf b.ilo�?T,r i a
