The Work-Life Balance Lie

There is a conspiracy going on. They lied to us; they told us that everyone was trying to balance everything, and that these attempts at balance mean people want less pay for less work. But no one is working less. In fact, all the tools given us to create balance make us work more. A blackberry means that you are on call 24/7. And they expect you to be on call 365 days a year, even though we want a life, and are told to expect one. We are supposed to be happy sipping lattes working. As if a clear division between work and life isn't something to aspire to, isn't something to want. As if working can be fun. 

With inflation, todays generation makes less than our parents did at our age.  The touted reason is that young people today aren't as interested in making money. That isn't true; we just aren't paid as much.  We do just as much work, if not more. 

There is a second trend. Evidently, the average American family also sends a thousand dollars to the wealthiest 10% of the world each year. So while the bottom 90% of the world is getting poorer, the top 10% is getting richer. It stands to reason that something is wrong with this situation.  And it isn't the result of a greater desire for work life balance. 

So while companies continue to cut jobs because of demand, or because they can, and wages remain stagnant, and we keep sending thousands of dollars from the poor to the rich. And we will keep doing so until something changes about our great system of capitalization and at-will employment.