BS. I have seen far fewer Americans in a position where they can take the Friday afternoons off like a lot of Europeans can. Or extended paternity leaves. Or sabbaticals.

I have yet to see a software company in the US with the amount of time off as European companies despite the fact that most of the people I know in the US would trade salary for time off.

It's simply a race to the bottom; with no incentive for employers to reduce the number of working hours (because there are no laws for it, because white collar employees are exempt from overtime, because Americans stupidly believe that they can't achieve work improvements through collective bargaining), it is obvious that they will attempt to squeeze as much work out of employees up to, but not beyond, the point of futility.

America needs sane ("first world") labor regulations (mandatory vacation/sick time, longer maternity/paternity leave, etc).

I have come to believe, for better or worse, that you cannot be the leading economical force with those things in place. I think it is needed for that.

The most productive places in the US also have relatively strong labor laws and labor unions. I'm not implying a causal relationship, just saying that it can't be that bad.

> In America you can choose your job based on how you want to live.

So the millions of poor people having to work two or three shitty jobs just to make ends meet chose to do so and want to live like that? Bullshit. Go watch some documentaries about the subject.

The number of people who can choose their job based on how they want to live is dwindling rapidly.