IT'S CALLED WORK FOR A REASON:

Globalization closes in on Swedes' treasured vacation (Ivar Ekman, August 20, 2007, International Herald Tribune)

Swedish workers topped the European vacation rankings, entitled to an average of 33 paid vacations days in 2006 - close to 7 weeks, not counting public holidays.

Europe has long been the world leader in officially sanctioned time off, so Sweden's top ranking in the Continent likely means it has the most generous vacation entitlements in the world.

But the question is how long this laid-back state of affairs can last. Change is on the horizon, driven, it seems, by the invisible hand of globalization.

"The Swedish vacation is being adapted to the international situation," said Orvar Lofgren, a professor of anthropology at Lund University and author of the book "On Holiday: A History of Vacationing."

What could be more typical of the American Left than their current obsession with wanting more vacation time at the very moment when even the most formerly-socialist countries of Europe are ditching the idea as unworkable?

Posted by Orrin Judd at August 21, 2007 10:50 AM