Jon Stewart hyperventalates wondering why Democrats can't get anything done despite having a larger majority than Republicans have had since 1923, despite losing Sen. Ted Kennedy's seat tonight.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Mass Backwards | ||||
| ||||
I would like to know how many countries have had presidents or other top leaders elected on a mandate of "change" post-Obama.
El Mercurio (en español): Piñera beats Frei and the center-right wins its first election in 52 years
L.A. Times (in English): Billionaire Pinera wins Chile runoff
I'm still traveling, but for most Americans this is the first week back from work following the Christmas-to-New Year's holiday. Accordingly, Slate reports on a new Conference Board survey showing that only 45% of Americans are satisfied with their jobs (h/t Micky).
From the survey, published in TIME:
When the Conference Board's first survey was conducted in 1987, most workers — 61% — said they were happy in their jobs. The survey of 5,000 households was conducted for the Conference Board by TNS, a global market research company.
One clue that may explain workers' growing dissatisfaction: Only 51% now find their jobs interesting — another low in the survey's 22 years. In 1987, nearly 70% said they were interested in their work.
Workers who find their jobs interesting are more likely to be innovative and to take the calculated risks and the initiative that drive productivity and contribute to economic growth, Barrington says.
"What's really disturbing about growing job dissatisfaction is the way it can play into the competitive nature of the U.S. work force down the road and on the growth of the U.S. economy — all in a negative way," says Lynn Franco, another author of the report and director of the Conference Board's Consumer Research Center.
Conference Board officials and outside economists suggested that weak wage growth helps explain why workers' unhappiness has been rising for more than 20 years. After growing in the 1980s and 1990s, average household incomes adjusted for inflation have been shrinking since 2000.
