How does a 60+ hour work week look like?

[Fake Boris]

BTW, that's the general logic of fiscal conservatives: a restriction that mostly applies to the working class is an 'incentive' (borrow to get your degree, you'll make it productive); but one that applies to wealthy people and entrepreneurs is a loss of freedom (tax 'em, and they'll leave somewhere where they can do business).

Such a logic can only exist if the legal context has been fixed for it to make sense.

[Darius871]

BTW, that's the general logic of fiscal conservatives: a restriction that mostly applies to the working class is an 'incentive' (borrow to get your degree, you'll make it productive); but one that applies to wealthy people and entrepreneurs is a loss of freedom (tax 'em, and they'll leave somewhere where they can do business).

How is it that the mere absence of an entitlement (getting your degree for free) anywhere near as much a "restriction" as affirmatively taking away money one already has? There has to be a better analogy than that...

[Krill]

Tomorrow is my eigth 12 hour day in 10 days, and 10th in 13.

I'm starting to think you work them because it is less painful to be a zombie than feel the emotional pain of knowing you have nothing important to do with your life in your days off.

[KrazyHorse]

Consequences of (3):
-capital requires mobility, which it does get by law.
-restrictions on working hours can be an incentive for innovation and productivity

I have no idea where you get the first statement from.

The second statement is as true as it is meaningless. If I place a restriction on the amount of steel that automakers are allowed to use to build cars, it will sure spur innovation in cars that use less steel. However, we will have purchased TOO MUCH innovation and investment in making cars with less steel. That's the whole idea behind the ****ing price system.

Holy ****, this is like explaining things to third graders.

EDIT: technically, the second statement is not a consequence of (3) either. The relatively high elasticity of labor demand can EITHER mean that employers are able to find substitutes for labor OR that employersrestrict output in the face of rising labor costs (or some combination thereof)...

[KrazyHorse]

BTW, that's the general logic of fiscal conservatives: a restriction that mostly applies to the working class is an 'incentive' (borrow to get your degree, you'll make it productive); but one that applies to wealthy people and entrepreneurs is a loss of freedom (tax 'em, and they'll leave somewhere where they can do business).

Such a logic can only exist if the legal context has been fixed for it to make sense.

Sorry, sweetheart, but you can't simply apply the word "restriction" in both cases and claim that there is some kind of equivalence between charging people for a service that they choose to consume and taxation. Somebody subjected to taxation can't simply choose to consume less of the services government provides and thereby reduce their tax bill. People CAN choose to consume more or less education. If they do not bear the cost of their education then they will consume too much education. A subsidy to education causes a distortion at the frontier between choosing to continue school and not (the producers and consumers of education see different prices). Similarly, income taxes cause a distortion at the frontier between work and leisure (workers and their employers see different prices).

When producers see higher prices than consumers, then TOO MUCH of the good will be supplied and consumed (subsidy to education causes too much education). When producers see lower prices than consumers then TOO LITTLE of the good will be supplied and consumed (taxes on income cause too little work).

[Dr Strangelove]

Indeed. They are now LIMITED to 80-hours a week max, with a maximum of 30 hours continuous. It is unclear how many residency programs fudge those numbers, but mine tried to play it pretty straight.

Also, just for the record, while residents work 80 hrs/wk for anywhere from 3-9 years, depending on the residency, they are also getting paid barely above minimum wage.


Jesus ****, I'm glad that's over.

Amen, bro. When we did call we had to put in a full day on the second day so that usually worked out to 32 to 34 hours for one "shift".

[KrazyHorse]

Medicine is a ****ing pyramid scheme...

[Darius871]

I'm starting to think you work them because it is less painful to be a zombie than feel the emotional pain of knowing you have nothing important to do with your life in your days off.

^Story of my life

[Dr Strangelove]

Min. wage is a bit of an exaggeration, to my understanding

call it 4000 hrs a year, and the 1st year residents I know are making 14-15$ an hour

For me it worked out to less than $6 / hour. That was in the mid 1980's though.

[KrazyHorse]

Inflation since the 80s is around a factor of 2.

Add in the fact that this is in major metropolitan areas (I'm assuming you did your residency somewhere less expensive) and it makes sense.

[MOBIUS]

All this talk of work has made me book a holiday to Cyprus. I'll be there for a week, sunning myself and clambering over all sorts of UNESCO World Heritage sites, checking out the Romans, Byzantines, Lusignans, Venetians, Ottomans etc... I'm also looking forward to being able to cross the borders of an island divided by a UN buffer zone and going through army checkpoints etc. Yep, much better than sitting behind a desk for 60+ hours next week...

[Dr Strangelove]

Inflation since the 80s is around a factor of 2.

Add in the fact that this is in major metropolitan areas (I'm assuming you did your residency somewhere less expensive) and it makes sense.

Baltimore

[Guynemer]

Min. wage is a bit of an exaggeration, to my understanding

call it 4000 hrs a year, and the 1st year residents I know are making 14-15$ an hour

Call it 4000hrs a year, and I was making $10.

[Dinner]

All so you could one day get calls in the middle of the night because some baby has a fever of one degree above normal?

[Hauldren Collider]

Oerdin, don't rub it in.