How Americans spend (or waste) their time

Wowser, this is depressing. The average American aged 15 or older was working 17 fewer minutes a day in 2009 than in 2007. The experts who compile this stuff say 17 minutes is a big drop (no doubt the result of lots of folks being out of work). So if they're not working, what are they doing? Here's the really depressing part. From the WSJ:

Time spent in front of the television rose by 12 minutes, to two hours, 49 minutes a day in the two years through 2009. Sleep was the next big gainer, increasing by six minutes to eight hours, 40 minutes a day. The data also show what Americans aren't doing with their extra time: There was virtually no change between 2007 and 2009 in the time devoted to volunteering, religious activities, exercise or education. In sum, time people might have used productively is instead being squandered, says University of Texas economist Daniel Hamermesh. "It's not like we're using the recession to build our skills--the skills are depreciating," says Mr. Hamermesh. "It's a waste."

Such numbers are sure to provide ammunition for a growing number of conservatives who question whether long-term unemployment assistance is actually encouraging the jobless to hold off finding work. Here's what Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul said last week:

"As bad as it sounds, ultimately we do have to sometimes accept a wage that's less than we had at our previous job in order to get back to work and allow the economy to get started again. Nobody likes that, but it may be one of the tough-love things that has to happen."

Tough love, huh? This is not a new notion, but it's gaining some traction in the face of sky-high federal deficits. Of course not everybody agrees. Here's what California Congressman George Miller said:

"You've got millions of people out of work, and the idea that they all have a clever scheme that they're going to live high off the hog on unemployment -- people are losing their houses because of unemployment," he said. "So you think what? That this is a good thing? 'Unemployment check, I'm losing my house, this is cool'?"