Are Americans Just Lazy?

Americans work 137 more hours per year than Japanese workers, 260 more hours per year than British workers, and 499 more hours per year than French workers. One way to look at that dramatic increase, says the 2010 analysis, is that it should only take one quarter the work hours, or 11 hours per week, to afford the same standard of living as a worker in 1950 (or our standard of living should be four times higher). Is that the case? Obviously not. Someone is profiting. It's just not the average American worker. Or is modern life tearing apart our health? As our lives have gotten busier, our eating habits have suffered. Our personal lives have suffered, and our children's lives have suffered.  Yes America is hyper-productive. But is our hyper-productivity tearing us apart?