More for less?

This year and probably in coming years I am making less money than in previous years. When employees make less money morale tends to drop and consequently their productivity drops too. The one question I am asking myself this year is: Am I working more or as much as last year? A positive answer should give pause. Should I really work more or harder or the same if I'm earning less money? Maybe I should make different priorities? Maybe I should spend more time with my family, work on the house (which is the one asset that still has value at least for me) focus more rigorously on research and less on, heaven forbid, dare I say it--OK, I'll say it hushed tones--teaching or advising. Certainly I can take less time on committee work. But then again maybe this is the message in this economy and in the wake of the financial meltdown. To be fair, employers are struggling to balance their budgets too. It just seems that the "little guy" or "main street" has to bear the irresponsibility of a financial system that overleveraged itself, to put in mildly, and then gets bailed out because we can't function without them. To repeat Slavoj Zizek's recent query: What kind of society permits such blackmail?

For Zizek see Harper's Magazine, October 2009, "To Each According to His Greed" in the Readings section. It's online.