The Economist: There is a distinct correlation between privilege and pressure. In part, this is a conundrum of wealth: though people may be earning more money to spend, they are not simultaneously earning more time to spend it in. This makes time -- that frustratingly finite, unrenewable resource -- feel more precious.
Christopher Mims: In 1979 the average worker put in 1,687 hours a year, according to the Economic Policy Institute, and by 2007 that number was 1,868. The net difference, 181 hours a year, represents more than a month of extra work every year. RadioShack was once a cultural phenomenon -- a place with a unique geographic but also psychological reach, a hub of one of the many leisure-time activities Americans once enjoyed to a degree it's hard to fathom now, in a time when apps allow those of us with more money than time to outsource even the minutest details of our lives. How did we arrive at a culture of disposable everything? The simplest answer is that we no longer have time for anything else.
Harry McCracken: The payment process -- which involved a clerk writing down your name and address even if you were 9 years old and had come in to buy a single D-cell battery -- made every purchase into a joyless time sink.
Danielle Paquette: The lesson is clear: Chase the proverbial carrot while you're young. Save your money while it's coming in. Or ask for that raise -- sooner, rather than later.
Molly Young: I have never chased a woman down the street to ask where her bag was from and found out that it was Rebecca Minkoff.
Jeff Williams, chief technology officer at Contrast Security: Are they going to pay market salaries, not government salaries for this expertise? They are going to need an army of experts and they're not going to be able to find them.
Lizzie Widdecombe: "What kind of price range are we talking about?" Stephen Bradley asked. "Ballpark, for this role you're talking a hundred and fifty to two hundred and fifty dollars an hour."
Nadav Zafrir: Mandatory conscription can be an economic burden; it can also be an economic boon.
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