Yes, the endless debate: Americans whine about the vacation time afforded or mandated by their European peers. But an increasingly stressed field of workers with more employers taking advantage of workers' misfortunes, in concert with the evermore denied need for more paid time off work, is creating a bad situation that will only get worse,
according to the BBC's Michael Goldfarb.
Goldfarb thinks Americans' acceptance of longer work hours with less vacation time is, sadly, based on raw fear:
"[Americans] have been increasingly afraid to ask for it directly and way too afraid to come together and demand it as a group. It is easy enough to get fired in the U.S., and when people have a job they tend not to want to make waves."
In conclusion, Goldfarb posits that near-future research is likely to find Americans with less paid holiday than ever.