Paul Krugman: Regarding Three-Piece Suits, Breakfast Meetings and Overwork

No, this isn't about "American Hustle"; it's a commentary on James Surowiecki's interesting article in The New Yorker on the cult of long working hours. I don't exactly disagree with his argument, but I'd place the emphasis a bit differently.

First of all, he's right that for what he calls knowledge workers - I'd just say elite workers in general - the whole time ethos has changed. When I was growing up on Long Island, there was a clear class hierarchy in commute times. Early trains were filled with menial workers; the later the train, the more and fancier the suits, with executives starting their day at 9:30 or 10 a.m. These days, if anything, it is reversed: There are a lot of hard-driving suits on the early trains, and the later trains are much more mixed.