Chris Butler Agrees With Jeb Bush's 'People Need To Work More Hours' Comment

By Chris Stigall

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Presidential hopeful and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush was recorded saying with New Hampshire's The Union Leader that people need to work longer hours and is under fire for his comments.

"My aspiration for the country and I believe we can achieve it, is four percent growth as far as the eye can see. Which means we have to be a lot more productive, workforce participation has to rise from its all-time modern lows. It means that people need to work longer hours" and, through their productivity, gain more income for their families. That's the only way we're going to get out of this rut that we're in."

Economist Chris Butler of Butler Lanz & Wagler told Talk Radio 1210 WPHT morning host Chris Stigall that Bush is right.

"There's only two ways an economy can grow...You either have to have more people working, in other words, more hours or they have to be able to be making more stuff per hour that they're working and that was his point, or at least what I took to be his point. He's right, he's just stating ECON 101 stuff here that there's only two ways to grow an economy, you have to have more people working or they have to be more productive with the tools that they have."

Butler feels that the reason that our economy is in the position that it is in where people need to work more hours, is that we are in a "part-time economy."

"The reason that we have a part-time economy, and by the way, we do have a part-time economy is because of the stuff we've done to ourselves, it's because we've shot ourselves in the foot not only with the Affordable Care Act, but a whole host of legislation that disincentives people to actually work. I mean, that's it. It's very simple."

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• Jeb Bush