I note that one significant factor has been omitted from this conversation to this point.  The diary has discussed labor, production and distribution of goods and the realms of work and leisure.  What has not really been discussed is the distribution of the wealth that is and has been created.  I do not think that this is entirely accidental.  It seems to me that the very construction of our culture, especially in the USA, tends to make the distribution of wealth, if not taboo, at least awkward.

In fact the distribution of wealth has very much to do with the distribution of leisure.  Those of independent means and significant accumulated wealth at least have the choice of how much of their waking hours to devote to work.  The better off of the employed have some choice of how much of their time to devote to work.  They must fend off the mind numbing demands of popular culture in order to really relax, but it can be done.  The quality of our lives very much depends on the extent to which we can actually engage in recreation.  Specifically RE-CREATION of our interior mental spaces and interpersonal relationships into forms more satisfying.  

But people on the bottom of the employment pay scale have no choice.  Many must work virtually to exhaustion to just survive.  This is degrading and almost certainly life shortening.  The ability to deal with this problem of insufficient leisure time is within our collective ability to solve, but it is hidden from us in plain sight by the norms of our culture.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."