Jeb! Bush is getting a little defensive over having said that Americans need to "work longer hours," and well he might.
Let's review. The offending quote came as part of Bush's claim that, if elected president, he would improve economic growth to four percent.
"(That) 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 are going to get out of this rut that we're in," Bush had said.
Wanting people to work long hours dovetails neatly with the fact that Bush also wants them to work more years by
raising the retirement age, and it's all very awkward coming out of the mouth of a rich guy descended from other rich guys.
Bush is defending himself by saying he was talking about "6.5 million people stuck in part-time work & seeking full-time jobs," a legitimate problem in this country but not really an answer to "people need to work longer hours and through their productivity gain more income for their families." People are stuck in part-time work because companies are keeping them there, yet Bush has nothing to say about that. Similarly, working longer hours is one way to gain more income. Making jobs pay is another way, but Republicans are adamantly opposed to better pay for anyone but those at the very top. In Bush's view, all the responsibility for change is on the shoulders of the people who have the least ability to change things, not the companies that could hire more full-time workers and pay better.
Then there's the productivity thing. Hillary Clinton jumped right on that, with exactly the right chart for the occasion:
Please, Jeb!, talk to me again about how working people aren't productive enough and need to work longer hours to fix that.