I think this means a lot of people have jobs that require a fixed number of hours (say, 40 hours a week and 50 weeks a year) in exchange for a fixed amount of m

I think this means a lot of people have jobs that require a fixed number of hours (say, 40 hours a week and 50 weeks a year) in exchange for a fixed amount of money. Americans may feel the number of hours is too high, but their wage per hour is fine. Basically, Americans work too many hours, and therefore would like to buy hours back. E.g. Someone makes $100,000 on 5,000 hours per year. They can't work less than 5,000 hours, or they'll get fired. Their wage is $20 per hour. However, working 5,000 hours a year is painful and the dude doesn't need to spend $100,000 a year. He would happily buy back time at $20/hour. If a genie offered him free money or an equivalent amount of free time (with a $20/hour exchange rate), he'd take the free time.