“The Congressional Progressive Caucus on Tuesday endorsed a bill by Representative Mark Takano that would create a 32-hour workweek, with overtime paid after 32 hours of work. Takano touted the move as a win for work-life balance and a needed corrective after decades of longer work hours with stagnant pay in the U.S,” reports CBS News.

First it was “Medicare for all”, then it was “Defund the police” and now it’s the “four day workweek”. The Progressive Caucus, which seems to have a special talent for assisting the GOP by presenting poorly formed talking points that come across as completely disconnected from reality to a majority of Americans are pushing the absolute wrong talking point at a time when inflation throughout the economy is a major concern, and there are growing concerns over a shortage of workers to fill retail and service sector jobs.

Going forward, Russian bot-nets will pick up this talking point and begin endlessly amplifying it on social media, until progressives are repeating “we need a four day work week” all across social media and viciously attacking anyone who points out the problem of pushing that particular topic at this point in the economic cycle. Individuals who suggest that economic change has to be implemented gradually and that this kind of a change would be a step too far for many small employers will be labeled a “corporatist” and “just like the Republicans”. Right wing think tanks will point out that if 32 hours is considered full-time then there will have to be a conversation about re-writing state level regulations regarding what’s considered full and part time work, and they will also point out that if the number of hours required to be considered “full time” is cut then many large companies like Wal-Mart and Target will cut many of their workers down to 20 or 24 hours per week, rather than provide full-time benefits to those working 24 to 32 hours per week.

Right now, those who don’t want to work 40 hours per week should try to find an arrangement so they can get by on less. However, mandating such a huge shift in the US economy, at a time when labor shortages are already an issue and wages are rising fairly rapidly due to that worker shortage is not productive. This is a talking point that can easily be weaponized by the GOP to paint Democrats as out of touch with practical reality, and that means we’ll probably be seeing a lot more of it.