AZ Mom, you have aroused a valid discussion.  My experience tells me that the “work ethic” in America has eroded since I was growing up.  But so has the reward for a worker’s investment in the job.
 
We hear from our leaders that we should redouble our efforts to increase productivity.  The productivity squeeze is on, but the Average American is not seeing the benefit of their increasing effort as they strain into the productivity harness ever harder and harder.  The benefit flows up to the top, while the supervisors from the CEO down to the lowly straw boss on the factory/office/retail floor exhorts the mules to be more productive or they will lose their jobs to an Indian, either through outsourcing or the H-1B program.
 
Paul Krugman,a professor of Economics and International Affairs at Princeton University who writes a regular column for the New York Times points out that the incentives are not exactly in favor of the worker: “The fact is that we're living in a time when most Americans are seeing little if any benefit from overall income growth, because their share of the economic pie is falling. Between 1979 and 2003, according to a recent research paper published by the I.R.S., the share of overall income received by the bottom 80 percent of taxpayers fell from 50 percent to barely over 40 percent. The main winners from this upward redistribution of income were a tiny, wealthy elite: more than half the income share lost by the bottom 80 percent was gained by just one-fourth of 1 percent of the population, people with incomes of at least $750,000 in 2003.” (Feeling no Pain, Paul Krugman, March 6, 2006, NY Times)

And that trend has accelerated sharply under the Bush Regime's agenda of repeated and continuing tax cuts for the wealthy and a so called "Free Trade" policy.

Let me project the profile of my own experience onto the background of those statistics for you:

  1. I was able at one time to support my family on my income alone; 
  2. Then my wife started working sporadically to be able to afford some extras;
  3. Then it became necessary for her to work full-time to help support the family;
  4. Then I started moon-lighting in addition to my day job to support my family.

Fortunately we never got to the point where we both had to hold down two jobs in order to survive, but that is becoming an all too common occurrence in America.

All of this has been happening while the top executives in our economy have been walking away with absolutely unconscionable obscene rewards.  And this all too often while failing miserably, at least by the standards you are setting for the Average American.  These “leaders” are considered to be most productive when they are throwing large numbers of American employees out on the curb.

So toot the horn for the textbook solution: "Work hard, get an education, and you’ll get ahead".  "Flag, Mother and Apple Pie".  Hurrah!   Siss-Boom-Bah!!

But the statistics tell another story: “A new research paper by Ian Dew-Becker and Robert Gordon of Northwestern University, ''Where Did the Productivity Growth Go?,'' gives the details. Between 1972 and 2001 the wage and salary income of Americans at the 90th percentile of the income distribution rose only 34 percent, or about 1 percent per year. So being in the top 10 percent of the income distribution, like being a college graduate, wasn't a ticket to big income gains.

“But income at the 99th percentile rose 87 percent; income at the 99.9th percentile rose 181 percent; and income at the 99.99th percentile rose 497 percent. No, that's not a misprint.” (Graduates Versus Oligarchs, Paul Krugman, (NYT) February 27, 2006)

Although I like apple pie, your tirade against the working American is too much apple pie for me.  The subject of your article is not controversial.  You probably won’t get any arguments that customer service has gotten better, or that the disenfranchised “associate” of today is as dedicated to the job as the valued employee of yesteryear was. 
 
And that lack of controversy, that Rah Rha "Flag, Mom and Apple Pie" “argument” with no real value added, leads to another question.  How did your article arrive on the VOA site as an immediate fully mature adult without any comments and a score like I have never seen for anyone up to that time, even after heated discussion in the comments?  Let me document my question, and anyone that is in doubt can look at these date-time stamps directly for themselves:
 
1.   I posted this at 12:01 AM, with the usual zero ratings.

48% Annual Rate of Return!?! How...? By AZ Moderate  Published on: 2006-03-03 at 12:01 AM
Avg. Rating: 0.00
Rank: 0.00
Comments: 0

2.   I happened to then run across your posting five minutes later, complete with an astounding rank and a perfect ten rating, but absolutely no comments:
 
Work Ethic vs. Work Expectations       By Arizona Mom  Published on: 2006-03-03 at 12:06 AM
Avg. Rating: 10.00
Rank: 789.08
Comments: 0
 
3.   And ten minutes later here comes your first admirer:

Comment Posted by: Average American Posted on: 2006-03-03 at 12:19:54 AM
“I think I love You...” 

4.   The next comment is attached the next afternoon by another admirer:

Comment Posted by: Bryan Posted on: 2006-03-03 at 02:45:02 PM

"The high score of your article tells me many have read and agreed with you thoughts."  (A curiously silent many, I might add.)

Wow, AZ Mom!  How did you do that?  And that with a standard off-the-shelf textbook "Flag, Mother and Apple Pie" article?  Inquiring minds want to know.  That is one impressive constituency you have there, huddled over their computers in the early morning hours. 

I am very impressed.  With your constituency, not your article.