TT p. 123, Question 1

Time is money because workers are no longer paid based on how many or how much of a product they can produce--they are paid based on how long they sit at their desk or stand on the shop floor. Because modern technology and industrial practices make mass production so quick, simple, and cheap, corporations don't have to worry about getting a certain number of whatchamicallits out by Friday, therefore the only other way to maintain an economy is to pay workers by the hour (or salary).
But because workers are paid for their time, and not necessarily their service, the economy, and in turn society, bases everything's worth on the time it takes. A microwave can make a meal for my family in 15 minutes that used to take over an hour? That is definitely a useful product to have--I better go out and buy one. I hear those new Macs are twice as fast as my old PC--I need one of those, too. Consumers need everything done faster so they have more time for...what? If we can eat, shop, clean, and entertain ourselves faster, what is there time left over for? Certainly not family time or the pursuit of knowledge--I guess if we can get home from work faster and make our dinner faster, that leaves us more time to watch "America's Most Smartest Model" and "Two and a Half Men".
And also because of this importance of time in the workplace, unions are no longer demanding better working conditions or higher wages, but more time off--paid vacations, longer lunch hours, and cushy retirement plans. Who cares how much my hearing is damaged by those roaring machines as long as I have that extra half hour at Applebee's?
And finally, because time is money, it only makes sense to make as many products as possible as quickly as possible, which more often than not results in a shoddy product. Shoes that once took hours to make by hand are now zipped out by the thousands every day at a factory in Thailand and will undoubtedly fall apart faster than the pair carefully crafted by the cobbler.